Linux Forums?

[Fuzzmuncher]

Does anyone know of a good linux forum?

Trying to find guidance on setting up Redhat 8 as a router.

 

[Need4Speed]

why not just use a smaller linux distro thats compiled for that task...such as smoothwall?

 

[Fuzzmuncher]

Already got redhat8 installed 😉

 

[Need4Speed]

lol...should be easy enough to undo 🙂
smoothwall installs in about 5 minutes and is one of the best router distros I have used. check it out at smoothwall.org.

 

[Fuzzmuncher]

I would really like to use Redhat on this computer as I FINALLY got my other programs stable.
So any advice would be greatly apreciated.

However, I am interested in smoothwall for another computer. Should I use the stable version or the beta?

 

[Mucho]

You could try posting at: http://www.linuxnewbie.org/

 

[jfall]

www.linuxquestions.org

 

[Need4Speed]

Originally posted by: Fuzzmuncher
I would really like to use Redhat on this computer as I FINALLY got my other programs stable.
So any advice would be greatly apreciated.

However, I am interested in smoothwall for another computer. Should I use the stable version or the beta?

so you are planning on using a non-dedicated pc as a router? no a good idea if you ask me. the whole point of having a router and NAT, is to incorporate some type of firewalling as well. The pc that will be acting as the router will be fully exposed on the controller. I'd reconsider my options.

 

[burnedout]

How about a newsgroup? alt.os.linux.redhat

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Need4Speed

Originally posted by: Fuzzmuncher
I would really like to use Redhat on this computer as I FINALLY got my other programs stable.
So any advice would be greatly apreciated.

However, I am interested in smoothwall for another computer. Should I use the stable version or the beta?

so you are planning on using a non-dedicated pc as a router? no a good idea if you ask me. the whole point of having a router and NAT, is to incorporate some type of firewalling as well. The pc that will be acting as the router will be fully exposed on the controller. I'd reconsider my options.

How much can you really learn from a half OS like the linux router project? How useful is it really? How much fun is it setting up? Do you put it on your resume?

 

[Need4Speed]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: Need4Speed

Originally posted by: Fuzzmuncher
I would really like to use Redhat on this computer as I FINALLY got my other programs stable.
So any advice would be greatly apreciated.

However, I am interested in smoothwall for another computer. Should I use the stable version or the beta?

so you are planning on using a non-dedicated pc as a router? no a good idea if you ask me. the whole point of having a router and NAT, is to incorporate some type of firewalling as well. The pc that will be acting as the router will be fully exposed on the controller. I'd reconsider my options.

How much can you really learn from a half OS like the linux router project? How useful is it really? How much fun is it setting up? Do you put it on your resume?

He didn't mention that he wanted to learn linux from setting up a router, he said he wanted to set up routing. I only suggested what I thought was the best route (no pun intended 🙂 )to get him to the end result.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Need4Speed

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

Originally posted by: Need4Speed

Originally posted by: Fuzzmuncher
I would really like to use Redhat on this computer as I FINALLY got my other programs stable.
So any advice would be greatly apreciated.

However, I am interested in smoothwall for another computer. Should I use the stable version or the beta?

so you are planning on using a non-dedicated pc as a router? no a good idea if you ask me. the whole point of having a router and NAT, is to incorporate some type of firewalling as well. The pc that will be acting as the router will be fully exposed on the controller. I'd reconsider my options.

How much can you really learn from a half OS like the linux router project? How useful is it really? How much fun is it setting up? Do you put it on your resume?

He didn't mention that he wanted to learn linux from setting up a router, he said he wanted to set up routing. I only suggested what I thought was the best route (no pun intended 🙂 )to get him to the end result.

