[plug] E-Smith and server setup - comments?

[Nathan D]

At 04:25 PM 7/08/01 +0800, Steve Grasso wrote:
>On Monday 06 August 2001 11:01, Nathan D wrote:
><snip>
> > My next step now is to have a login/mail/games/etc server for my little
> > network.  From what I have read E-smith seems to be a popular "already
> > rolled" solution.  Any comments on pros and cons?
>
>Some Pros:
>
>- Pretty easy to install and configure
>- Defaults are sane
>- Good doco and mailing-list support, paid support available if you need it
>- Has all the services most SOHO users will need available straight out of
>the box with minimal need for fiddling (DHCP, Samba, Netatalk,
>packet-filtering firewall/gateway, proxy services etc etc)
>- Web-based or shell-based admin
>- Pretty much self-healing
>
>Some Cons:
>
>- Integrating Non-Standard (TM) stuff with the e-smith distro is not as
>straight forward as for other distros

but can be tweaked by hand given enough time/knowledge/rtfm'ing I hope?

> > Some documentation I have read refers to having a network setup so all
> > traffic travels in/out of the firewall, then thru the server, and then to
> > the rest of the internal network.  Is such a requirement necessary for a
> > small home network?
>
>Nope. The e-smith machine will act as gateway and file/print/email/etc server
>if that's what you want and the machine specs allow it.

I plan to carry on with my old P75 as the SmoothWall box then see if I can 
breathe some life into a IBM/Cyrix 200 chip for the server.

> > I am setting up a machine for my son and am wondering about some sort of
> > internet access control ie certain times only, or being able to isolate if
> > required?
>
>Use cron to pull the PPP or PPPOE link up/down at the times required.
What I actually meant was being able to isolate internal IP's from the 
internet (without resorting to popping leads out of the hub) ie kiddie 
control/punishment? <evil snicker>

>Presumably I would have to use the firewall -> server -> network
> > setup as mentioned above to have this control?
>
>Nope. See above.
I'm not aware of the above controls being built in SmoothWall (keenly 
waiting the new version) which is why I ask.  Not sure if Samba could do 
this or some other server tool/program is available?


regards,
   Nathan

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