Re: [tlug] Basic home-use firewall distro?

[Kyle Hasegawa <kylehase@example.com>]

On 08/15/2010 12:15 AM, David J Iannucci wrote:
> I'm gonna try to keep this short. I'm trying to choose a
> firewall/NAT/etc distro for home use, and I had thought for sure there
> would be at least a few mature options to choose from that were made to
> run as live-CDs, with config on a stick or floppy. That's what (I think)
> I really want. I've got the perfect old tower to run it on. Turns out
> there are, like.... none.  To speak of.
>
> Here's the list I've whittled them down to, after surfing
> websites somewhat:
>
> * Sentry - the only one that says it's made expressly to run from
>    CD, but hasn't been developed in 5 years. Probably not a good
>    choice at all.
>
> * Smoothwall Express - seems pretty good and popular, but no CD option.
>    FOSS version of a commerical product.
>
> * pfSense - seems quite good, and powerful, but they recommend using the
>    live CD functionality only to demo the product.
>
> * IpCop - seems to have fans, but perhaps not quite as capable as the
>    previous two?
>
> * Endian Community - sounds powerful, but is the FOSS version of a
>    commercial product and it looks like they're very focused on getting
>    you to buy.  Not convinced the "community" edition has enough real
>    community support.
>
> Any thoughts about this?  Why does it appear as though the live-CD
> firewall is a concept that has been obsoleted? Thanks.
>
> Dave
>    

M0n0wall, from which pfSense is based, runs fine from a CD with 
configuration stored on a floppy.  It's not as feature filled as some of 
the others but it's a great firewall/NAT.

I stumbled upon this list of live CD firewalls but of the distros on 
this list I've only used m0n0wall and pfSense.
http://www.livecdlist.com/purpose/firewall

* pfSense
* XORP Live CD
* m0n0wall
* NetBoz
* redWall Firewall
* Linux Live-CD Router
* floppyfw
* Public IP ZoneCD
* Sentry Firewall CD
* Devil-Linux

--Kyle