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Firewall distro // forwarding from router?
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Firewall distro // forwarding from router?

krs360krs360 Member
edited March 2013 in General

Hello,

Been reading a little bit about making your own personal router/firewall, etc. I'm currently with BT as my ISP in the UK using the Home Hub 3, this servers as the router and firewall as one.

I have an old machine here that I use for different projects and alike, infact it's an old laptop with a broken screen - dual core / 4gb ram / 40GB HDD (previous one failed on me). Obviously it has ethernet and wireless capabilities. Is it possible for me to install something like pfsense/ip cop and have it handle fire walling and DHCP?
There doesn't seem to be any obvious option within the router to forward all traffic to a specific location.

There's no real purpose to this other than for my own knowledge, the Home Hub does what I need it to but I'm interesting in configuring something like this.

If not possible I could dig out an OLD machine and pickup a PCI ADSL card for it I guess..

Comments

  • @krs360 said: old laptop
    @krs360 said: dual core / 4gb ram

    my desktop is older than that :(

  • @Bogdacutuu said: my desktop is older than that :(

    To be honest it would probably get more use but a friend damaged it and cracked the screen badly. Could replace it easily enough but for the price of the screen it's not really worth it IMO.

    I'm gonna speak to my lecturer at uni and see if he can "find" an old PC and then add an ADSL card to that to test out firewalls, etc.

  • prae5prae5 Member

    @krs360 said: There doesn't seem to be any obvious option within the router to forward all traffic to a specific location.

    Homehubs do support port forwarding - http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/32211

  • Go to the local Salvage yard. We (the local organization I'm part of) received some pretty decent dual core computers for 20 dollars (with a monitor).

  • sleddogsleddog Member
    edited March 2013

    @krs360 said: dual core / 4gb ram / 40GB HDD

    Overkill :)

    • Download m0n0wall and burn a CD
    • Pull out the harddrive. Not needed and it's only a point of failure.
    • Add a USB stick. One of those too-small-for any-real-use ones, like 64 MB :)
    • Add an external monitor for setup (as the screen is broken)
    • Connect ethernet
    • Boot to the CD and do the initial config
    • Login and administer via the Web UI.
  • HalfEatenPieHalfEatenPie Veteran
    edited March 2013

    @sleddog is the man. I totally blanked about m0n0wall.

  • @prae5 yep I have PF setup for many things at home.. I was looking for a way to forward all traffic to the installed distro and then to the relevant devices if permitted.

    @HalfEatenPie salvage yard? I'm in the UK and Cornwall at that. Maybe I'll check local paper to pickup something real cheap.

    @sleddog I'll need any PC to have two network interfaces? I'm assuming the internal ADSL card and Ethernet..

  • @krs360 said: @sleddog I'll need any PC to have two network interfaces? I'm assuming the internal ADSL card and Ethernet..

    I totally misread where you said, "There doesn't seem to be any obvious option within the router to forward all traffic to a specific location."

    Yes, you'd need two network interfaces to have the laptop assume all functions of the current router. One connected to WAN and the other LAN. A USB Ethernet adaptor would probably do to add the second ethernet, and is pretty cheap...

  • Regards to pfsense vs. m0n0wall, pfsense is more feature-rich, but it does push you towards a harddrive installation. I love my m0n0wall (that boots from a CD and stores its configuration on a USB stick) because I know I'll never, ever wake up to a failed HDD :)

  • @sleddog I think I'm maybe better off picking up an old PC which is no longer in use and also a PCI ADSL card.

    Even if I could find a USB ADSL adapter (prob have the old green speedtouch frog around somewhere) the speed will be terrible and I'm due for FTTP anytime now - finally up to 330mbit down link as the exchange is opposite my house..

  • @sleddog said: USB stick) because I know I'll never, ever wake up to a failed HDD :)

    I have a ton of USB sticks kicking around.. actually have three attached to my keys now.. overkill, I know.

    Thanks for the input in distros though, once I've acquired the parts I'll give it a shot.

  • @krs360 said: @sleddog I think I'm maybe better off picking up an old PC which is no longer in use and also a PCI ADSL card.

    Yes, generally more tinkerable than a laptop :)

    I'm not sure what you mean by ADSL card. My m0n0wall has two identical, PCI, bog-standard Intel NICs: one handles my ISP's ASDL connection, the other on LAN.

  • I'm still on ADSL at the minute through a copper phone line and thus the connection from NTE to router is through an rj11 cable not Ethernet.

    So I guess I need an ADSL PCI card to negotiate the connection between me and my ISP.

    @sleddog

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