Preserved Topic: Firewall Box

I am looking to set up a fire wall box. Simple FreeBSD or Linux install configured to monitor all the traffic and act as a firewall.

I can get some really cheap computers:

P75 16M ram 1.44 floppy for $39 and better models are also available.

However, with my connections being either Cable or shared T3s I am wondering if the horsepower is really there to both channel my connection through as well as to monitor the system.

Does anyone have any ideas what sort of requirements I would be facing here?

I ran a proxy/firewall for a while on a old 166MHz computer it ran fine for days at a time, but after a while the RAM would load up and slow down my connection untill it eventually stoped responding. What proxy software are you using? I was using All_Aboard, Now I'm running 5 computers on a router w/ 1 port which goes to a hub and then to another hub for the downstairs. Each computer has a LAN IP and the network has a WAN IP the LAN IPs were 192.0.0.101, 192.0.0.102, etc... and when I typed in the WAN IP in a web browser on any of the computers it would bring up a security and statistics website all stored in the RAM of my router, it was nice, and it could send a log file to any computer that you selected every so often showing which ports were used, what IPs(with domain names) were accessed, and some other stuff, the router is a LINKSYS BEFSR11. Good luck with your networking experience.

I am thinking more along the line of an ICS, by methods shown at practicallynetworked.com. It will probabally be using some Linux/Unix router software.

How much ram were you using on your machine? What opperating system were you using?

My main goal with this box would to be a nice little hacking toy as well as a fire wall. It would sit as a go between for my current computer and the network. Just a nice little bit of added protection. I am currently looking at 16meg of ram, but for a mear $7 you can get huge chips at pricewatch.com.

I just don't know what sort of specs I would need currently. Companies are still using VAX and 386's for their servers so I think it might work fine, but I don't know. A near constant load of 100k per second might cause problem?

I think i hade 64 plus 2 other cheap sticks i stole from a small computer store

i like this new kid already.

lol