How To: Set Up and Configure a Hardware-Based Firewall

By on March 10, 2009 in Networking, News

As most home servers are permanently connected to the Internet, it’s important to ensure that they’re protected from remote intrusions.

For many people, software based firewalls (such as Windows Firewall) combined with protection at the router level is sufficient – however, some do like to go the extra mile and install a hardware-based firewall.

If this is something you’ve been considering, then make sure you check out Pete Stagman’s walkthrough – Pete has the first of a four part series up on his site which takes you through the installation and configuration of a firewall.

More Info: Setting Up a Firewall


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About Terry Walsh

Terry Walsh is the founding editor and owner of We Got Served. Since February 2007, the site has provided detailed coverage and analysis of the emerging home server category, and has subsequently grown into a trusted outlet for digital home news and reviews.
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  • simonduz

    Just be aware before you do this that the Home version has a limit of 10 IP addresses. This may seem like a lot, but if you have devices like iPod, Zune, IP printers, Xbox360, PS3, Wii etc you can use 10 IP’s pretty quick.

  • http://www.nedmug.com Pete Stagman

    @simonduz – There is no limit to IP addesses inside the network.

    It DOES have a limit of 10 IPs accessing the internet. Don’t set anything that doesn’t need to access the net with a gateway address, like printers. I have an Xbox, Zune, WHS, mail server, web server, 3 laptops and a MC machine. I haven’t run into a problem yet. BTW, they all have to be accessing at the same time for it to hit the limit.

    I also have 2 network printers, MC extenders and IP phones.

    –Pete

  • http://www.pauljroberts.com Paul J Roberts

    Pete,

    I’ve been considering this type of firewall, but lacked the knowledge to do so. I have an old rig that may suit the job.

    Your 1st part looks pretty straight forward and well laid out. I’ll wait until you post part #2 before I go installing this.

    Thanks!

  • http://www.nedmug.com Pete Stagman

    Hi Paul,

    Go ahead and build it. If you follow those steps you should end up with a working firewall with all the basic settings.

    I’m about halfway through writing part 2, it’s about IP addresses and subnet masks and a little bit of DynDNS.

    Part 3 will be about more advanced filtering and DNAT, which may be what your waiting for, that’s the cool stuff. But, I have to do part 2 first because it makes part 3 make sense. :-)

    –P

  • Charles R

    Hi,

    I have to be honest. I don’t know much about Hardware Firewalls, but I might be interested in a home setup myself. Especially if the protection is better than what is currently running on my home desktops and my home server. How is the hardware firwall hooked into my current network? Is there a diagram available in the manual? Currently all 4 ports are being used on my router. What are my options? Does the NIC cards on the hardware firewall have to be the same speed as the other PC’s and server? I will be following your articles thatnks for the great information.

    CR

  • http://alexpummer.com Alex Pummer

    Nice job Pete. I have been wanting to get some kinda of Hardware Firewall, but it always seemed to expensive. This on the other hand is fairly simple from the looks of it. Not to mention I would love building a new custom machine for this, most likely a dual-core Atom system for low energy usage since it will be a 24-hour machine.

    Looks like I got a new project to play with. Thanks.

  • Pingback: Guide to build hardware-based Astaro personal firewall

  • http://www.nedmug.com Pete Stagman

    @Charles R – Hi Charles,
    The problem with most consumer routers is that they try to do too much. They’re modems, routers, firewalls and switches. A hardware firewall does one job, it’s a firewall.

    I have to redo my Part 2 to cover how to hook it up in an existing network.
    If you followed my recommendations you would have 3 NICs in the firewall. LAN, WAN and DMZ. Or Internal, External and DMZ. Whatever you prefer to call them.
    The WAN/External port would be plugged into your router/modem. The router should be switched into “Bridge” mode, which means that it does NOT try to give out NAT addresses. Most Modem/routers can do this. You may need to contact your ISP to find out how to do it.

    The LAN/Internal port would be plugged into a switch that all you computers are connected to.

    I will put up a diagram in part 2, which should be done by the weekend. :-)

    –Pete

  • http://www.nedmug.com Pete Stagman

    Thanks for all the great comments!

    For future questions about the How-to, could you all please post them to the how-to page?

    So all readers can see them.

    –Pete

  • Charles R

    Thanks Pete!

    Some of us may need more help than others. Thanks for that consideration in your next article.

    Regards
    Charles

  • http://www.nedmug.com Pete Stagman

    @Charles R – No problem.
    I’ve been doing this stuff for so long that I sometimes leave info out that I shouldn’t.

    Any time you feel that I need to give more explanation on something, just whack me in the head with it. :-)

    –P

  • Pingback: How To: Set Up and Configure a Hardware-Based Firewall Parts 2 & 3 | We Got Served

  • Vorak

    @Charles R -

    Hi Charles,
    I have the same question as you do: does the Firewall speed and the Server speed have to be the same at the NIC? If the Firewall has a Max of 10 Mbps and the server is hooked at 100Mbps how does it affect the overall performance? Any comments/suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
    Thanks,
    Vorak

  • Charles R.

    @Vorak -

    Hi,

    I was waiting for the second part of his tutorial first before I give this a go. My network is running at 1 gigabyte 1 server two clients. I was concerned that the 10MPS connections since running through the firewall would slow the network down too. Thanks for letting me know the firewall is max at 10MPS.

  • Pingback: Home Server Hub | How To: Set Up and Configure a Hardware-Based Firewall Parts 2 & 3

  • http://www.emailiq.com/ Kinexus Internet Ltd

    So nice!! You have very good knowledge about this subject. The way you used is very good.

    Thank you!