SuSE 10.1 Firewall & Windows Network

[khinch]

Hi,

What should I do to my SuSE 10.1 firewall to access my windows network with the least compromise to my security? Might sound simple but I am a Linux newb.

[gtmtnbiker98]

Do you have a perimeter firewall? Your post is a little vague to say the least; however, as long as you have a perimeter firewall and running this machine on a home network, the SuSE firewall is a little overkill.

Depending upon the services you are wanting to access on the Windows network, the SuSE firewall should not interfere as long as you have the appropriate ports open. Trial and error is the best teacher in this case.

[khinch]

I have a NAT hardware firewall on my Belkin gateway. If that's a perimeter firewall then I have one

The service I'd like to access is mainly a shared folder on my server machine. And possibly my HP Photosmart 3210 across the network (not connected to any machine via USB).

I figured I'd have to either allow Samba or something equivalent on the exception list, or open some ports, but I'm not sure what to add to maintain security.

So, you're suggesting I could almost run with the firewall off if I'm behind my gateway with the firewall enabled?

[gtmtnbiker98]

SuSE firewall allows for you to allow Samba Server through the firewall, but not the Samba client. In order to achieve the latter, you have to enable the specific ports. Whenever I access resources on Windows machines via Samba, I simply drop the firewall. If you are behind a NAT firewall then you are reasonably secure - understanding that nothing is 100%.

[khinch]

Ok, thanks for the info. I'll toy around with it and see what I can do.