Hello, I''m going to be helping a friend setup Shorewall in place of his Cisco router on his home network. Shorewall will be acting as the router/firewall gateway for internet access for his home LAN. His connection to the ISP is via PPPOE. Nothing unfamiliar here to me. It will be a standard 2 interface setup. My curiosity was peaked when he said that he is going to be installing Shorewall on a Intel 200 MHz machine with 128megs of ram. I''ve never installed Linux on really old machines before. Other than not installing Xwindows on this machine are there any other recommended considerations or things that I should look out for? I want to try and keep this machine as lean as possible. I will be installing Gentoo Linux on his system which will allow for the leanest install of Linux. Thanks, Joshua Banks
--- Joshua Banks wrote at 03:53 PM 04/06/2004>My curiosity was peaked when he said that he is going to be installing >Shorewall on a Intel 200 MHz machine with 128megs of ram. I''ve never >installed Linux on really old machines before. Other than not installing >Xwindows on this machine are there any other recommended considerations or >things that I should look out for? I want to try and keep this machine as >lean as possible. I will be installing Gentoo Linux on his system which will >allow for the leanest install of Linux.I''m currently running a PII-333 with 128MB of RAM and it''s just fine. I''m running Debian Sarge with Shorewall. I wouldn''t have any reservations so long as you keep it lean as you said. For me, it''s my firewall and allows me to keep up on my Linux. I''d highly recommend against running X as well. That freed up a lot of RAM and CPU time for me. -MikeD
Mike Dillinger wrote:> I''m currently running a PII-333 with 128MB of RAM and it''s just fine. > I''m running Debian Sarge with Shorewall. I wouldn''t have any > reservations so long as you keep it lean as you said. For me, it''s my > firewall and allows me to keep up on my Linux. I''d highly recommend > against running X as well. That freed up a lot of RAM and CPU time for me. >I''m running Sarge *with X* on a PII-266 with 256MB. -Tom -- Tom Eastep \ Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool Shoreline, \ http://shorewall.net Washington USA \ teastep@shorewall.net
Tom Eastep wrote:> > I''m running Sarge *with X* on a PII-266 with 256MB. >Make that PII-233. -Tom -- Tom Eastep \ Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool Shoreline, \ http://shorewall.net Washington USA \ teastep@shorewall.net
Joshua Banks wrote:> My curiosity was peaked when he said that he is going to be installing > Shorewall on a Intel 200 MHz machine with 128megs of ram. I''ve never > installed Linux on really old machines before. Other than not installing > Xwindows on this machine are there any other recommended considerations or > things that I should look out for? I want to try and keep this machine as > lean as possible. I will be installing Gentoo Linux on his system which will > allow for the leanest install of Linux.Joshua, Running Slackware 9.0 with the 2.4.25 kernel on a PII-300 with 128 RAM. Old Pentium machines love Linux and the console..and if you need X try Xfce and Fluxbox. Regards, Patrick -- Patrick Benson Stockholm, Sweden
> Tom Eastep wrote: > > > > > > I''m running Sarge *with X* on a PII-266 with 256MB. > > > > Make that PII-233. > > -Tom30 users, running MS terminal services though it, 2-ISP''s, vtun, dns, pptp w-128 bit, no X. Would you believe 64 megs 166 P1 1-gig drive... Thanks Tom, for the great software that makes this much easier to do. Jerry
From: "Mike Dillinger"> I''m currently running a PII-333 with 128MB of RAM and it''s just fine. I''m > running Debian Sarge with Shorewall. I wouldn''t have any reservations so > long as you keep it lean as you said. For me, it''s my firewall and allows > me to keep up on my Linux. I''d highly recommend against running X as > well. That freed up a lot of RAM and CPU time for me.Thanks for the feedback Mike and Tom. Oh my Gawwwwd.... to funny.... now this is really old school. When we got the base system installed and user accounts setup and rebooted.. we got the dreaded.. "Primary Hard disk not found" .... the BIOS can only see 9999 cylinders and he''s at 16383. Doh..... I didn''t think about this.. and to add insult to injury the PhoenixBIOS site doesn''t provide BIOS updates for his Dell Optiplex Gn+. We have to go through Dell and Dell only offers BIOS updates for Dell machines running windows.. So it looks as though we have to throw windows on a HD just to get the BIOS updated.. and then put the HD that has Gentoo Linux back on.. Does this mean I have to recompile Linux again after the bios is updated? That took nearly a day. Sorry I had to ask unless someone knows of some other kind of trickery to flash the bios via linux.. any recommendations are appreciated.. Thanks again... Joshua Banks
