is smoothwall a good choice?

[lench]

hey all
as the title says would linux smoothwall be a good choice for my home network ive got a hand-me-down dual 120 with about 48 meg of ram (im planning on expanding it) but is this a good choice for a server of this size and for someone starting out on linux?

[Stormcr0w]

I haven't really tried 'Smoothwall' however I have had to deal with a system running 'Shorewall'

These packages are great if you want to set up a firewall machine and not really learn anything.

If you are looking to learn more, you may want to set up your own IPCHAINS or IPTABLES based firewall script.

Fore more information, please see the following web sites:

Linux IPCHAINS-HOWTO

or

Linux iptables HOWTO (for Linux 2.4.x kernels)

[dAggressor]

I agree with stormcrow iptables would be your best bet if you are looking to learn. After you are familiar with iptables you can use http://morizot.net/firewall/gen/ to generate you a firewall and use your new found knowlege to customize it to your liking. This will just get through all the mundane steps and get you going.

[problemchild]

To rephrase the two posts above just a bit, it depends on what you want from it. If you are looking to turn an old PC into a no-muss, no-fuss firewall appliance similar to commercially available standalone routers, then by all accounts Smothwall is a great choice. (I have never actually used it myself, but all the reviews I have heard have been positive.) Most of the Linux distrubutions of this type, including IPCop, Mandrake SNF, Shorewall, and others, have nice web-based configuration utilities which make administration relatively painless.

If, however, you are interested in learning how Linux and/or iptables works, these distros will keep much hidden from you. In that case, you would probably do better with Red Hat and one of the above-referenced HOWTOs. It all depends on how far you want to get into the guts of your firewall.

[lench]

yeah i just need it at the moment to manage the network i dont have that much experience with any linux distro, either i couldnt figure it out or found no real current use for it so hopefully this is a good starting point for me. I will probably go into the IPtables stuff when i get a bit more cumfortable with the system
thanx guys