Re: Commercial Linux router/firewall

From: Mr Gumby (none_at_nonenadaspam.com)
Date: 04/27/05 

Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2005 02:18:31 GMT

Jean-Francois Stenuit wrote:

> On Tue, 26 Apr 2005, cdf wrote:
>
> <snip>
>> Or alternatively, what is the "smallest" hardware that can be acquired
>> to be used as Linux firewall/router?
>
> Just pay a visit to http://www.mini-itx.com/
>
> Motherbards and processors that fit into a shoebox and don't need huge
> noisy power supplies.
>
> The following motherboard is fitted with two ethernet ports, so it seem
> perfect for a firewall project.
>
> http://www.viaembedded.com/product/epia_PD_spec.jsp?motherboardId=241
>
> Note that I did not try them myself. I tend to use old noisy ATX-based
> system that cannot be used for anything else as space is not an issue for
> me.
>
> Hope this helps.

I can second the mini-itx as being a good router, I got the Eden style board
but it only had the one ethernet port, so in the one pci slot I put a cheap
ethernet card (SMC I think). One thing to be careful with, some mini-itx
cases come with really whimpy (50 watt) power supplies. That's fine for
after you're up and running but in my situation, the supply my case came
with wasn't able to power the high speed cdrom drive I was trying to use to
install ipcop to the mini-itx system. The symptom was that the install
would alway fail with a kernel crash or some kind of hardware
problem. The cdrom was a modern 52x speed and was asking more 12V
current than the supply could give.

My solution was sort of the overkill fix, I went to compusa and got a big
ass 300 Watt Antec supply (it was cheap anyway). It doesn't fit in the
case but I just leave it open.
The eden board is so cool it doesn't need the confines of the box to
guide the air in the proper way. Probably a more elegant way would be
to just borrow a larger supply, do the install and then go back to
the smaller supply and remove the cdrom. I left my cdrom in the case
for handy future use.

Mark

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