Edmund, I new to to BRLUG, but I've recently upgraded my single floppy Linux firewall, so I can give you a quick run down on what's currently available. There are some CD-ROM based firewalls that use a floppy to store configurations, but I haven't tried any of them. I don't have a 486 or early Pentium machine that can boot off a CD-ROM. I also haven't tried FreeSCO.
Once the floppy is built, all of these routers can be easily modified just by logging in and follow the menu to edit the appropriate file. The reason for this is that they all started in the same place. The father of the floppy router is LRP - Linux Router Project. You can create the boot floppy in Linux, or download a pre-built floppy 'idiot image' in Windows and write it to the floppy using rawrite. You then boot off of it and configure it the way you want. LRP is more more powerful in that you can add more programs, but you have to know how you want your firewall rules set up. Coyote Linux is basically LRP with a few additions and a ready to go set of firewall rules. It also has the best installer of them all. You can configure and create the floppy from either Linux or Windows. And setting it up was just simple. I had to modify the rules to get VPN to work, but other than that, it was easy. When doing a scan of the firewall using GRC's Shields Up port scan, all ports were closed. Frazier Firewall is an off-shoot of Coyote Linux. It has two strong features going for it. The first is a built in web server so that you can see the status of your firewall, and a log of who is scanning the firewall; all from your web browser. You can even have this log emailed to you daily. The second feature is a much better set of pre-built firewall rules. I didn't need to change anything. On the Shields Up port scan, one port showed up as closed. All the rest were in stealth mode. Closed means that and outside computer can see the port, but can't access the port. Stealth means that an outside computer could not even see the port. Frazier has a few minor problems. It uses an earlier version of the Coyote installer, and CAN NOT be created in Windows. You have to use the 192.168.128.0-255 range of addresses for the internal LAN. If you have problems getting Frazier to work, create a Coyote Linux floppy and see how the modules file is set up, then set up Frazier the same. And I still can't get the DHCP server to work, so I just use static IP addresses. But it's increased security and ease of use once set up make it my personal choice. LRP: http://master-www.linuxrouter.org:8080/ Coyote Linux: http://www.coyotelinux.com/ Frazier Firewall: http://www.frazierwall.com/ Shields Up: http://grc.com/default.htm -Bruce Kives ____________________________________________________________________ Get free e-mail and a permanent address at http://www.amexmail.com/?A=1 ================================================ BRLUG - The Baton Rouge Linux User Group Visit http://www.brlug.net for more information. Send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] to change your subscription information. ================================================
