[wplug] firewalls?

[Chris Romano]

On Tue, 25 Jan 2005 15:45:56 -0500, Zachary Uram <netrek at gmail.com> wrote:
> What is the difference between a software and hardware firewall?
> I mean how does a hardware firewall work? Does it just block certain ports?
> I want a good firewall. Running Debian Linux (unstable) on my laptop
> which has dialup access to the net.
> 

In theory they do the same thing.  The difference is the how/where
they do it.  A software firewall is run on an existing machine that
you and that machine is probably a desktop as in your case.  It could
be a server or any machine that you can install software on.  A
hardware firewall is basically an appliance that someone has installed
a software firewall on.

How do they work ... Well, it depends on the firewall.  They can block
by IP, Port, Application or a combination of the three.  I use a
netgear firewall/router.  It has a built in 4-port switch.  Here it
is: http://tinyurl.com/6q3ek

Linksys, SMC, D-Link, etc.  They all have one and they all pretty much
work well.  One might have a little different feature set.

You can use one of these for you LAN then have iptables (software fw)
running locally on your laptop.

Chris