[TriLUG] Linux Firewalls for Home LANs... How Come?

[Jon Carnes]

Amen brother.  I can bring up a Linux firewall faster than Domino's can 
deliver a pizza, but here I set at home behind my Linksys firewall enjoying 
the security of my home network.

You're right.  Small and now even medium sized businesses should be using 
network appliance firewalls.  They're cheaper than PC's and require very 
little setup.  I'm sure that 3com will soon come out with a firewall on a 
network card soon.

But if you want Load-Balancing or to run a DMZ, then slap that RedHat CD into 
your affordable PC and install Linux.  The Net appliances haven't quite 
gotten to that level yet, of course they will soon.

 --- Original Message: Tuesday 19 March 2002 08:43 pm ---
> Okay, Folks...
>
> This isn't a troll, honest.
>
> Almost two years ago I picked up an SMC firewall/router/switch/print
> server for $90.  It's tiny.  It uses almost no power.  It takes up
> almost no space.  It's close to uncrackeable.   It serves DHCP, LPD, has
> a web interface, logs accesses, provides selective tunneling, and
> handles 255 IPs. You take it out of the box, plug it in, and it works
> for Linux and Windows systems.
>
> It's not like I didn't have some old hardware that I could have put to
> work doing the same job.  But is there a great reason not to plunk down
> $100 for an appliance for this purpose?
>
> I'm guessing the main reason would be for the learning experience.
> I get all of the learning experience I need keeping my desktop systems
> up to date and upgrading their devices.  More than I want sometimes.
>
> Sorry if this ruffles any feathers.  I'm just wondering if I'm missing
> out on something by going the appliance route here.
>
>
>                                        Scott
>
>
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