You know, super super cheap solution is a WRT54GS running DD-WRT/Tomato/Open-WRT with each interface setup as a separate network. Extra cheap is that this is a low power system with no fan or moving parts. I'm all about low power these days... Another low power but more than the above solution: take an Aspire Revo install some sort of firewall distro on (or adapt any other one as below) and put a bunch of USB ethernet ports on it and there you go. Not pretty but it would do the job :) In any case if you need help I may have some time soon, contact me off list and maybe I could help implement whatever solution you decide to go with. --j On Sun, Jun 28, 2009 at 10:44 PM, Bob De Mars <bob at grunners.com> wrote: > >> If one has a managed switch, they generally support 802.1q VLANs. > > I agree with this setup using a managed switch. Don't get me wrong, I like > IPcop, and have been running its evil older brother Smoothwall @ my house on > a Pent pro 200 since almost the first beta release back in the day. The > long term problem with this setup is the box factor. Old (and new) power > supplies fail, fans will die, raid 1 is better but an old (or new) hdd might > fail, etc.... I guess my point is the linux router is a bit more fragile > than a switch (hardware wise in the long run). Sure switches can die, but > they are (forgive the M$ speak) slightly more Robust usually. IMHO keep the > Linux router at home, or setup somewhere where you will be often. When > things break, and your not around this sucks for you (& them). It easier to > get the call that the network/internet is down & all you have to tell > someone to shutoff the switch or yank the powercord - count to 10, and plug > it back it. > > I recently dehodgepodged two of our offices networks, and have a few > managed switches I could probably sell to you cheap if you decide to go this > route. I am pretty sure they are all 10/100 speed though. I believe I have > a couple 3-Com's, and a couple HP's all 24 port. They are located in > Oakdale, but I could bring them home to NE Mpls if you want to take a road > trip. I guess if your interested, just contact me off list. > > Good Luck Brother. > > B-o-B > > > GlobeRunners, Inc. > IT Manager > 600 Inwood Ave. N., Suite 160 | Oakdale, MN 55128 | Direct (651) > 925-1500 | Cell: (612) 850-6940 | Fax: (651) 925-1560 | Email: > bob at grunners.com > > -----Original Message----- > From: tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org [mailto: > tclug-list-bounces at mn-linux.org] On Behalf Of Jima > Sent: Sunday, June 28, 2009 6:50 PM > To: tclug-list > Subject: Re: [tclug-list] OT network solution > > Tony Yarusso wrote: > > On Sun, Jun 28, 2009 at 4:29 PM, swede<danyberg at gmail.com> wrote: > >> This was short notice and is my first attempt at setting up anything > other a > >> home network, so any other ideas for the layout would be appreciated. > > > > If security is your concern, you want to take the switch out of the > > equation (unless it's a smart/managed switch) and add more interfaces > > to the IPCop router (one for each of the 4 places that need to be kept > > separated). > > If one has a managed switch, they generally support 802.1q VLANs. > Rather than having a NIC for each network, you can just assign each port > on the switch to a separate VLAN, and trunk all of the VLANs to the > Linux box. For that matter, you can connect the uplink to a VLAN of its > own on the switch, too. > I have such a setup running six disparate networks to a Linux router > with only one ethernet interface, which can therefore be replaced by any > hardware if needed (and not just a device with sufficient PCI* slots). > Also, adding additional networks is a breeze as long as you have enough > switch ports (and you could always trunk to another switch). > > It's a tad bit involved, but I'm pretty fond of the setup, myself. > > Jima > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > > > _______________________________________________ > TCLUG Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota > tclug-list at mn-linux.org > http://mailman.mn-linux.org/mailman/listinfo/tclug-list > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mailman.mn-linux.org/pipermail/tclug-list/attachments/20090629/66471cec/attachment-0001.htm