[lug] a few questions

[Michael J. Pedersen]

On Tue, Sep 19, 2000 at 02:26:19PM -0400, Howard Smith wrote:
> I am new to Linux, so forgive me if I seem slow. I want to learn it in
> order to set up a network at home. I only have five computers and three
> printers to put on the network. I plan to use a Celeron 455 to use as a
> router to connect into my cable modem. What kind of hub(s) do I need?
> How much RAM/memory do I need ? What is the better router software ? How
> do I select a firewall ? And are there any good FAQ's or sites out there
> so I can find out more ? I hope I'm not out of line asking really basic
> questions.

Wow. If you had any more questions, you could be interviewing presidential
candidates :)

What kind of hub? A single hub will work. From your description, a minimum of
a five port. If the printers are network printers, you'l need an 8 port hub.
You can choose which speed you want, though I'd recommend going with
100BaseTx. It's common, it's easy, and it's fast.

How much RAM? Depends on what the specific machine is doing. I've had a
Pentium 90 with 16 megs of ram working as a file server for a samba box, and
it was doing quite well. I'd recommend 32, though, for most machines, as a
minimum. More can only be better.  If you're going to have a workstation
installation on the machine, minimum should be about 64 (thanks to X and
whichever desktop you choose).

If you're using a UNIX box as a router, you have only one real option: the
route command. It comes with most every UNIX variety out there, and is how you
set up your routing tables. Don't worry about the routing software, in other
words.

Which firewall? Now you've opened a can of worms :) Best recommendation: go
with an OpenBSD box for your firewall. It's secure out of the box, and you can
open up services as you need them. If you really wanna do a Linux box, well...
Good luck. Securing a Linux box is NOT easy to do, especially the way most
distributions come. But it can be done.

As for FAQ's, I'd go to www.linuxlookup.com, and read the HOWTOs there.
Specifically, the IPChains, IPMasquerade, EtherNet... Those should be a good
start. Lots of reading there, though.

-- 
Michael J. Pedersen
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