> 1) Is it better to use a purpose built distribution such as > Smoothwall, IPCop or firewall specific ones from Redhat, Mandrake, > SuSE etc, or, would it be better to use a standard distro & built it > from scratch (bearing in mind I haven't yet recompiled a kernel but > I'm willing to give that a go too)?
You'll learn a lot more about Linux by building it from scratch. However, time is a luxury you may not have. > > 2) If building from scratch, kernel version 2.4 supports both > ipchains & iptables (newer)- does anyone have a strong view on using > one over the other? If using a purpose built one, does anyone have any > experienced based preferences? Definitely IPTABLES. It can keep track of connection state where ipchains cannot. > > 3) Other than just suggesting to do a google search, are there any > resources (a simple step by step howto would be good) you would > recommend for the suggested approach? Look at www.tldp.org. Also, do a google search for "Iptables Tutorial". There is a good tutorial available that was written by Oskar Andreasson. Steve Bremer NEBCO, Inc.
