SmoothWall 2.0 Linux-Based Firewall Released 351
thegraham writes "Despite some earlier server problems, SmoothWall 2.0 has been released this evening - there are also release notes available. SmoothWall is 'a firewall operating system distribution based on Linux, enabling a low-end, possibly otherwise redundant, Intel and compatible PC to become a hardened Internet firewall', and changes from version 1 include: 2.4 kernel, new web interface, improved networking and many bugs corrected through the Beta program."
I use this one at home (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I use this one at home (Score:3, Interesting)
however, i had one big gist about it. it had an old noisy harddrive, and it was made to log practically everything it seemed(well, info about everything)..
when the line that it is connected to transfers regularly several (tens of)gigabytes per day(to 100mbit lan) it was kind of annoying as it made constant noise because of logging.
well it didn't take too long before the 100mbyte it had reserved for logging filled up though..
.
Re:I use this one at home (Score:2, Informative)
So is SmoothWall [smoothwall.org], and always has been.
Re:I use this one at home (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I use this one at home (Score:3, Insightful)
Not too shabby (Score:2)
Re:I use this one at home (Score:2, Interesting)
In fact, I think there's only feature I could ask for: automatically erasing the logs after they fill up the entire
Otherwise, Smoothwall definitely gets my two-thumbs-fresh. I used it share dialup among my
Re:I use this one at home (Score:2, Informative)
Suspect a bad connection inside the computer. (Score:2)
1 comment and BAM! (Score:2)
Here are the release notes. (Score:5, Informative)
SmoothWall Express 2.0
SmoothWall Express 2.0 was released at 21:00 GMT on Monday 8th December 2002.
http://www.smoothwall.org/
** Please see http://smoothwall.org/ for the latest release
** information, downloads and updates!
SmoothWall Express 2.0 Release Notes
** Please note that the https web access port has moved from
** TCP/445 to TCP/441! Use https://x.x.x.x:441/ from now on!
Changes from SmoothWall GPL 1.0:
* SmoothWall GPL is now SmoothWall Express!
http://community.smoothwall.org/topic/1086
* Stateful packet inspection using Linux 2.4 kernel with iptables
and netfilter.
* Improved installer:
- Network card skip.
- Displays MAC address of detected cards.
- Prefilled IP addresses.
- Configure upstream web proxy for fetching update list.
when a direct connection cannot be made or is not allowed.
* Improved web user interface; more user friendly, better error
reporting, more orange
* Improved connectivity device support:
- More USB ADSL modems; ECI chipset, USR SureConnect.
http://smoothwall.org/beta/eci.html
- BeWAN PCI ADSL.
- BT Home Highway USB TA.
* Universal Plug-n-Play support for Microsoft Windows XP users.
* Improved network usage graphs with RRDtool.
* Improved proxy performance through diskd and other squid tweaks.
* Static assignments in DHCP server options based on MAC address.
* SmoothWall time sync with internal or external NTP server. Can
sync from a built-in list of servers. (Does not provide ntpd
service to Green or Orange network however)
* Configuration backup to floppy disk for quick install on another
machine, or re-install on same machine (compatible with backup
floppies from Express 2.0 RC1, timesync server list bug when
using backup floppy from Express 2.0 beta7 "pendolino" - see
http://community.smoothwall.org/topic/2180 for more info)
* Simpler port forwarding; no need to open ports with external
access page, the port (or ports - port ranges are allowed now)
is opened and forwarded on one page.
* IP Blocking feature; block any given internal IP address or
subnet from accessing your SmoothWall or any port forwarded
hosts. Additionally, blocking rules can be added from the
firewall log interface.
* Advanced networking features; block ICMP ping, block multicast
traffic and enable SYN cookies.
* Improved VPN; no need for "next hop" setting, optionally enable
compression on the tunnel, still possible to connect to a
SmoothWall GPL 1.0 VPN.
* Perform network diagnostic (ping, traceroute) from web interface.