All I meant is that there are advantages to using a full operating system instead of a neutered version when setting something like this up. One of the biggest ones I didnt mention was the ability to easily run a distributed client on the machine to contribute to Team Anandtech 🙂

 

[Need4Speed]

Is it useful? depends on what you define as useful for yourself, I can't make that decision for you. Yes, I find smoothwall useful.
Is it fun setting up? Again, that depends on you. If you get a kick out of setting up routers the it's probably barrels of fun for you...lots of options that can be tweaked and button to be pressed..how can that not be fun.
Would I put it on my resume? probably not since it would look out of place and everyone in my field could care less about smoothwall or linux for that matter.

 

[n0cmonkey]

.

 

[Need4Speed]

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

All I meant is that there are advantages to using a full operating system instead of a neutered version when setting something like this up. One of the biggest ones I didnt mention was the ability to easily run a distributed client on the machine to contribute to Team Anandtech 🙂

Once again, you're right...there are tremendous advantages to running a full blown OS, instead of stripped down version. But it really depends on the intended use.

If his ultimate goal is to learn HOW to set up NAT and Firewalling, then the full blown OS is the way to go. I'm certainly do not disagree with you on that.

However, if his ultimate goal is to have a router, then a stripped distro would be the way to go, IMHO, for a couple of reasons. First, the end justifies the means and he would have a router setup in minutes, rather than having to go through the learning curve of having to do it himself. You know as well as I do, that there are a ton of peeps on this forum that have no interest in how to do something, but would rather just have the answer...we've both answered threads like that. Secondly, the stripped down version would offer more security in that there are less holes to exploit. Less services running means less vulnerabilities.

It boils down to the fact that we interpeted his post 2 different ways...I assumed he wanted a router and only made a recommendation based on that. You assumed he wanted to learn linux. Neither is wrong. The beauty of such forums as this, is the diveristy of replies that you can get from posts such as this.

My apologies to Fuzzmuncher for not answering his post in the way he intended. With that said, if you google for "ipchains HOWTO" or or "iptables HOWTO" you will find many sites with good info on setting up linux for routing and firewalling.

-patrick

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Need4Speed

Originally posted by: n0cmonkey

All I meant is that there are advantages to using a full operating system instead of a neutered version when setting something like this up. One of the biggest ones I didnt mention was the ability to easily run a distributed client on the machine to contribute to Team Anandtech 🙂

Once again, you're right...there are tremendous advantages to running a full blown OS, instead of stripped down version. But it really depends on the intended use.

Exactly 🙂

If his ultimate goal is to learn HOW to set up NAT and Firewalling, then the full blown OS is the way to go. I'm certainly do not disagree with you on that.

However, if his ultimate goal is to have a router, then a stripped distro would be the way to go, IMHO, for a couple of reasons. First, the end justifies the means and he would have a router setup in minutes, rather than having to go through the learning curve of having to do it himself.

Ever watch GI Joe? Remember the saying at the end of every episode? 😉

You know as well as I do, that there are a ton of peeps on this forum that have no interest in how to do something, but would rather just have the answer...we've both answered threads like that.

And you have probably read enough of my posts to know how I feel about those threads. The recommendation to use a router distro was not out of place.

Secondly, the stripped down version would offer more security in that there are less holes to exploit. Less services running means less vulnerabilities.

And I can strip OpenBSD down to that level in a day. I can make it reasonably secure in 10 minutes after an install. Why? Because I know what Im doing. Getting rid of a lot of things without knowing what you are doing is only half the battle.

It boils down to the fact that we interpeted his post 2 different ways...I assumed he wanted a router and only made a recommendation based on that. You assumed he wanted to learn linux. Neither is wrong. The beauty of such forums as this, is the diveristy of replies that you can get from posts such as this.

Exactly, and thats part of the reason I edited my last post out. I didnt think it was saying exactly what I wanted to say the way I wanted to say it. But it basically boiled down to something similar to your post.

My apologies to Fuzzmuncher for not answering his post in the way he intended. With that said, if you google for "ipchains HOWTO" or or "iptables HOWTO" you will find many sites with good info on setting up linux for routing and firewalling.

-patrick

The IPTables site is located at netfilter.samba.org I believe. They have some decent documentation there.