>>> On Wed, 07 Apr 2004 02:02:22 +0200, Patrick Benson <benson@chello.se> said:Patrick> Joshua Banks wrote:>> My curiosity was peaked when he said that he is going to be installing >> Shorewall on a Intel 200 MHz machine with 128megs of ram. I''ve never >> installed Linux on really old machines before. Other than not installing >> Xwindows on this machine are there any other recommended considerations or >> things that I should look out for? I want to try and keep this machine as >> lean as possible. I will be installing Gentoo Linux on his system which will >> allow for the leanest install of Linux.Patrick> Joshua, Patrick> Running Slackware 9.0 with the 2.4.25 kernel on a PII-300 with 128 RAM. Patrick> Old Pentium machines love Linux and the console..and if you need X try Patrick> Xfce and Fluxbox. Joshua/Patrick/Tom, Well I got all of you beat !! I am running Debian Sid, with a 2.4.24 kernel (working on 2.6.x port) on a PowerMac 7100/66 with 136MB RAM and a whopping fast 66MHz speed. I run a webserver, postgresql database, shorewall, and yes, when it decides to work, I run X as well. Oh, and I live inside of Emacs (with VM, GNUS, etc.) cheers, mehul -- Mehul N. Sanghvi email: mehul@kirsun.com Superior software is always free! URL: http://kirsun.com/~mehul
Joshua Banks wrote:> > Does this mean I have to recompile Linux again after the bios is updated? > That took nearly a day. Sorry I had to ask unless someone knows of some > other kind of trickery to flash the bios via linux.. any recommendations are > appreciated.. >Reinstall with a small /boot partition. -Tom -- Tom Eastep \ Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool Shoreline, \ http://shorewall.net Washington USA \ teastep@shorewall.net
On Tuesday 06 April 2004 20:14, Jerry Vonau wrote:> > Tom Eastep wrote: > > > I''m running Sarge *with X* on a PII-266 with 256MB. > > > > Make that PII-233. > > > > -Tom > > 30 users, running MS terminal services though it, > 2-ISP''s, vtun, dns, pptp w-128 bit, no X. > Would you believe 64 megs 166 P1 1-gig drive... > > Thanks Tom, for the great software that makes this much easier to do. > > Jerry > > >You would all hate me .. so I wont bother with posting my server configs .. Or Laugh at me for spending too dang much .. :-) :-) Lady Linux .. "No Problems Only Solutions" Lady Linux Internet Services Baltimore Maryland 21217
On Tuesday 06 April 2004 06:53 pm, Joshua Banks wrote:> Other than not installing > Xwindows on this machine are there any other recommended considerations or > things that I should look out for?FWIW. I''ve had shorewall running on a soekris net4801 (Geode), and also on a stripped-down compaq laptop (166MHz Pentium). Apart from general hardware/driver issues, linux+shorewall seem to run fine on pretty much anything with more than 32 meg or so of memory.
From: "Tom Eastep> Reinstall with a small /boot partition.Hmmmm.... Thats what I intially thought but...Ok.. maybe my semi-linux noob is showing..... When I partitioned the HD with FDISK I made /boot +64M. The recommended size was +32M but he wanted Ext3 filesystem for /boot as well as /root. If I''m not mistaken to run the Ext3 journaling on /boot you have to have or make the /boot partition atleast +64M. Am I missing something terribly obvious here.. I can see that I should probably take this discussion to the Gentoo forums in light of your comments Tom and I will. Now I''m confused.. Time to get my Learn On.. heh.. heh.. Any comments are appreciated. If you mind this off topic discussion please let me know and I will take it to Gentoo. Thanks again..... Joshua Banks
Joshua Banks wrote:> Now I''m confused.. Time to get my Learn On.. heh.. heh.. > Any comments are appreciated. If you mind this off topic discussion please > let me know and I will take it to Gentoo.You probably should, Joshua -- I''ve used that technique with RedHat and an old BIOS but I don''t know if it will work with Gentoo. -Tom -- Tom Eastep \ Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool Shoreline, \ http://shorewall.net Washington USA \ teastep@shorewall.net
--- Joshua Banks wrote at 05:29 PM 04/06/2004>Thanks for the feedback Mike and Tom. >Oh my Gawwwwd.... to funny.... now this is really old school. When we got >the base system installed and user accounts setup and rebooted.. we got the >dreaded.. "Primary Hard disk not found" .... the BIOS can only see 9999 >cylinders and he''s at 16383. Doh..... I didn''t think about this.. and to add >insult to injury the PhoenixBIOS site doesn''t provide BIOS updates for his >Dell Optiplex Gn+. We have to go through Dell and Dell only offers BIOS >updates for Dell machines running windows.. So it looks as though we have to >throw windows on a HD just to get the BIOS updated.. and then put the HD >that has Gentoo Linux back on.. > >Does this mean I have to recompile Linux again after the bios is updated? >That took nearly a day. Sorry I had to ask unless someone knows of some >other kind of trickery to flash the bios via linux.. any recommendations are >appreciated..Check the hard drive manufacturer''s web site. Way back when, you could download an image to put on a boot floppy and have it boot to an application that would do something (and I forgot exactly what) to make the BIOS see most/all of the hard drive. -MikeD PS - Maybe this should go offline unless Tom is cool talking about this stuff here.