* New Java SSH client (replaced due to licence conflict).
* Added clear cache option to web proxy.
* Updates list location changed
http://updates.smoothwall.org/express/2.0
Thanks to those on the team and the forums for their hard work on
mods and patches
-----
Rebooting
-----
During the reboot, notice the nice boot screens.
You will notice differences if you use either the ECI or the USR
SureConnect USB ADSL modems.
For all USR ADSL modems, have the unit plugged in prior to booting.
If you are using an ECI-chipset driver (generic of FDX310), you will
see your screen fill with diagnostics as the firmware is uploaded and
the line synced. Occasionally this can appear to hang part way
through, but it should not stall for more then 30 seconds at a time.
The line should be synced when this process is complete.
The USR SureConnect will behave in a similar fashion, but with less
diagnostics.
---
OS? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:OS? (Score:5, Insightful)
You probably mean a box with a microcontroller running a dedicated firewall operating system.
Re:OS? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:OS? (Score:2)
Re:OS? (Score:4, Informative)
Software firewalls are not that great, hardware firewalls are not as easily updated. By using an old box and a firewall distribution, you can set up a firewall and also have a nice local DNS, DHCP, time, file, and so on server for your network.
This looks a little heavy compared to the FreeSCO floppy distribution I use, but when it's no longer Slashdotted I'll see if it has anything worth reconfiguring my firewall for.
Re:OS? (Score:5, Informative)
A few distros off the top of my head:
Smoothwall
Clarkconnect
IPcop
Freesco
Non-intel (Score:2)
Thanks.
Re:Non-intel (Score:2)
OpenBSD is a better firewall (pf is very nice), but NetBSD is a bit more portable (in the unlikely event that OpenBSD won't run on it). I think the platform you are looking for is called mac68k or m68k.
Re:Non-intel (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.yellowdoglinux.com/
And do routing with it:
http://www.yellowdoglinux.com/support/soluti
Not sure if there is a stripped down firewall distro for it yet. If you're up for it you might see what you could put together.
To start with... (Score:2)
Someone else continue this thread, please, I'm bad at this...
Re:OS? (Score:2, Informative)
Software firewalls (like norton on your win2k desktop) may be running on top of a buggy , unsecure piece of crap like windows. Why break the lock when the door is made out of cheese?
Re:OS? (Score:3, Informative)
If i've already got an old machine laying around from my last upgrade, why waste money on the hardware firewall?
Re:OS? (Score:2)
-
Re:OS? (Score:2)
1) Presumably the OS has been hardened, even without the firewall. You can have the greatest firewall on the face of the earth, but if the underlying OS is compromised....
2) Presumably the kernel is optimized for the task. Lean, as modular as possible to maintain the low overhead which would be mandated to perform decently on older hardware.
But, given that Linux is the OS (and Smoothwall is GPL'ed) it opens up the possibility of tightly integratin
Re:OS? (Score:3, Informative)
Second of all, software firewalls that run on your computer take up resources, and are generally limited by your operating system.
Finally, smoothwall will be a lot more secure, because it will not be running any of the services that can be compromised by
Re:OS? (Score:5, Insightful)
Because software solutions are too late. The culprit is already at your machine
And hardware solutions have two problems that I've personally seen happen.
There are very distinct advantages to this approach. BTW they also have squid, which hardware devices can't provide.
Re:OS? (Score:2)
I have an IPCop firewall box at home and an IPCop firewall box at the office.
IPCop (and I assume Smoothwall), lets you set up a VPN connection between two IPCop boxes REALLY quickly.
The price for the entire set up was: My time; an hour or so, including cabling and adding second NICs to the boxes. The two old PCs I used, were just that: OLD. They would have been given away if I hadn't grabbed them for the VPN.
Re:OS? (Score:2)
This is a solution that can be made out of spare PC parts, and is lightweight enough to work just fine on last generation's equipment. Any true geek likely has enough spare parts lying around in their basement from retired machines to build this.
