toomygs's thread o' computer router questions (ipcop/smoothwall/etc.)

[mojo]

Originally Posted by toomyg Hey why don't you start a NEW thread here about this computer to router stuff because I got afew questions and I don't want to mess up someone elses thread.

Here's your thread, what would you like to know?

[toomyg]

Were do I start and how much does the programs cost

I have an old pc pentium 233 mhz 64 mb ram so how do I make this work like a router

[mojo]

The programs are totally free, and that computer would be an absolutely perfect candidate, though a bit more RAM wouldn't hurt. Stick 2 network cards in there, install the free OS and you're good to go.

[toomyg]

You say install the free OS OK were do I go to get it? and the drivers for the network card(s)

I don't have anymore ram like that that PC could use BUT I do have another network card and a 8 port network switch if that will work

[Alaron]

http://www.smoothwall.org/

[mojo]

http://ipcop.org

[thefultonhow]

http://www.efw.it/

These are light on RAM and CPU usage, but you will need one network card per zone (two to four zones).

[toomyg]

so you really don't need an Operating system on the computer to run this stuff?

[glc]

Those ARE operating systems.

[toomyg]

Originally Posted by glc Those ARE operating systems.

OK I getr it NOW

[thefultonhow]

Well, more specifically, they are heavily customized versions of Linux. They run great as they are, but you can customize them further as well if you want to.

[toomyg]

I downloaded smoothwall express 2.0 and turned my file server into a router/firewall I have not tested it out side my network but I was able to access the web interface and such within my network just to try it out and it was not easy to set up BUT I did get it going


NOW I have another NIC installed and is this the one I hook my network switch into then the rest of the computers

[thefultonhow]

I know on Endian, DHCP is not turned on by default (or at least wasn't the last time I installed it), so you have to hard-code an IP on your computer and then go in and turn it on.

And I hope you saved the files on your file server before you installed Smoothwall.

[mojo]

Smoothwall should have asked you how you wanted to setup DHCP when you installed it.

The first nic will connect to your switch and then all the computers, the second nic will connect to your modem.

Hey I just remembered, we have an article all about setting up smoothwall.

http://www.pcmech.com/show/network/868/

[toomyg]

Originally Posted by thefultonhow I know on Endian, DHCP is not turned on by default (or at least wasn't the last time I installed it), so you have to hard-code an IP on your computer and then go in and turn it on. And I hope you saved the files on your file server before you installed Smoothwall.

It wiped every thing out BUT it is just a computer I experiment on and my last thing before this was ftp,web and file server and I got that to work so if I want to do it again I just start over


OOOOOOOOOOO Reinstall windows

[toomyg]

Originally Posted by mojo Smoothwall should have asked you how you wanted to setup DHCP when you installed it. The first nic will connect to your switch and then all the computers, the second nic will connect to your modem. Hey I just remembered, we have an article all about setting up smoothwall. http://www.pcmech.com/show/network/868/

it did but I set it up like a network in a network if you know what I mean

hope you do because I almost don't

[toomyg]

Here is some pix of the old computer that has had win 95,98,2000 and a few other things like smothwall installed on it and I have used this old pc as a file server print server web and FTP server with little or no problems
http://s91.photobucket.com/albums/k2.../My_computers/


The one with the big flat screen is MINE that I play from

[toomyg]

Hey mojo how much faster will my connection be with IPCOP running on a Pentium 233 MHz with 64 MB ram compared to my Linksys WRT54GL v1.1 running DD-WRT v23 sp2 standard
not that anything is wrong with my router I just feel like experimenting

[glc]

Probably none as long as you have the QoS turned off in dd-wrt.

[toomyg]

Ya I think I am going to leave well enough alone everything is working good with 4 PC and 1 playstation with no problems


thanks glc

[mojo]

Originally Posted by toomyg Hey mojo how much faster will my connection be with IPCOP running on a Pentium 233 MHz with 64 MB ram compared to my Linksys WRT54GL v1.1 running DD-WRT v23 sp2 standard not that anything is wrong with my router I just feel like experimenting

Where you would notice a difference is if you "abuse" your connection. Consumer routers, even the GL with DD-WRT can start to bog down if you're opening up tons of concurrent connections, such as running many many torrents at the same time. You'd also notice a difference if you want to do anything more advanced with your router, such as QoS as glc mentioned. There are a great deal of addons available for these homebrew router systems.

Check out these 2 collections of addons for IPCop.
http://mhaddons.tk/
http://firewalladdons.sourceforge.net/

And this summary thread from the smoothwall forums.
http://community.smoothwall.org/foru...pic.php?t=2873

Smoothwall and IPCop are extremely similar. I personally started with IPCop and just stayed with it, and it seems like there is more active development, both in actually updating the product, and "real" addons instead of just minor tweaks from the forum community.

[toomyg]

I had that problem at first with torrents but I tweaked dd-wrt setting and I notice only a small if any slow down at all even with more then one pc running at the same time


I uploaded a screen shot of were I tweaked the setting just encase some else has this problem
it is in the Administration tab http://192.168.1.1/Management.asp


EDIT* I have had up to 500 ports open with 2 pc's playing Microsofts MechWarrior Vengeance (why I don't know )on the same router and it ran fine after the TWEAKING