From: "Mike Dillinger"> Check the hard drive manufacturer''s web site. Way back when, you could > download an image to put on a boot floppy and have it boot to an > application that would do something (and I forgot exactly what) to makethe> BIOS see most/all of the hard drive.Great. Thanks your input everyone. I''ll check on Gentoo as well as the HD manufactures web site. Joshua Banks
I''m maintaining one box, a Pentium 1, 133 Mhz, with 48 Mb of RAM. It''s running RedHat 6.2, and serves as MailScanner, proxy server and firewall. The average load on this box is 0.10-0.20 and responsiveness is very good. It has one 4 Gb harddisc and serves 35 users. As soon as I have all services up and running all RatHead boxes will be replaced with Gentoo, console only. The uptime of the box is several years and this is only because of necessary kernel upgrades. Good luck, but I don''t expect you''ll have any problems :) On Tue, 6 Apr 2004, Joshua Banks wrote:> Hello, > > I''m going to be helping a friend setup Shorewall in place of his Cisco > router on his home network. Shorewall will be acting as the router/firewall > gateway for internet access for his home LAN. His connection to the ISP is > via PPPOE. Nothing unfamiliar here to me. It will be a standard 2 interface > setup. > > My curiosity was peaked when he said that he is going to be installing > Shorewall on a Intel 200 MHz machine with 128megs of ram. I''ve never > installed Linux on really old machines before. Other than not installing > Xwindows on this machine are there any other recommended considerations or > things that I should look out for? I want to try and keep this machine as > lean as possible. I will be installing Gentoo Linux on his system which will > allow for the leanest install of Linux. > > Thanks, > Joshua Banks > > > > _______________________________________________ > Shorewall-users mailing list > Post: Shorewall-users@lists.shorewall.net > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: https://lists.shorewall.net/mailman/listinfo/shorewall-users > Support: http://www.shorewall.net/support.htm > FAQ: http://www.shorewall.net/FAQ.htm >
I think I have read somewhere in the docs that /boot should be ext2 and that ext3 is not allowed for /boot *unless* you compile in ext3 support at install time. No need to use ext3 ffor /boot anyways this partition is only mounted while booting and unmounted again about 5 seconds later :) But this is getting really offtopic :) On Tue, 6 Apr 2004, Joshua Banks wrote:> From: "Tom Eastep > > > Reinstall with a small /boot partition. > > Hmmmm.... Thats what I intially thought but...Ok.. maybe my semi-linux noob > is showing..... When I partitioned the HD with FDISK I made /boot +64M. The > recommended size was +32M but he wanted Ext3 filesystem for /boot as well as > /root. If I''m not mistaken to run the Ext3 journaling on /boot you have to > have or make the /boot partition atleast +64M. Am I missing something > terribly obvious here.. I can see that I should probably take this > discussion to the Gentoo forums in light of your comments Tom and I will. > Now I''m confused.. Time to get my Learn On.. heh.. heh.. > Any comments are appreciated. If you mind this off topic discussion please > let me know and I will take it to Gentoo. > > Thanks again..... > Joshua Banks > > _______________________________________________ > Shorewall-users mailing list > Post: Shorewall-users@lists.shorewall.net > Subscribe/Unsubscribe: https://lists.shorewall.net/mailman/listinfo/shorewall-users > Support: http://www.shorewall.net/support.htm > FAQ: http://www.shorewall.net/FAQ.htm >
From: "Remco Barendse"> I''m maintaining one box, a Pentium 1, 133 Mhz, with 48 Mb of RAM. It''s > running RedHat 6.2, and serves as MailScanner, proxy server and firewall. > The average load on this box is 0.10-0.20 and responsiveness is very good.Wow. That''s impressive. Especially sense your running a mailscanner and proxy server on the firewall its self.> It has one 4 Gb harddisc and serves 35 users. As soon as I have all > services up and running all RatHead boxes will be replaced with Gentoo, > console only. The uptime of the box is several years and this is only > because of necessary kernel upgrades.That is truely amazing.> Good luck, but I don''t expect you''ll have any problems :)Luck is always nice but hardly ever kisses me on the cheek. But it sure is nice when it does.. Linux is like life. A never ending learning experience. The more frustrating the situation the more I learn. I only wish I would''ve found Linux a long time ago.. would''ve kept me out of allot of trouble, that''s for sure.. :) Joshua Banks