Why does SmoothWall insist on being alone on the machine? Because the firewall is supposed to be absolutely stable, so there's no business for
Re:OS? (Score:2)
What do you mean "hardware firewall?" (Score:4, Informative)
Checkpoint? That runs on Linux/ Solaris / NT or whatever....
Checkpoint Nokia appliance? Just a rack-mount computer, running one of the above operating systems... they are not a "hardware" firewall.
Every firewall I"ve seen is just a fancy PC dressed up to look like some kind of hardware box.
Not sure what you mean by "your computer still has to do all the blcoking".. a firewall IS a computer that does blocking, by definition.
Smoothwall is not some add-on to your existing box.. it's for buildling hardware firewalls....
Re:What do you mean "hardware firewall?" (Score:3, Informative)
Re:OS? (Score:3)
I can only assume what you mean is an application level firewall, like zone alarm or something, which are indeed neccessary in windows to both keep windows programs from "phoning home" and to keep other nasty programs from operating. You still need a good packet filtering firewall in addition to that t
Re:OS? (Score:2)
How true. However, nowadays, all "hardware" firewalls do run some sort of OS, though, and many run linux-based OS's.
Actually this is not true. Your homemade firewall is like any other hardware firewall. It stands b
I use the forked IPCop (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyone else got opinions on Smoothwall vs. IPCop?
Re:I use the forked IPCop (Score:4, Informative)
(30Kb/s for IPCop, 3Kb/s for Smoothwall GPL). The IPCop team have updated
the driver, whilst the Smoothwall GPL version does not have the driver
update. Of course you can pay for the Smoothwall Home version if you want
the faster upload.
IPCop uses ext3 journaling filesystem, whilst Smoothwall GPL uses ext2.
The next version of IPCop, 0.2, will be more of a radical departure from
Smoothwall. Currently IPCop 0.1.1 is much the same as smoothwall GPL
Oh and IPCop is GPL and being actively developed, were as Smoothwall GPL is
backing a back seat to the Home and Corporate versions, i.e. new features
are being added to the Home/Corporate version and *maybe* back ported to
Smoothwall GPL.
neuro said that...' there are cool things in
the works for GPL, and some of the corporate proprietory stuff may be
backlicensed to GPL in the future.'
Richard is pushing for the money right now, not that I blame him. Though
using Smoothwall GPL means that one was much of a beta tester for the Home
and Server base versions.
Re:I use the forked IPCop (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I use the forked IPCop (Score:5, Interesting)
I dunno.. (Score:5, Funny)
Using an old Pentium with two NICs for this is great, but the $699 licensing fee is a bit steep. Better stick to OpenBSD..
Re:I dunno.. (Score:2)
alternatives (Score:2, Redundant)
Can't wait to try it out. (Score:5, Informative)
Managing the firewall is exceptionally easy as well. You can setup port forwarding to internal computers in under 30 seconds. All-in all the firewall takes the major annoyances out of running a firewall. I highly recommend it for anyone who's got an old system lying around, and doesn't have the time to bother with setting up a firewall.
I tried smoothwall then switched to ipCop (Score:5, Informative)
But, let me be the first to say that I love the concept behind this type of distro. A boot-cd and 20 minutes turns any old wintel machine into a damn god firewall appliance (one that has a shell!).
Re:I tried smoothwall then switched to ipCop (Score:2, Informative)
> Now!" experience just a little too annoying to use.
Re:I tried smoothwall then switched to ipCop (Score:2)
new? (Score:2, Insightful)
Great protection (Score:5, Funny)
This thing is great. It is preventing my unauthorized slashotting attempt.
IP Accounting (Score:2, Interesting)
I've always hoped that someone would write a turnkey network/Internet authentication and user IP accounting app (no way do I have the skill at this time). Something that would create an IP table entry when a user authenticates, and track the Internet usage of their machine. Even better, it would be great if I could create a fake network interface for accounting, one which is associated with just one authenticated user, so I could m
Re:IP Accounting (Score:2, Informative)
www.rocksteady.com
Our software does most of what you've described here. We dynamically authenticate users and construct/destroy firewall rules as they enter/exit the system.
