GREEN + RED smoothwall question

[chuckywang]

I have a cable modem connected through a router. Do I need two NIC cards to use smoothwall?

If yes, do I connect the cable modem to smoothwall through one ethernet card and then connect the other ethernet card on smoothwall to the router?

If no, what do I do?


Thanks.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Yes you do. Connect the cable modem to one and the other to your switch or hub. Smoothwall takes the place of a router.

 

[keeleysam]

Well, yes, two NICS

Cable Modem -> NIC 1 -> Smoothwall -> NIC2 -> Router

On the router, mkae sure to disable DHCP, NAT, DNS, etc, as the new job of the router is jsut to be a hub/switch.

 

[thirdlegstump]

does the free version do traffic shaping?

 

[chuckywang]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Yes you do. Connect the cable modem to one and the other to your switch or hub. Smoothwall takes the place of a router.

What's the difference between the switch/hub and the router then?

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: chuckywang

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Yes you do. Connect the cable modem to one and the other to your switch or hub. Smoothwall takes the place of a router.

What's the difference between the switch/hub and the router then?

Routers route, switches switch.

 

[Diaonic]

No the free version does not do traffic shaping.

Yes you need two nics, one for LAN and one for "WAN" or your internet connection. You can also put more nics in the box than two to support DMZ zones.

I.E
3 nics would be
LAN
WAN
DMZ

 

[chuckywang]

Originally posted by: keeleysam
Well, yes, two NICS

Cable Modem -> NIC 1 -> Smoothwall -> NIC2 -> Router

On the router, mkae sure to disable DHCP, NAT, DNS, etc, as the new job of the router is jsut to be a hub/switch.

I see. Is Smoothwall actually a better firewall solution than a router? I have a Netgear WGR614, found here: http://www.netgear.com/products/details/WGR614.php

 

[Diaonic]

From my experiences, if you have the space / equipment and time to set it up, I would go with smoothwall.

If you are looking for something small and compact for a friendly home network, just get something off the shelf.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: chuckywang

Originally posted by: keeleysam
Well, yes, two NICS

Cable Modem -> NIC 1 -> Smoothwall -> NIC2 -> Router

On the router, mkae sure to disable DHCP, NAT, DNS, etc, as the new job of the router is jsut to be a hub/switch.

I see. Is Smoothwall actually a better firewall solution than a router? I have a Netgear WGR615, found here: http://www.netgear.com/products/details/WGR614.php

It depends on how fancy you want to get. Linux or a better solution provide you with more tools to play with.