Ipcop/smoothwall, physical or VM

skattrd · 28 Feb 2010 at 09:19

I'm going to be setting up a home network and am unsure which way to go. I was going to run smoothwall on an old p3 box I've got. This would be connected to a switch for the internal network and either a router/modem or old Speedtouch 330 usb modem on the "red" side.
Now I'm not sure if theres a better option than smoothwall (I know nothing about linux so options need to be easy to set up for linux n00b) and I'm also unsure if it would be just as secure to run smoothwall (or whatever) on a VM in a windows box (running win7 pro or home server 2008).
From what I'm thinking the advantage of running a physical box is that I don't always have to have the main pc (power hungry) running to get the interweb, but it would mean always running the (less power hungry) p3 box.

I'm starting to confuse myself - so any suggestions/advice appreciated.

Chris

growse · 28 Feb 2010 at 10:44

Take a look at pfsense as well, I prefer it to smoothwall.

As for the physical vs VM, I'd go with physical myself. There's no technical reason why it won't work on a VM, but the physical method is easier to setup and troubleshoot and much less difficult to mess up.

skattrd · 28 Feb 2010 at 11:00

I was thinking the same sort of thing with physical vs virtual ... less complicated as the wires/NIC's are real.
Maybe I'll start real and play with vm as well, see how I get on with both.

Is pfsense straightforward for windows person?

BlueMhz · 28 Feb 2010 at 22:48

As it's only a P3 box, probably best to run the software directly, rather than install it as a VM. If you had a more powerful box, then you could run it as a VM (which is what I do).

As for software best to try and see which one you like, ipcop, smoothwall and pfsense are popular, but also take a look at untangle, which is linux based, but there is also a beta product for Windows.