</shameless>
I could go on, but I dislike spamming people with information they haven't asked for. If you'd like to know more, you're very welcome to visit the site.
Re:IP Accounting (Score:2)
OpenBSD has this via authpf, or if you prefer, here is an authentication done via web browser : phpauthpf [piout.net]
Google to the rescue (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Google to the rescue (Score:3, Interesting)
However, looking at the cache for the about page, there's one thing that isn't clear. How does this compare to floppy-based distros like Coyote? In particular, it says absolutely nothing about whether it does or does not require a hard drive. Noise and heat are big considerations for me, and a HD is one of the biggest sources of both....So can I run Smoothwall without a HD or CD?
Re:Google to the rescue (Score:2)
Its a FIREwall; it takes care of the heat for you.
Re:Google to the rescue (Score:3, Insightful)
Also, think about it, if the distro is a 33mb ISO chances are damn good that it won't install to a floppy.
Re:Google to the rescue (Score:3, Informative)
Noise shouldn't be a problem with old hardware, they only need one fan usually, and someone posted earlier about using a laptop drive for it.
This is a great firewall, the ease of use factor is out there with anything you can find. I've played harder Commander Keen levels.
Smoothwall support (Score:5, Interesting)
Based on personal experience, I highly recommend that anyone planning to use, donate to or purchase support for the Smoothwall product first research the company and primary members of the development team, such as founder Richard Morrell, before making a committment. Of course, that's a good idea under any circumstances, with any software product.
Personally, I use the Mitel SME Server [e-smith.org] distribution (formerly e-smith) for my needs, but the feature set is somewhat different and it may not be a good fit for you. The community of users supporting users, however, is a great assett to the SME server project.
Re:Smoothwall support (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Smoothwall support (Score:2, Insightful)
Please don't perpetuate stale attitudes!
I had a job interview with these people (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyway, I didn't get the job with them, although I did find another *nix job much to my relief. I wouldn't use this myself though - IMO an experienced admin should take a minimal install of his favorite generic Linux/BSD distro, and build from there. Smoothwall is good for the less experienced though, who need an out of the box solution right now, not after 6 months googleing :-)
Re:I had a job interview with these people (Score:5, Insightful)
An experienced admin is much too busy playing Nethack and downloading pr0n from his bosses logins while running a couple of Quake servers off the company T1 to devote that kind of time to a project.
Worth a try. (Score:5, Informative)
Once upon a time I wouldn't go near it - one of the original founders was a real rude little shite and a huge liability to the project. And when I say rude, I mean rude - he used to tell potential or even existing customers to fuck off on a fairly regular basis, and that was when he was being polite!
Only his small circle of friends stayed on the IRC support channel - anyone else got kick-banned without even saying a word (either party).
Basically he used the wrong license, as in the end he seemed to detest the GPL and the "freeloaders" that were "stealing" copies of "his" work (perhaps he was the inspiration for SCO, huh?)
Thankfully he fucked off. It a nice project now, supported by nice people! Give it a try.
I used smoothwall for a while (Score:5, Interesting)
Unfortunately, the developers really annoyed me. One time, they released a patch that added a splash screen to the web interface that popped up EVERY time you changed page. And set chattr+i on the file on the server, then deleted the {ls,ch}attr commands on the server.
Which was just offensive. I went into their [community] IRC channel and mentioned how to fix it, and was kickbanned.
They make a big thing about being GPL and community-friendly, but in practice I just find them offensive.
I cannot highly enough recommend that people don't use this, and use ipcop [ipcop.org] instead.
Gary (-;
Re:I used smoothwall for a while (Score:5, Informative)
Re:I used smoothwall for a while (Score:2, Funny)
Don't like distro XX? Use a different one.
