What is too much hardware to use as a Firewall?

[PlatinumGold]

OK, so i have my handy old Gateway 6400 duallie 1 ghz P3 with 1 gb of Ram sitting around doing nothing and i thought, hmm, why not install Small Business Server w2k3 on it and use it as a firewall,

i know, a linux firewall will kick the win2k3's @ss ALL over the fvcking place, but i need to stay up on win2k3 server and my clients refuse to use linux.

so, is it too much hardware or is it JUST enough considering the OS is Win2k3 and not Linux. (and yes, i realize that it would be waayyy too much hardware for linux or bsd)

 

[Heisenberg]

Good god, a dual gigahertz machine as a firewall? Yeah, that's overkill. Using anything more than a PII 233 for a linux firewall is overkill IMHO.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: Heisenberg
Good god, a dual gigahertz machine as a firewall? Yeah, that's overkill. Using anything more than a PII 233 for a linux firewall is overkill IMHO.

even with win2k3 small business server as the OS??

btw, it HAS to be small business server as that is what i will be selling to clients.

 

[Heisenberg]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: Heisenberg
Good god, a dual gigahertz machine as a firewall? Yeah, that's overkill. Using anything more than a PII 233 for a linux firewall is overkill IMHO.

even with win2k3 small business server as the OS??

btw, it HAS to be small business server as that is what i will be selling to clients.

I don't know how much hardware 2k3 needs to run, and I guess if you are using it as a learning/display machine then maybe not. Still seems like a lot of power though. Certainly linux on that would be way overkill.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: Heisenberg

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold

Originally posted by: Heisenberg
Good god, a dual gigahertz machine as a firewall? Yeah, that's overkill. Using anything more than a PII 233 for a linux firewall is overkill IMHO.

even with win2k3 small business server as the OS??

btw, it HAS to be small business server as that is what i will be selling to clients.

I don't know how much hardware 2k3 needs to run, and I guess if you are using it as a learning/display machine then maybe not. Still seems like a lot of power though. Certainly linux on that would be way overkill.

agreed. i would never waste this machine on Linux or BSD variant.

i guess i could try and sell it, but i'm not likely to get more than $600 or so for it. and i'd still have to scrounge up another machine to use as firewall.

no, this one will have to do.

 

[slycat]

a single 1ghz will do nicely for sbs2003.
1gig ram is also kinda overkill. if u have 50 clients or more then go with the original specs.
if <50, 1ghz with 512++ ram is good.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: slycat
a single 1ghz will do nicely for sbs2003.
1gig ram is also kinda overkill. if u have 50 clients or more then go with the original specs.
if <50, 1ghz with 512++ ram is good.

hmmm, how much do you think i can get for the ram and cpu??


the thing is, i'm not going out and buying this hardware, it's just sitting here doing nothing. like most aters (i'm willing to bet) i have more hardware than i actually need (and i use quite a bit of it).

 

[kami333]

1Ghz PIIIs will bring in quite a bit of money on eBay and PC133 prices are higher than DDR prices now.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: kami333
1Ghz PIIIs will bring in quite a bit of money on eBay and PC133 prices are higher than DDR prices now.

cool.

mb i part it out and sell it.

the mb is a RMA one (a tech came out and installed it for me).

 

[Tab]

You could use a old Pentium if you wanted too Smoothwall is the sh1t.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: Tabb
You could use a old Pentium if you wanted too Smoothwall is the sh1t.

i'm aware of smoothwall, have done several installs of it etc, but it's not what i'll be selling.

very few of my clients are willing to save the money and go the linux route, most would rather buy dell computers and use MS products.

oh well.

 

[slycat]

Dell computers and MS is the sh1t!


if that 1gz p3 is slot1 its worth easily $100++ and if the ram is ecc reg its worth more too.

 

[slycat]

o yeh..if ur just wanting a MS firewall, why not isa server instead of full blown sbs2003?...unless they need
other stuff in it too.

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: slycat
o yeh..if ur just wanting a MS firewall, why not isa server instead of full blown sbs2003?...unless they need
other stuff in it too.

cause i wanna play around with SBS2003, particularly the Sharepoint.