One of the really nice things about using the e-Smith as a firewall is you do not need to know all this to set it up. Simply insert and boot from the CD. Only a few set up questions like verifying the NIC's that are found and the rest is done automatically. When I tested it at some of the sites that test security it came back very secure. Tom ----- Original Message ----- Date: Sat, 4 May 2002 01:35:42 -0700 From: "Robert A. Klahn" To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us Subject: Firewalling as an introductory Linux topic (was: Re: PLUG-discuss digest, Vol 1 #2205 - 2 msgs) Reply-To: plug-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us Mike (and the list): This is probably not the answer you really want, but I'm just going to be a tad honest here. Your easiest path, as a self-described newbie, is to probably go out and just buy that Linksys router/firewall. It should work, and will probably suit your needs just fine. Firewalling is a somewhat advanced topic, and might not be a suitable place to start to learn about Linux. I'm not saying that it cant be done, many people have used Linux to do exactly what you are trying to do, but it requires a background in both UNIX and Networking that the typical newbie to Linux just does not have. If you do attempt to set up the Linux box as a firewall, which I still encourage you to do so, you will learn a LOT about Linux and Networking. This might be useful to you, but it will not happen quickly, expect to devote about 3-4 weeks to setting your box up to do this, between hacking around on the box, reading HOWTOs, and waiting for replies on the list. If you do choose to go forward with this, there are a lot of people on this list, including myself, more than willing to give you a hand, and show the way. For starters: The answer to your "How do I set up eth1?" question is in Chapter 12 of the Red Hat Linux Reference Guide, _Network Scripts_ at http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-7.2-Manual/ref-guide/ch-network scripts.html. The short answer is, as root, run "redhat-config-network", but you really should read and understand this chapter. You should read Chapter 18 in the Red Hat Linux Reference Guide _Firewalling with iptables_ http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-7.2-Manual/ref-guide/ch-iptable s.html . This does not have everything you need, but to set up the firewall you are going to need to understand most everything in this chapter. You will need to focus on _iptables_, _ipchains_ is an older firewalling implementation, and as someone running a 2.4 kernel, you don't really need to know about _ipchains_ except, perhaps, as a historical reference. The Netfilter site http://netfilter.samba.org/ has a lot of useful information on Linux Firewalling and Networking in general. The Networking Concepts HOWTO provides a good introduction to Networking in general, if you understand firewalling already, you probably don't need to cover this, but here it is anyways: http://netfilter.samba.org/documentation/HOWTO//networking-concepts-HOWTO.ht ml The NAT Howto http://netfilter.samba.org/documentation/HOWTO//NAT-HOWTO.html covers the topic of Network Address Translation, which you are going to need to understand to get packets from your eth1 network to your eth0 network, and vice versa. Despite the fact that these pages live at samba.org, you are not going to have to install Samba to get this to work. In fact, the advice that someone else gave before, that (and Im paraphrasing here) a Firewall should be nothing but a Firewall is very prudent advice. Good Luck. Bob. --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.351 / Virus Database: 197 - Release Date: 4/20/2002