OK first of all... My name is Aris and I am a Linux n00b I had a quick search on here but did not find too much detailed information on what I want to ask: I have an old PC lying around that I would like to use a a router/firewall. What I would like it to be able to do: * Act as a good firewall, must allow me to allow/disallow individual ports (and possibly restrict bandwidth on some?) * Must have NAT and port forwarding (I believe this is needed for stuff like file transfers/audio/video in Netmeeting & MSN etc?) * Be able to support a USB ADSL modem - are USB modems in general compatible? I will be looking to purchase an internal PCI ADSL modem in the near future though if need be. * Be able to support at least 8 PCs mostly W2k & XP, but also Server 2003 & Win98 (I have a 10 port 10/100 Netgear switch) Questions: Basically covered in the above, I can explain further if need be. From reading the posts I found using search I get the impression that SmoothWall is one of the best? I had a look at Freesco as well but reading their FAQ reveals that Netmeeting/MSN audio/video etc functionality is not supported. (edit - disregard that they have an update which supports this) What do you Penguin users recommend?
Smoothwall will do all of those things, as will IPCop. They're the only ones I have experience with and are fairly similar so give 'em a go.
I've used coyote linux it worked great before freesco develop PPOE support. Then I went with freesco until I was given a hardware router... now I use that. Less trouble here's another site that may be of interest too: http://www.routerdesign.com/
The free version of smoothwall doesn't allow you to do this. There are, however, various mods you can try. http://community.smoothwall.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5393 http://community.smoothwall.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1817 http://community.smoothwall.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7922
I've just found another software firewall called m0n0wall (which supports traffic shaping). It's based on FreeBSD and you can run it on embedded PCs with a CF card, such as this one which is only 124mm x 145 mm Here's what others have done it http://m0n0.ch/wall/gallery.php