Users of Firestarter Firewall

[Curmudgeon]

I'm a newb introducing myself to the wily ways of the red hatted penguin using Fedora Core 3.

I'm doing this for the purpose of setting up a internet simulation lab using the FC3 and our BSI 1u servers for firewalls at each end.

I've searched around and read about various implementation and Firestarter (http://www.fs-security.com) seems like a winner for my needs. I'd like to hear from people using it. Caveats, or better products (free).

TIA

[RahulSundaram]

Hello

Firestarter is available in Fedora Extras and it is good enough for desktop and workstation users. For a server, I would suggest trying out shorewall or similar stuff.

http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Extras
http://fedoraproject.org/extras/3/i3...ata/index.html

Rahul
Red Hat Inc

[Curmudgeon]

Thanks, Shorewall looks very robust and the documentation is thorough.

[VStrider]

Firestarter is very good for new users coming from windows to linux. It helped me alot when I had no clue about iptables scripting. After that transitional phase, I think iptables gives you more flexibility and control over what you want your firewall to do.

If you're looking to set up a machine as a a dedicated firewall/IDS/gateway, check IPCop. Here's some screenshots and a review.

[alphonsebrown]

why shorewall is better? and I also notices some stuff that you can better handle with iptables then with firestarter

[Jman]

Read about Shorewall here.

[alphonsebrown]

Originally Posted by Jman

Read about Shorewall here.

well that's not news to me?!? I could use a already-tested-review-by-not-the-author

[Curmudgeon]

Well I've been doing a ton of search and reading and have found a number of good choices.

Shorewall does seem to be the best documented, especially for multiple ports, dmz, etc. I hope they find a group to move it forward.

Here are some others I found noteworthy.

Sentry Firewall
http://www.sentryfirewall.com/

m0n0wall - originally designed to be an embedded/firmware FW
http://m0n0.ch/wall/index.php

Firewall Builder - a Graphical front-end to several different Linux/Windows solutions, including FC3, as well as commercial FW
http://www.fwbuilder.org/

As well as the ones already mentioned.

At this point, for me, whatever I choose will be working with FW Builder. That's just a great front-end far as I can tell.

[desipher]

Well I'm using freebsd firewall. IPFW plug packet filters because running voip on my lan and pretty much using pf for my qos to priorize my traffic over 4mb pipe.