SmoothWall Express 3.0 SP3

SmoothWall Express is a modular firewall and VPN-gateway based on Linux, designed to meet the needs of network security.
Easyto install and configure the SmoothWall Firewall does particularly wellsuited for businesses without security experts on staff. The system iscontrolled through the Web Gui, need to know the Linux command line ismissing.
Information:
Without a good firewall today simplycan not do, especially if you are using a broadband Internetconnection. But what firewall you choose How about a free solution thatcan work on the old iron, a graphical configuration interface and theinstallation and configuration to handle even a novice user We offerto meet with Smoothwall Express 3.0.

Functionality

Smoothwallis a software solution to make old computer a complete firewall, on thecapabilities and performance not inferior to many hardware versions.Smoothwall Express is distributed under the GPL and is based on Linux,however, unlike many other solutions based on Linux, Smoothwall boasts agraphical user interface settings. Using the browser, you can customizeeven the most advanced features are absolutely without any problems.

Smoothwallis aimed at all users, from home to network administrators, but once wenote that the Express will be particularly appealing to home users is.On-line context sensitive help can even inexperienced users to make atechnical guru. Smoothwall Express is free, but also offers a version ofSmoothwall Corporate Server, which of course costs money, but offersmore features.

Setting

Smoothwall can work with severaltypes of Internet connections, for example, ISDN, ADSL or even dial-upconnection. We decided to use all three zones of Smoothwall, setting theweb-and mail servers in the orange zone. After installation iscomplete, you can connect to the web-administration interface from anycomputer with Smoothwall of green space. When you connect you will seethe following page:

Home web-interface (Control: Home).
If youjust installed Smoothwall, then on the home page appears on theavailability of updates. Smoothwall is updated very peculiar. First needto download updates to your computer, and then, using web-basedSmoothwall, to download the file to Smoothwall, as shown below.

Update (Maintenance: Updates).
Afterthe upgrade, you can move on to configuring Smoothwall. A firewall hasbuilt-in server DHCP (dhcpd), web-proxy (squid) and intrusion detectionsystems (snort). Additionally, a dynamic name service DDNS, whichoperates, for example, with Dyndns.org, SSH server, and even IPsec VPN(FreeSWAN). Each service is easily configured via a web-interface. Thefollowing is an example of setting up a server DHCP:

Services: DHCP (Services: DHCP).
Someservices offer to configure a large set of parameters, while others,such as SSH, the number of options is limited to only one or two ticks.

Services: Remote Access (Services: Remote Access).
Allservices are easily configured using the web-based interface, which,although it does not provide access to the wealth of options, enough tostart and run services in most configurations. Another great feature ofthe web-interface - is an online help system. After reading the hint,you can easily configure, even for those services that used to be foryou a white spot. Help is displayed in a separate window, allowing youto simultaneously read and configure the system.

On-line help.
Webelieve that the online help system is one of the most importantadvantages Smoothwall. Many users often do not have the patience to findout online or in the leadership of a particular function, but almostall clicked on the right button if the need arises. This possibility,in our opinion, gives a huge advantage over Smoothwall many otherweb-interfaces that weve met before, especially for those who firstsets up a firewall.

Smoothwall is also based on the Java web-interface SSH, which is shown below.

Shell SSH (Tools: Shell).
Usingthe built-in SSH, as well as any other client SSH, you will have accessto the command line interface where you can edit configuration filesmanually or perform settings that are not represented in theweb-interface.

By default Smoothwall allows Internet access toall systems of green and orange bands, can send requests from the GreenZone in an orange, but not vice versa. All incoming requests from theInternet (except for port 113) are discarded. Rules can be changed byclicking on the tab Network / Networking web-interface. For example,since we are working in the orange zone and web-based mail servers, wewere allowed to forward packets on ports 80 and 25, as shown below.

Port forwarding (Networking: Port Forwarding).
Addingand removing rules is performed in a single click. Shown above, weremoved the temporary rule, created to test the performance Gnutella.

Logging

AfterSmoothwall is configured, you can periodically check the state of thesystem. Smoothwall is also a great show: you can view not only thestatus page, but the traffic information provided graphically. Belowshows how the page looks Traffic Graphs.

Display of traffic (about: Traffic Graphs).
Youcan click on any interface and graphics look detailed schedule forthe day, week, month or year. In addition to the status of pages andgraphics, is present here and page view logs. Some magazines aredisplayed in clear text, but others, such as Firewall / Firewall andIntrusion Detection / Intrusion Detection System, formatted for betterviewing. The page Firewall / Firewall even includes checkboxes andbuttons for browsing and blocking IP-addresses.

Please note thatthe system can detect attacks only detect attacks. Smoothwall does notblock them, if they are not subject to rules prohibiting the firewall.If you set up port forwarding, make sure the system on which redirecttraffic (hopefully it is in the orange zone), are not affected, whichare now set.

Smoothwall to quickly and easily change theirpasswords, back up and run small utilities (whois, ping and traceroute).In general, the system is fairly functional and meets the needs of manyusers.

However, we found a few flaws. First, clean up yourentire hard drive during installation is too drastic a solution,especially given the fact that Smoothwall is based on Redhat, which hasalways offered excellent facilities for working with during theinstallation. Secondly, we are not pleased with the inability to edit aweb-based file / etc / hosts, though, of course, you can use SSH andadjust it manually. Third, Smoothwall uses for time synchronization NTP,but does not support this service for the green and orange bands. Andfinally, Smoothwall provides name resolution DNS, but only for the greenzone. Computers located in the orange zone, name resolution will haveto use external servers DNS (eg, provider). Note that all these problemscan be solved easily, only a little work with the system. Remember, theinside running Linux, so you can change anything, just want the mainthing