Need advice on home network/server setup

[DT4K]

OK, here's the deal. I've got an Athlon XP system with winXP Pro that I recently built. I use it mostly for online gaming, internet, email, etc. Some of the parts were taken from my old k6-2 380. As soon as I get a new hard drive and monitor, I'll be putting the k6-2 back together.

I will be putting Redhat 7.2 on the k6 system and setting up Apache/Tomcat as a web server and either an Oracle or MySQL database. I'm a Visual Basic programmer, but I want to get into Java and web/database programming, so I'm building the database and website for learning purposes.

I've got cable modem service that uses DHCP, so I'll probably want to use a dynamic IP service to keep my site accessible. And I've only got one IP and a hardware router is not in my budget right now.

So does anyone have advice on the best setup?

Should I have the linux box(web/database server) serve as a router too?
Or would it be better to use the WinXP system as the gateway/router?

I'm not sure which setup would be best for my online gaming on the Win XP system. I'm less worried about the web/database server performance since it's only for educational purposes and to have fun with.

Anyone have experience with something like this? It seems that configuring the linux box as a router is fairly complex, but I don't mind learning if you guys think that would be a better setup.

If I can afford it in a few months, is it worth buying a hardware router?

Thanks

 

[Pheran]

Shanti,

I would get a hardware router when/if you can afford it. I absolutely love my Linksys BEFSR41. Also bear in mind that you can find deals as low as $30 on some hardware routers these days.

If you can't do that, I would definitely choose Linux over XP for use as a NAT router. Keep in mind that you will need a second NIC and you are correct in that it may take some time and effort to learn how to configure things correctly.

 

[DT4K]

I was also thinking that having the linux box as the router might be a better choice, but I don't know why. Can you tell me what the advantages would be? It seems that windows would be easier to set up that way.

If I go with a hardware router eventually, do you see any problems with running a database/web server and having a system for online gaming? I don't know that much about it, but I know I need to be able to open ports for the web server and for hosting games. What's the best inexpensive router that gives you control over opening and closing ports and would allow me to run both of these machines?

Thanks

 

[WholeMIlk]

My recommendation would be to use the computer as an e-smith serverE-smith server. It's based off a redhat kernel, and provides NAT, DHCP, DNS, MySql, Apache, PHP, Perl, POP, IMAP, SMTP, just to name a few...