Don't like firewall softare YY? There's more available
Don't like mail server ZZ? No-one else likes Qmail, either.
I used to be a huge RedHat proponent, then they released 7.0, and I quit using RedHat.
The behaviour of Smoothwall once was so spectacularly bad [and I mean SPECTACULARLY], that I simply can't trust Smoothwall
Re:I used smoothwall for a while (Score:2)
IMHO, the problem with commercial distributions is that at some point in time they will need more cash and will try to squeeze it of of
Such forgiveness... (Score:4, Insightful)
Projects evolve, abrasive people are often forced out over time. Seems to me you are missing out on a potentially useful tool, based on a past beef with some guys who are no longer there...
I'm not saying you don't have the right to feel they way you do... it just doesn't seem very pragmatic.
Re:I used smoothwall for a while (Score:2)
Does anyone know whatever came of Mr Morrell? Perhaps Microsoft hired him.
Re:I used smoothwall for a while (Score:4, Informative)
I'll be sure to avoid them!
Note he makes a point on the site of pointing out his remaining ownership of the Smoothwall copyright despite the fact that he resigned. What that means I don't know, but it smells very SCO-ish. He's an asshole of similar caliber to those guys.
Re:I used smoothwall for a while (Score:3, Informative)
I had to laugh when I read this:
The reason there aren't click-thrus from the SmoothWall project page on sourceforge [sf.net] is because we don't use those links or that page to generate downloads. The bulk of our downloads come from our download page [smoothwall.org] (
linksys box? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:linksys box? (Score:2)
Re:linksys box? (Score:3, Insightful)
I used to use a Linux box for firewalling/masquerading and had to switch to a LinkSys because of DHCP issues with my broadband provider. One big advantage of the Linux setup was the additional functionality offered by the IP masquerading helper modules; stuff that could
Do you want to learn? (Score:4, Insightful)
Honestly... there is no substitute for building your own stuff, particularly if you want to increase your understanding of networking and security. If you don't have time for that kind of thing, or just don't want the hassle (you say hassle, I say "learning experience") of rolling your own, then buy the Linksys/Dlink/Netgear box and be done with it.
You will get far more options and much better control with the one you build yourself... but it doesn't come for free; it takes effort on your part. Seriously... build your own, then set up an ethernet tap with Snort to see what's coming and going on your network. The latter step with Snort personally taught me more about networking, protocols, and packets than any Man-page or article.
Build it... you'll be amazed at what it does for your networking/security skills.
I've been trying to get Smoothwall to work... (Score:2)
At least there hasn't been any friction with my boss about this. I just hope in the future, they polish up the documentation, rather than gloss over t
Suggestions for hardware? (Score:3, Interesting)
I now run a LinkSys BEFSR411. Not as secure - it cannot do both SPI and redirect, and it does not do VPN.
Why the switch? I wanted to get away from an old PC with moving parts that could fail, and I wanted the four-port 10/100 switch, which finally gave me the ability to run 100 Mbps between the computers that supported it.
Recent issues with business clients have brought security back to mind, and after looking at the popular canned products (LinkSys/NetGear, etc.) I conclude that the old roll-your-own approach OF TEN YEARS AGO is more secure.
I want a roll-your-own solution (possibly SmoothWall, possibly something else) that runs on the equivalent of LinkSys hardware:
- No moving parts. Preferably not even a fan.
- Flash memory for filesystem.
- Multiple 10/100 ports, preferably independently controllable so you can set up a DMZ, or different rules for different machines.
Does such a beast exist, in a relatively user-friendly form and without being more expensive than the old desktop that would otherwise be used?
Re:Suggestions for hardware? (Score:4, Interesting)
- No moving parts. Preferably not even a fan.
- Flash memory for filesystem.
- Multiple 10/100 ports, preferably independently controllable so you can set up a DMZ, or different rules for different machines.
