Which OS for this machine - Firewall, web hosting, IP masquerading, etc.

[Fun Guy]

I will have two workstations in my small office. I only have one static IP from my ISP, but want to be able to access the internet from both machines, as well as host a web site with all the goodies (FTP, etc). I built a third, dual-processor box for this purpose and called it the Firewall Box (the reason for this name is that I have a T1 into my home office and can see everyone else's machine on the network - very scary).

Now, I already installed Red Hat 6.1 Professional on the Firewall Box, but only now need to configure it for its original purpose since I am bringing the second workstation on-line. I am rethinking this original strategy since I have an OEM copy of Win2K Server (additionally, I was not relishing the idea of learning UNIX just to configure this box). The more I think about it, the better re-configuring the box with Win2K begins to sound.

Here is the basic network:
- One NT4 Graphics/Digital Video Editing Workstation
- One Win2K/Win98/WinMe Multimedia Workstation
- One Firewall Box (Win2K Server? Red Hat 6.1?) with 2 network cards
- One Linksys 5-port 100MB switching hub
- One Ethernet-equipped workgroup laser printer

I figure the network connection will go directly into the Firewall Box, then input to the switching hub. The two workstations and the laser will then plug into outputs of the hub.

Any comments or opinions on this setup? I am pretty familiar with NT4 so I feel comfortable setting up Win2K Server on the Firewall box. Are there any features/functions I will be losing out on by going Win2K rather than Linux on the Firewall Box? Anything else I need to keep in mind as I move forward?

Thanks in advance for any and all help on this.

 

[Fun Guy]

Anyone?

 

[Sunner]

Linux.
Try TurboLinux server, its very geared towards server duties and easy to setup, including ipchains, samba, etc etc.

 

[Rawdog]

Windows 2000 has a great NAT router that is easy to configure and acts as a firewall for you internal network (not including the router/server itself) and of course there are web hosting abilities built in. This is the setup that I'm using and it works great. Easy to configure and solid as a rock. Easiest solution by far.

Rawdog

 

[GL]

This system is just begging for a linux distro at the very least - when you get to be good, move on to a BSD I prefer Slackware because it's just rock solid and has the fewest bugs out of all the major distros, but any distro will pretty much do.

-GL

 

[Wik]

Freesco router. Free software that runs off of a floppy. Easier and better then anything else I have tried. Windows2k,WindowsME,Windows98SE and a Netgear router are all in my collection. Freesco does the job better then all of em.

www.freesco.com

 

[rahvin]

Use linux, choice of variant is up to you. (I prefer redhat)

 

[Chatterjee]

yeah and change that 5port hub to a switch... i don't know... I just like them better and they make a lot more sense... if you pricematch staples with buy.com and tack on a coupon from techb@rgains.com and then send in the rebate, you can get one for $18.00! 5-port linksys switch.. very cool.