[TriLUG] Best appliance for Linux firewall?

Brian Henning bhenning at pineinst.com
Thu Aug 8 09:57:07 EDT 2013


Hi Gang!

At home, pretty much all my services and stuff run on a single box, and that
box is starting to collapse under the weight.  I'm ready to start divvying
up functions across discrete devices.  First to go is the firewall; not a
heavy-hitter, but easy to carve off.  So, what do people suggest as the best
appliance-form-factor Linux computer?  Obviously 2+ NICs is the biggest
priority.  Here's what I've considered so far:

1) WRT54GL + OpenWRT
  Pros: Inexpensive, solid
  Cons: Don't need another WAP

2) Globalscale Mirabox
  Pros: Fast ARM CPU, could host additional services w/ outboard USB HDD
  Cons: Globalscale's iffy reputation, relatively unproven product, more
expensive, possible to perma-brick

3) ???

Enough storage to do traffic monitoring would be a plus as well.

Cheers!
~Brian

------------------------------------------------------ 
          Brian Henning, Software Engineer

    /\    Pine Research Instrumentation 
   //\\   2741 Campus Walk Ave, Bldg 100 
  ///\\\  Durham, NC 27705 
 ////\\\\ USA 
    || 
    ||    phone: 919.782.8320 
          fax:   919.782.8323 
          email: bhenning at pineinst.com 
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