I just picked up a little unit from SOHOware called the NBG800. Here's a link to their website: http://www.sohoware.com/expl/firewall.htm It does an awful lot of what you're looking for. I had a DLink 701 a while back, and this one is a HUGE step forward. It also has a 4-port auto-sensing 10/100 switch built-in. The best part is that it was only $85 at Fry's! -David Jay wrote: > I know this topic came up here recently, but I just looked through the > archives and I couldn't find it (browsing by thread). > > Anyway, I'm looking for recommendations on the best method to build a > standalone firewall machine. The network will look something like > (simplified for email purposes): > > /----Servers > Internet----SDSL Router----Firewall----10/100 Switch-- > \----Workstations > > The firwall obviously needs to support NAT and masquerading, as well as > port forwarding to get to the http, smtp, pop3, ssh, etc... ports on the > servers from the Internet, and support for multiple physical Ethernet > interfaces. > > Although not *required* (but would be nice) would be features like > stateful packet inspection (rules based), DoS filtering, intrusion > detection, excellent logging, easy (yet powerful) web browser > configuration/administration, and maybe even log analysis and reporting > features. > > While I'm at it, another cool feature would be if it was all able to run > via a floppy or bootable CD (thus no HDD required in the firewall). I also > recognize that this feature would require logging via remote syslog, which > (since the logs would then be remote) would also mean that it wouldn't be > able to do log analysis and reporting. > > I know all of these features are easily available with Linux, but I'm > looking for a nice integrated package. Looking on Freshmeat turns up over > 200 options (so I'm sure something is out there). I've seen dedicated > "security appliances" from the likes of Linksys, NetGear, and SonicWall. > They look alright (and the Linksys and NetGear ones are really very > affordable), so if someone might recommend that approach, I'd be > interested in hearing thoughts on that too. > > Thanks! > > -- > ~Jay