Rick Meyerhoff wrote: > IPCop seems to be a Linux distro used to turn a PC into a firewall. This is going to be true of just about anything billed as a "linux firewall". They are made to turn an older box into an easy-to-maintain firewall appliance. The reason for this is that everything you need to have a firewall on your one system is already there. All these specialized distros are are front ends to iptables/ipchains. I do have a dedicated firewall box but it is just a minimal Debian system using shorewall(non-gui, but easy to set up). I know there are some scripts out there that will help you come up with a rules set and I seem to recall a web site or two that will do it as well. For a dedicated box, I have at least tried most of the firewall distros out there. IPCop is good and is based on Smoothwall(which is why they are very similar). A lot of people have a problem with Smothwall in that the guy running the show can be kind of an ass sometimes. For more robust needs(and a beefier box), there is Mandrake Multi-Network Firewall. It allows multiple DMZs and Networks to be handled through the same box. Cool stuff but a bit bloated for most home networks. For a more multi-function box, there is Clark Connect, based on Red Hat. It will run web, email, ftp, etc. servers as well tho a lot of security people frown on running such services on your firewall. Back to your specific situation, Rick. What is it that the Mdk firewall front end won't allow you to do? I'm pretty sure to do port forwarding, you would need to edit files by hand, but I can't really see a need for you to do that with your two boxen setup unless you are running game servers on the windows box. Simply sharing the connection on the linux box will do wonders for the security of the other OS. I would have to do some checking but I think the mdk firewall keeps things pretty open to the internal network while closing off everything to the outside. -- The Wandering Dru <dru at druswanderings.net> http://druswanderings.net <--- Things 'n' Such Get nifty TCLUG merchandise at the TCLUG Store! http://www.cafeshops.com/tclug _______________________________________________ TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.mn-linux.org tclug-list at mn-linux.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list