On Saturday 13 November 2004 05:53 pm, Dennis Kibbe kindly wrote:
> On Sat, 13 Nov 2004 13:58:10 -0700
>
> Siri Amrit Kaur <tigerflag@tigerflag.com> wrote:
> > We need a way to separate the LAN from the internet in Windows, but my
> > boss doesn't know how to do that. He says it's impossible with WinXP Home
> > Edition.
>
> Siri,
>
> Sounds like your Slackware box would do better used if it were turned into
> a firewall for the entire office. Look at smoothwall[1] or IPCOP[2].
Help me to understand this, please. If we turned the Linux box into a firewall
with IPcop or Smoothwall, would it allow users to access the internet but
keep the database and sensitive data on the LAN somehow separate? My only
experience with Linux firewalls is using Guarddog to configure iptables on a
standalone box with no servers running. This situation at work is a lot more
complex than that...
>
> Can you convince your boss of the extra costs involved in sharing one
> s-l-o-w box fopr e-mail and Internet?
He realizes it's a time-consuming kludge, but he's not able to spend the time
to research any better solution. I guess that'll be up to me.
> How many computers are in the office?
5 Windows desktops on a LAN. One of these does double-duty as both database
server and user desktop system. Also the one Linux box with Slackware 10 on
it.
> Could you take on the added responsiblity of installing
> Mozilla/Firefox/T'bird and maintaining SpyBot[3] and Ad-Aware[4] on all of
> them? You've proved you can do it on your own machine.
I'd be thrilled to do it if he'd let me. Until I made an issue of it, people
were working in admin mode w/out passwords. I persuaded him to give people
user accounts with passwords and limit user permissions on a lot of things,
but the systems were already infested with spyware.
I think the best thing would be to set up a Linux firewall if it would do what
we need, wipe each system clean, repartition with separate D: drives for data
on each box, separate from the OS on the C: drives. Reinstall with the new
service pack, install Mozilla/Firefox/Opera, install the anti-virus,
anti-spyware, don't even install OE and the other crud that came with the
systems, network the LAN and network that to the firewall... I don't know
anything about networking or setting up a Linux firewall. It would all have
to be done in one weekend so they'd all be on the same clean footing when
people came back to work.
>
> It's clear you have a problem. You now need to find a way to present it in
> a way the boss can understand -- hours lost, lower productivity, etc.
I'm going to your links for IPcop and Smoothwall to study up on this now. If I
can figure it all out I'll type up a proposal for him and see where that
goes.
>
> If none of this works, I agree with Eric. Family or no, your talents would
> be better appreciated elsewhere.
That's kind of you to think I have marketable talent, but I'm just a secretary
that tinkers with Linux at home and likes to build computers. After three+
years of Linux I feel I barely know anything. Like I said, I don't know
anything about networking Linux or Windows. I took a networking class twice
at a community college but dropped it both times because I got overwhelmed
and couldn't keep up. I'm a terribly slow learner. I feel like I'm lucky to
have this job. (Although the Mayor of Mesa DID yell at my boss once to give
me a raise, :-)
Siri Amrit
>
> Dennisk
> [1] http://smoothwall.org/
> [2] http://ipcop.org/
> [3] http://www.safer-networking.org
> [4] http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
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