Does such a beast exist, in a relatively user-friendly form and without being more expensive than the old desktop that would otherwise be used?
Soekris [soekris.com]. Check out their net4801 [soekris.com]. Whack OpenBSD on that and you are pretty much done.
Re:Suggestions for hardware? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Suggestions for hardware? (Score:2)
You can download the free version, or buy the whole thing installed on an IDE flash disk. You can also buy the flash disk/OS preinstalled on a SBC. Not quite free, but not badly priced either.
Re:Suggestions for hardware? (Score:2)
The GCT Allwell [allwell.tv] is a set-top-box type PC that has no moving parts. There are articles on how to use it with linux as a firewall. You can get a box for as little as $300 USD
Re:Suggestions for hardware? (Score:3, Interesting)
For software run Debian Stable, and use WebMin to administer your firewall (and system). Set up a cron job to "apt-get update; apt-get upgrade" every day. The system will run like an appliance. Stable, reliable, secure. You might have to reboot th
Re:Suggestions for hardware? (Score:2)
as for rolling your own, there's flash hd thingys and some very small pc's with multiple lans. www.gadgetcomputer.com has one such a thing, then there's the via's and oth
OpenBSD (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:OpenBSD (Score:5, Funny)
Re:OpenBSD (Score:2)
Multi Network Firewall (Score:4, Informative)
LEAF is very solid (Score:3, Informative)
IPCop (Score:2, Interesting)
I was looking at Smoothwall a few months back, but found that I was scared off by the various versions etc... It really didn't seem clear if the GPL version would be supported for long. I ended up rolling my own Debian based system, but looked carefully at IPCop too.
(Actually just posting to eliminate some bad modding.)
BalamMirror of ISO image (Score:3, Informative)
HTTP [planetmirror.com] | FTP [planetmirror.com].
Is it possible to have a NATed VPN? (Score:2)
So, will this allow me to run multiple clients from home through the firewall? I have
Astaro Much Better (Score:5, Informative)
It's of course free for home use, runs on anything down to a P100, and all the up2date is handled by Astaro themselves.
Hell, they even have FREE evaluation webinar-live-workshops for people to get acquainted with Astaro if they are new (and presumeably to help with a purchasing decision for business) You can signup for the Eval Workshop for free here [astaro.com].
When they release their version 5, I hope it gets the same kind of publicity, they are hands down the coolest internet firewall and don't seem to get much press.
Smoothwall kicks ass. (Score:5, Informative)
The most recent I'm using is Pendolino and it's great.
I have installed several customer sites with Beta5 (after extensive testing at my site) and they are all very pleased with it.
I highly recomend it. You can take an old PC and load it up and really be covered.
It's very easy to use, very reliable, very flexible.
What's even better is that you can use the built in,
transparent proxy (squid) to block ads. [martybugs.net] (sorry
I made a dull gray "this ad zapped" gif and put it in
Man, it's great. EVERY machine that I plug into my lan automatically gets it's ads zapped. Friends and customers are freaked out and impressed with that. Then after seeing how cool it is they want a smoothwall too. Problem is I end up setting them all up for free..
Smoothwall is very cool, get it....
My though on the type of distros (Score:5, Informative)
I guess most of what I said is common sense, and I'm sure those in the market for a PC based firewall have thought about it as well. I just thought I'd post in case you needed to be pushed one way or another.
How is the logging? (Score:4, Interesting)
The Sonicwall SOHO 2 serves its purpose in that it keeps out the worms and I can block/open ports.
But where it is truly awful is the detail of its logs. It will tell me the top IPs that got the most traffic - but it includes IPs that are outside of our network, and inside of our network. It will tell me the web URLs that get the most hits. And it tells me which protocols transmit the most data and how much that is.
But while that is nice in theory, it is largely useless.
I want to know what pages and what protocols specific inside IPs are doing. I want to know which inside computer is connecting to what outside computers over what protocols.
