VPN/router, NAS mediaserver etc

[favetelinguis2]

Is it possible to put a single computer in my house that runs linux and manages everything on my network such as firewall antivirus router VPN NAS mediaserver etc, like a real heart in my network on one single computer? And if this is possible how hard is it to do for someone with very little experience with linux?

[favetelinguis2]

No one? Or this a to dumb question?

[Mogritan]

I think that the idea behind why you would not want to do that is because that gives a potential hacker way to much access on one machine. Think of it like this, if you had a gateway with your firewall/antivirus/content filtering on it, then that machine is your first line of defense against intrusion. If a hacker breaks into that, then he breaks into that, and still has to work his way through everything else on your network(hopefully you would have more than one line of defense.) If you put EVERYTHING on that gateway, then if that single machine is comprimised, then EVERYTHING is comprimised. I would also like to add that running more services than absolutely necessary on a firewall is generally bad because it opens up more ports, vulnerabilities and security risks that should otherwise not be present on your basic firewall.