Questions about smoothwall

[Tokunbo]

hello,

Pls I just need some advice on Smoothwall and DansGuardian.

1) Ive downloaded Smoothwall and read the manuals....a really surprising info was that the software would erase everything on my harddisk when i install Smoothwall. Pls does this mean that I would have to make the firewall machine a stand-alone machine?.....since i dont know if i would be able to install anyother thing on the HD again after smoothwall...is this possible?

2)About Dansguardian, im interested in content filtering - against pornographic materials on the web. Can/is it possible to install Dansguardian on the same machine as Smoothwall? or Dansguardian has to be on another machine.....

3)How about the speed of the internet connection....i wont know if someone has info, how do these applications affect the internet speed?

4)Can Smoothwall run on linux? i downloaded the iso file and burnt it onto a cd rom,, does it have another image file for linux?

5)From the Smoothwall website, they said it does DHCP, can act as a proxy server,etc., can you say SMoothwall is a much better option than having a Linux PC(i use RH9) do my DHCP and Proxy etc? How about a mail server?

Pls advice
cheers
Toks

[Roxoff]

I run a Smoothwall firewall. It turns an old computer into a firewall appliance, you cant run other stuff alongside it on the same machine. I just got all my old computer bits together and built a low-spec PC out of em, then dropped the smoothwall installation onto it.

I use the web proxy and the DHCP server on there, I've found it pretty good, and it's never ever fallen over. I only restart it when they isuse an update (or when my server needs maintenance and I accidentally turn off the wrong box... Oops.)

I've never found it slowing down my internet connection speed.

I know nothing of DansGuardian, so I cant help there.

[Tokunbo]

thanks Roxoff,

thanks for your comments on Smoothwall....

Does it do Content filtering...against porn sites....
Can i install squid for my webmail....or pls kindly advice from your experience.

Toks

[Roxoff]

It doesn't do content filtering as standard. It uses squid, and can do transparent proxying, so you _might_ be able to install such filtering from a 3rd party source.

I run my own mailserver seperately to the firewall box - smoothwall doesn't have an MTA, but it has no user accounts as such. I always think that the firewall is a bad place to put your email server anyway. Smoothwall lets you to establish a DMZ if you want to isolate your mail server in safety away from your main lan. You could also put your own proxy on such a box if you want to do content-based web filtering.

[getintanked]

Why would you want to block porn sites?