Operating System:
This is a custom linux build based on Linux From Scratch (http://www.linuxfromscratch.org).
Description:
1. This Virtal Appliance can do many things besides just being a firewall. Most simply, however, that is what it is. You can add it to your virtual infrastructure and avoid the need of an external physical appliance. You can then back up the whole VA as a file for disaster recovery... or even VMotion it as needed. If you have needs for a simple DHCP server or proxy for your users, you can add do that too. I have one of these deployed and in production as a dhcp server for our IPTv network. A friend of mine is also using it on his network as a whitelist only surfing controller to keep his employees productivity up. He's built onto it a way for the employees to add sites to the white list as they see fit. These are only reviewed if a problem arises. In that case, an audit trail will show where the problem originated. This solution is too "control freak" for me, but it is an example of what could be done. Since offering this vm for download on my virtualization website in December 05, it has been downloaded over 41,000 times.
2. This VA was built simply by booting of the install ISO, running through the install process and then installing the add-ons. No special optimizations were made. VMware tools are not installed because this base OS does not have the needed components and I am not a Linux expert by any strech of the imagination. In order to trial its functionality, I used one NIC on a NAT'd interface and the other on a bridged. This allows the one computer running it to simulate actual deployment in the field. This can be seen in the PDF network diagram included in the zip file.
3. To start using this virtual appliance, just unzip the file and run it in VMware Workstation, Player or Server. An ESX version is available on my website. A readme file is included with the zip file with more details about how to use this appliance.
1. This Virtal Appliance can do many things besides just being a firewall. Most simply, however, that is what it is. You can add it to your virtual infrastructure and avoid the need of an external physical appliance. You can then back up the whole VA as a file for disaster recovery... or even VMotion it as needed. If you have needs for a simple DHCP server or proxy for your users, you can add do that too. I have one of these deployed and in production as a dhcp server for our IPTv network. A friend of mine is also using it on his network as a whitelist only surfing controller to keep his employees productivity up. He's built onto it a way for the employees to add sites to the white list as they see fit. These are only reviewed if a problem arises. In that case, an audit trail will show where the problem originated. This solution is too "control freak" for me, but it is an example of what could be done. Since offering this vm for download on my virtualization website in December 05, it has been downloaded over 41,000 times.
2. This VA was built simply by booting of the install ISO, running through the install process and then installing the add-ons. No special optimizations were made. VMware tools are not installed because this base OS does not have the needed components and I am not a Linux expert by any strech of the imagination. In order to trial its functionality, I used one NIC on a NAT'd interface and the other on a bridged. This allows the one computer running it to simulate actual deployment in the field. This can be seen in the PDF network diagram included in the zip file.
3. To start using this virtual appliance, just unzip the file and run it in VMware Workstation, Player or Server. An ESX version is available on my website. A readme file is included with the zip file with more details about how to use this appliance.
More Documentation can be found at the following websites:
Base system: IPCop: http://www.ipcop.org
Addons:
URLFilter: http://www.urlfilter.net/
ADVProxy: http://www.advproxy.net/
Calamaris: http://www.advproxy.net/calamaris/
BlockOutTraffic: http://blockouttraffic.de/
4. IPCop is released under the GNU license. As far as I can tell the addons do not specify.
Base system: IPCop: http://www.ipcop.org
Addons:
URLFilter: http://www.urlfilter.net/
ADVProxy: http://www.advproxy.net/
Calamaris: http://www.advproxy.net/calamaris/
BlockOutTraffic: http://blockouttraffic.de/