“In issue 51 of the Linux Gazette, the article titled “Private
Networks and RoadRunner using IP masquerading”, explains how to
setup a Linux based gateway with good security in mind. The authors
suggest starting with a clean install of Linux, which is an
excellent idea, as security starts with a secure install, and that
is what this article is about. When finished this will be a
very lean install, weighing in at about 130 MB plus swap, there
will be no X Windows, though I like to install Midnight Commander
for file management.”
“I’m going to make a couple of assumptions here, first, you know
how to install Linux and are familiar with its use. Second I
assume you are setting up a gateway computer permanently attached
to the internet be it by cable modem, DSL or whatever and will not
be used for anything else like a ftp, telnet or web
server.”
“My machine is an old Dell Optiplex 466/MXe, it is a 486 DX2 66,
with 16 MB of RAM, a 512 MB Hard Drive, a sound card and a 4X IDE
CDROM. I acquired this one for $50 and upgraded it to a 486DX4 100,
40 MB of RAM, I removed the sound card and added 2 network cards, a
SCSI card and installed a 320 MB SCSI hard drive, all of which I
had in spare parts. The minimum system you will need, is a 486 (any
flavor), 16 MB of RAM, 200 MB hard drive, two network cards and
either a CDROM or the ability to do a network install. You will
also need a copy of RedHat Linux 6.x. Although any distribution
will work just fine, I will only cover RedHat. The system will only
need a monitor during the install, after that it can run headless
and can be administered remotely using Openssh.”