Building a Home Server/Router

[kkelly]

Hello :) i know a tiny bit about linux so bar with me :o)

We are getting ADSL at my mums house and i was going to build a home server / router with a spare pc for her house to share the internet as well as do other thing later on. I have got Fedora Core 3 install on the PC in question, the ADSL modem will be USB and i have found a website telling me how to install it. Now if i install (Firestarter/Smoothwall/Shorewall) Will this function as well as a NAT/SPI router i could buy for 40 pounds ? ie will the other computers get on the internet fine or will i have loads of hassle ?:) And will it effect ping times in games ?

Cheers Kev

[kosmosik]

it will... you can go:

* Fedora with Shorewall - you will need to configure the box, but that will be very flexible - need database? just install PostgreSQL and use it, need WWW - install it, need FTP - install it... but you need to configure it manually and since you are new user you probably will need to spend some time figuring out how it works... also with such router you have great angle of options where it comes to bandwith profiling - you can setup TOS queue to prioritize some services (games, www, IM, voip) and to block some other (p2p, virii) but it requires skill :)

* Smoothwall - smoothwall is standalone, you just pop in a CD and it works via nice web interface, very little to configure, but it is kind of limited (comparing to first option) but may work for you. it has options for routing/profiling, few servers (proxy - can speed up web access dramatically), and things like intrusion detection...

[Jman]

You will have to decide between spending a bit for convenience or using a spare PC and probably learning something in the process. It seems you want some kind of server, like a Samba file server. Buying a device like that would probably cost a lot more than just a NAT router.