From: "Remco Barendse"> I think I have read somewhere in the docs that /boot should be ext2 and > that ext3 is not allowed for /boot *unless* you compile in ext3 > support at install time.Well, if you blindly follow the install docs, like most noobs like myself did the first couple of times, yes. Those are merely suggestions though of tried and true linux file systems. Regardless of the file system you choose, after Writing your FDISK partioning scheme they need to be created first via E.G. # mke2fs /dev/hda1 [is ext2] # mke2fs -j /dev/hda3 [is ext3]Then durning kernel compilation you need to have the corresponding file system compiled into the kernel as you already know. >No need to use ext3 for /boot anyways this > partition is only mounted while booting and unmounted again about 5 > seconds later :)Yes. But there are times that boot needs to be mounted.And it seems that this is when Mr. Murphy rears his ugly head and you loose power or the wife is messing with the electrical box without notification. This is where Ext3 comes in handy upon reboot. Ext2 doesn''t provide meta-data journaling. So when you power back up.... with ext2...fsck can and will take its sweet time.If your running a production server, such as you are. I would highlyrecommend using ext3 or ReiserFS filesystems. > But this is getting really offtopic :) Yes, I agree. Thanks for you kind input. Joshua Banks
On Wed Apr 04/07/04, 2004 at 07:00:27AM +0200, Remco Barendse wrote:> I think I have read somewhere in the docs that /boot should be ext2 and > that ext3 is not allowed for /boot *unless* you compile in ext3 > support at install time. No need to use ext3 ffor /boot anyways this > partition is only mounted while booting and unmounted again about 5 > seconds later :)Yes, it''s really, really off-topic, but I cannot let this sort of misinformation stand on a Linux mailing list. :) _Yes_, ext3 support would be required to be built into the kernel to boot a /boot filesystem that''s ext3, _as ext3_. That said, though, there are two very important pieces of information to keep in mind: 1. An ext3 filesystem, mounted by a non-ext3 aware kernel, will be treated as an unjournalled ext2 fs. It will fsck, and pass, without issue, without ext3 support compiled in and/or without the module available. Metadata is at risk, of course, but IMHO no more so than with ext2 unjournaled in a dirty FS situation.* 2. In no circumstance that I am aware of is /boot _unmounted_ after booting. You might, of course, have an initrd.gz that makes /boot irrelevant, but if it''s in /etc/fstab to be mounted at boot, it''s mounted at boot, that''s it. :) I experimented a fair bit with ext3 and non-ext3-aware kernels, and IMHO the one thing ext3 has going for it is that ext2-only aware kernels will Do The Right Thing (tm) with the filesystem and your only real risk is the metadata. *Unless, of course, you''re dealing with the ext2 incompatiblity (sp??) that was introduced AFAIR in 2.4..... -- Greg White
On 2004.04.07 00:16:29, Greg White wrote:> 2. In no circumstance that I am aware of is /boot _unmounted_ after booting. > You might, of course, have an initrd.gz that makes /boot irrelevant, but if > it''s in /etc/fstab to be mounted at boot, it''s mounted at boot, that''s it. :)Precisely. The Gentoo default/recommended install does not have /boot automounted in /etc/fstab -- it is used by LILO/GRUB but not mounted after the kernel is loaded unless you mount it yourself (for, say, upgrading your kernel or changing grub.conf). -- Dark "If you haven''t grown up by the time you''re 30, you don''t have to" R. "There are two tragedies in life. One is not getting what you want. The other is getting it." --Oscar Wilde