[ale] Distro for router/server?

[Wandered Inn]

Michael B Golden wrote:
> 
> Hello all,
>         A friend of mine recently got DSL and has given me the task of
> setting up a linux router for him since the Win98 connection sharing is
> quirky and doesn't work half the time for him. We also want to be able to
> run apache, and ftp server, a samba server, a firewall, some sort of ad
> and porn filter, and probably an OpenSSH server on it. The box we have to
> work with is a Pentium 90 with 16 MB RAM. Will this box handle all of
> these tasks or will we have to cut back a little? If so, which are the
> most resource intensive that we should/could do away with? Also, what
> would be the best distribution to run on this type of box? I'm pretty
> sure one with a 2.4 kernel would work best because of the DSL, but I'm
> not sure. We don't plan to install X at all, but some type of config
> tools for network/routing/firewall would be nice to have. I'm thinking
> perhaps Slackware, but I haven't used it since version 3.5, so I'm not
> sure if it has what we want and I'm not nearly as experienced with it.
> I'd even thought about trying a BSD, but I have nearly no experience with
> them and I'm on a more limited time frame than I though. Any suggestions?

I don't know if you want to run all those goods on that one machine.  My
primary firewall machine is a p75 with 16 meg, so as firewalls go, you
should be okay.  I run apache on a separate machine inside my dmz.  If
you add memory, you probably could get buy with running all the other
goods.  But, I'm a firm believer in a firewall being a firewall and
nothing else.  I'd be real itchy running Samba on the firewall.  Not
that I don't like Samba, it's just that it is based on M$ protocols.

My firewall is currently running 2.2.19 kernel.  It is Mandrake 7.1. 

I would be willing to bet that Slackware will give you the smallest
footprint.  One of the things I don't like about both Mandrake and RH is
that they install stuff you specifically tell them not to, such as X.

> 
> Michael Golden
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Until later: Geoffrey		esoteric at denali.atlnet.com

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