[Techtalk] Low power computers for firewalls (was: Server was broken into ... what good tools are there to probe vulnerabilities?)

[jennyw]

Ah, yes ... that's what eBay is for. The Sonic Wall DMZ is an older model
but does do NAT, routing, and filtering. SonicWall appliances used to cost
less ... I guess now that they're established, they're charging more for the
same products.

If it were possible to build an appliance using off the shelf parts, that
would be way better. Adric mentioned emBSD (http://www.embsd.org/) as a
firewall that can be put on an appliance-like setup. There's also SmoothWall
(http://www.smoothwall.org/), which is based on Linux.

I'd love to use one of those firewalls. I just don't know a lot about
building low-power computers. Any tips? Do 486s motherboards take less
energy than newer ones? I've heard that Celerons take a lot less energy, and
it seems that some Celeron motherboards with integrated everything aren't
too expensive. I suspect it would be possible to build an appliance-like
computer for < $500. But then appliances like SonicWalls don't use hard
drives ... I'm sure an hd takes up energy. Hmm.

Jen

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michelle Murrain" <tech at murrain.net>
To: "jennyw" <jennyw at dangerousideas.com>; <techtalk at linuxchix.org>
Sent: Friday, November 23, 2001 6:20 AM
Subject: Re: [Techtalk] Server was broken into ... what good tools are there
to probe vulnerabilities?

> Does the SonicWall do routing and NAT as well, or do you need a router?
> Also, I looked a bit at SonicWalls' current product line - and found the
> Soho line, which doesn't have a DMZ port, and teh pro line, which does,
but
> they are pricey - $1500+ - $1000 bucks would pay a bunch of months of
> electricity.