Topic: opionions on using sme as a firewall

[cranky]

I'd like to ask for the opinions of others on using SME as a firewall only for our group.  We have a small budget, so other options are available, but I'd like to use SME 6.0. Are there contribs available that would enhance the capabilities of the firewall (statefull inspection, intrusion detection, etc.).  Or would we be better going with something like guardiandigital?

[ryan]

cranky,

I use both IPCop and SME to serve and protect a Windows network with 4 sites.  IPCop is a pure firewall & IPSEC router.  It works well and is easy to setup.  I use SME for services such as spam filtering, filtering email for viruses, http & ftp server.  

Dividing networking/routing/firewall from services allows me to keep it simple and take advantage of the features of both IPCop and SME.

If you only have a single static internet IP, you can put SME on IPCop's DMZ, then use port forwarding on IPCop to pass necessary traffic to SME.  This setup provides 2 gateways to your LAN, so you have to figure out a plan for the clients..and both SME and IPCop are a DHCP server, so you have to do some planning.

good luck,

ryan

[Boris]

I'd like to ask for the opinions of others on using SME as a firewall only for our group.  We have a small budget, so other options are available, but I'd like to use SME 6.0. Are there contribs available that would enhance the capabilities of the firewall (statefull inspection, intrusion detection, etc.).  Or would we be better going with something like guardiandigital?

If you need just pure firewall only, try IPCop or m0n0wall.
If you need other services as well as a firewall (e-mail, file/printer sharing, web server), then SME will do just fine by itself and its built-in firewall is sufficient. Firewall specific add-ons for SME to enhance its capability and reporting are available.

[bushinc]

> I use both IPCop and SME
> Dividing networking/routing/firewall from services
> allows me to keep it simple and take advantage of
> the features of both IPCop and SME.

I agree 100%.
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