[ale] Linux box as a router w/DHCP

[Mike Kachline]

I would have to give a good word for IPcop. I've got a PII with 128MB of ram
running IPCop as our home interface between DSL and the intranet.

Out of the box, you get the "normal" firewall capabilities, a LAN "DHCP"
server, dyndns updates, graphical display of traffic history, and easy setup
for PPPoE. Once you get used to the "red / green / orange / blue" way of
thinking, setup for either a wireless network or a traditional DMZ is fairly
straightforward. On adding the "zerina" package in, creating OpenVPN
connections is ridiculously simple now.

 Probably the biggest "win" for us though, was IPCop's QoS capabilities.
Though I wound up hand-hacking a single ipcop config file, ipcop made a
world of difference for the quality of our vonage line. We went from near
dropping vonage due to quality issues, to vonage "behaving" pretty much like
a normal phone now. IPCop's QoS helped remove the "dropped packets" issue,
and, using Ipcop to handle PPPoE authentication (versus either our DSL
modem, or the Vonage router) helped solve an issue in which our Vonage
router would eventually stop answering phone calls.

I would agree that many of the third party, bolt-on scripts are a bit obtuse
to add into ipcop. However, if you are looking for a linux based router /
firewall, which would compete in the realm of the $150+, off-the-shelf
firewalls, then, ipcop is worth looking at. Out of the box, it's probably
got everything you want.

   - Mike



On 1/22/07, James Sumners <james.sumners at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> There is also IPCop (http://ipcop.org/). I considered using it at one
> point, but I find third party scripts to be too complex and difficult
> to manage for my needs.
>
> On 1/22/07, Jeff Hubbs <hbbs at comcast.net> wrote:
> > Seems that SentryCD became abandonware in March '06.
> >
> > - Jeff
>
> --
> James Sumners
> http://james.roomfullofmirrors.com/
>
> "All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts
> pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it
> is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become
> drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted."
>
> Missionaria Protectiva, Text QIV (decto)
> CH:D 59
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>



-- 
Mike Kachline
mkachline at gmail.com
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