Also, if I block a protocol/port, it will still log all of the attempts towards it exactly the same as if it were being allowed in. It doesn't say that 1000 hits were attempted on it but didn't get in - it just says that there were N megs of data against it (apparently not through it).
I don't care about logging what they do - I'm pretty laid back about all of that. If they are doing naughty things, that is their deal (my superiors have yet to tell me otherwise).
But I do very much care if people have spyware or viruses on their systems - and a firewall is a great way to track down who has those issues. I can do it with what we have now, but it could be far easier.
I looked into Smoothwall and thought that it looked good - and it is free. Even then, I don't know if I can get money even to get a lowly machine to run as the firewall.
It isn't clear on their site how detailed the logs go.
And it isn't clear if I can mimic the same VPN processes that are in place now, with the Smoothwall system.
I would love to hear feedback about the software. That way I can make a more informed decision as to what to do about the overpriced SOHO (in order to use features on it, you continually have to pay to have them turned on, such as VPN or virus checking).
if you're looking for a small firewall.... (Score:4, Interesting)
The 4801 I bought is a Pentium/266 with 128 megs of RAM, 3 network ports, a mini-IDE port (used for 2.5" hard drives [notebook style]), a compact flash port, a mini-PCI slot, and a 3.3v (only) regular PCI slot. This chipset has several known bugs, including a bad data-corruption bug with DMA mode hard drives that has not yet been worked around in Linux, to my knowledge. It's better to use it with a CF card (which can't do DMA) because of this, at least until they get that bug fixed. You can find some patches for the kernel via links off the main Soekris page, but I don't think there are any patches yet for the HD bug.
After about a week of futzing around with it, I finally got it running. Much of the pain was learning how PXE booting works. At this point, I have a Debian firewall with one external and two internal ports, and a 256MB internal "hard drive" (compact flash card). Everything is set up to log to RAM (instead of writing to the CF card, which is bad). The neatest part is that the machine is about the size of a trade paperback (it would be even smaller if they hadn't left room for a PCI card in the case), is absolutely silent, takes about ten watts of power, and has NO moving parts, so flinging it about isn't a problem. The chip is passively cooled, and doesn't even need a heat sink; the case gets mildly warm but never really gets hot. One of the neater gadgets I've played with recently.
Total net cost, including the CF card, was about $375, so it's not for the poor, and it's definitely not for the Smoothwall crowd. But if you're looking for a very sweet solution to the space-and-noise problem with a good, Linux-based firewall, this is a great solution.
As an aside, OpenBSD has patches to run with the net4801. I was having trouble getting OpenBSD's boot program to read the CF properly, and then suddenly ran short on time because my old P133 firewall started losing its hard drive. Pressed for time, I gave up on OpenBSD and installed Linux.... but, at least in theory, it should run well. OpenBSD also has support for hardware crypto accelerators, which you'll need if you want to do VPN with a box this slow. (that's one good use for the expansion slots.) I only saw one Linux hardware crypto driver, and it looked unfinished and primitive. Definitely a spot where OpenBSD looks to be ahead.
Nice little box. I'm very fond of mine.
OpenBSD (Score:3, Interesting)
Smaller Alternative - freeSCO (Score:4, Interesting)
its worth checking out.. www.freesco.org
Re:I downloaded Linux (Score:5, Funny)
I wonder when the rest of the OSs of the world will realize that XPs new focus on security first is the way to go.
Re:I downloaded Linux (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Developer issues/fork (Score:3, Informative)
Yes, he uses that name. The subject of internet connection sharing came up on my local linux usergroup mailing list. I suggested a cheap NAT router on the grounds of noise (no fans or whirring drives). It's a friendly local discussion list and I was a bit shocked to get a flaming rant from Mr Morell in response.
Re:Developer issues/fork (Score:5, Insightful)
But Morell was in a league of his own. Most rude types are simply rude. Morell was the strutting peacock of rudeness amongst a rabble of sparrows and starlings.