Networks IPCop

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by quack, 27 Oct 2002.

  1. quack

    quack Minimodder

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    After getting booted by yet another stupid UK ISP for my ASUS ISDN router dialling up when no one should even be using our network and causing the ISP to get very ****y at me, I decided it was time to use something better at managing packets.

    I'd heard a bit about Smoothwall so I downloaded the GPL Beta and tried it out on an old PC I had hanging around...

    Pentium 200 MMX
    64MB RAM
    Some crappy Intel chipset mobo
    Some crappy SiS video card
    Some crappy generic NE2000 NIC
    Eicon ISDN PCI card

    The install went well booting off floppy, managed to get it all set up correctly and had the DHCP working too. From my comp I got into the web interface, and set up my ISP details. All good so far.

    So I go to connect, and nothing. It says "Dial on Demand Waiting"... and doesn't even appear to be dialling. I check all the logs to see if it is actually doing anything, which it doesn't.

    After fiddling around plugging my other router back in, I get online to get the updates Smoothwall might need... plug the Smoothie back in and try the update... and it doesn't want to upload!! UGH!!

    After fiddling around more, downloading the update again in case it was broken, still no joy. By now it's 2am and I'm fed up with it.

    --

    Next day, I decide to try IPCop which I'd also read people using from here. After a lengthy download (20 odd Meg still takes ages on ISDN!). I immediately recognised the same basic install from Smoothwall, which helped as it was very simple to follow.

    After doing the same setup routine with my ISP details etc, I clicked Connect and attempted to browse to google.com.

    YAY!! :clap: :clap: It worked!!

    So now, I am connected to the Internet via an IPCop firewall/router and I am very happy with it; and as long as I can remember to click Disconnect when I'm finished using it for the night... hopefully I can stay with this ISP for a while longer than my last one. :rock:

    PS: Since trying out Smoothwall, I have found out that Richard Morrell, the guy behind it, appears to be a rather unsavoury character totally uncaring to anyone that uses his product without putting money into his wallet. Very hostile, and very abusive. Maybe some of it is made up, but I don't want to associate with someone like that if it is true.
     
  2. herbs

    herbs Nobody but us chickens

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    There is an idle setting in ipcop that will disconnect after that set time, so you can set that and not worry about forgetting to disconnect at night. If I remember there is a bug with isdn with the latest smoothwall that they are working on. If you like ipcop then you should try the 1.2 pre 4 version it has ntpupdate and a few other things.
     
  3. quack

    quack Minimodder

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    I had found from using my other router that some random traffic was being generated by my NT4 server specifically, but also my computer whenever they were just sitting idle and causing the router to dial my ISP at all hours.

    Will IPCop do the same if I leave it just to disconnect by itself. It's no bother to go to the main webadmin screen and click Disconnect there till I get back home again, if there is a chance that it'll keep connecting while I'm at work.

    --

    I noticed that one of the bugs supposedly fixed in the Beta version of Smoothwall was an ISDN issue, if I could've uploaded the update, I could've found out if that's been resolved fully or not.

    I think I'm going to stick with IPCop now though. It rox. I'll take a look at 1.2 pre 4 later. Cheers :)

    PS Just joined a couple of the IPCop mailing lists so I can try to keep on top of any security holes that might need fixing etc. :D
     
  4. ChriX

    ChriX ^

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    nice one quack, I use IPCop aswell and find it to be ok, no SNMP though so I cant make leet graphs of traffic usage :(

    What ISP you use, I have been online with freeserve 24/7 for months and they havent mentioned anything about over usage. :D
     
  5. herbs

    herbs Nobody but us chickens

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    There is an unoffical version of ipcop that allows you to use scsi drives and has qos etc, try http://www.up4secure.com/linux/ipcop/ for the download and some info.

    The NT server will not be able to make a reconnect unless you have set the ipcop box to auto reconnect when it loses a connection. As the only way to connect is to press the connection icon on the webpage.
     
    Last edited: 29 Oct 2002
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