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Dirk.R.Gently Guru
Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 546 Location: Titan
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:55 am Post subject: Bought an Old PC To Use As Server, Need Some Advice |
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Hello Gentooers.
I've been thinking about building a server for a long time for my home network. I'd like to setup this old pc I bought for basic security. To begin, what hardware do I need to do this? I'm guessing I need to buy a network card because I figure I have to route the incoming data from the built-in ethernet through the firewall and then out the network card to my regular computer. If this is how I have to do it, are there any good (new or used) network cards that any would recommend for Linux?
My second question is, are there any good tutorials that can tell me how to setup (route -with software) data to the firewall and then out the network card?
I know this is a loaded question but any help would be greatly appreciated. _________________ • Helpful Linux Tidbits |
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vaguy02 Guru
Joined: 25 Feb 2005 Posts: 424 Location: Hopefully in one place
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:36 am Post subject: |
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http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/home-router-howto.xml
You're welcome. _________________ Linux Registered User #458185
Intel Quad-Core w/ 4gigs Ram w/ 8800 GTX - Windows 7 RC
2x (Intel Dual-Core w/ 2gigs Ram - Gentoo)
Mac G5 Dual-Core w/ 2gigs Ram - OS 10.5 |
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Dirk.R.Gently Guru
Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 546 Location: Titan
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 10:04 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks alot vaguy. This guide is just what I needed. Any recommendations for hardware? Looks like I'll have to get another network card. Any recommendations of network cards that run in Linux? _________________ • Helpful Linux Tidbits |
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vaguy02 Guru
Joined: 25 Feb 2005 Posts: 424 Location: Hopefully in one place
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 10:09 pm Post subject: |
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Um...I'm a big fan of the Intel Pro Gigabit cards, they use the e1000 driver. Very stable, and they also allow PXE boot if required. You can find them pretty cheap online. _________________ Linux Registered User #458185
Intel Quad-Core w/ 4gigs Ram w/ 8800 GTX - Windows 7 RC
2x (Intel Dual-Core w/ 2gigs Ram - Gentoo)
Mac G5 Dual-Core w/ 2gigs Ram - OS 10.5 |
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Juggernaut42 n00b
Joined: 16 Sep 2008 Posts: 5
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 10:12 pm Post subject: Intel or Realtek |
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Any Network Card that has 'n Realtek or Intel chipset. |
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szczerb Veteran
Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 1709 Location: Poland => Lodz
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Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 10:33 pm Post subject: |
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I can honestly recommend 3coms. You can get the 3c905[tx[m]] really cheap. I even have a 10Mbps ISA 3com Etherlink III as WAN in my home router - if you don't have a really fast (as in "Japan fast") internet connection it's a nice choice (rock solid, almost free, fully PNP - you configure it just like any PCI card so no config is required). Right now I have an Intel EtherExpress 100 or some similarly sounding model on the lan and a 3c905 is faster...
I assumed that with a really old PC you mean something not worth getting into Gbps ;] |
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Dirk.R.Gently Guru
Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 546 Location: Titan
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Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:11 am Post subject: |
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Definitely good tips guys. I've read the specs and this computer has PCI 64bit slots. Yeah, this is a pretty old pc. The built-in network card is an Broadcom ethernet 10/100. Next to PCI slots it says 33MHz so I'm thinking I'm not going to be doing gigabyte networking. Any 64 bit slot cards any knows of? _________________ • Helpful Linux Tidbits |
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szczerb Veteran
Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 1709 Location: Poland => Lodz
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Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:32 am Post subject: |
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A 64bit PCI is a PCI-X, which is a pretty cool server slot, found only in serious server boards and you definitely can run gigabit on it and make use of it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI-X |
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Dirk.R.Gently Guru
Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 546 Location: Titan
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Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 2:54 am Post subject: |
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Almost there. Again, appreciate the help.
Been looking stuff up on this and it looks like pci-x is flexible. Pci cards can be plugged into the pci-x slot as long as they are newer (have 3.3 volt values). I'd like to get a pci-x card though and I haven't been able to find information about compatibility between cards with different bus speeds than the computer pci-x bus. From what I get, pci-x cards lower than the bus speed (say a pci-x network card at 66MHz plugged into a pci-x bus of 133Mhz) will do, but what about the other way around? Itsays 33Mhz where the pci-x is on the board am I limited to that speed on the pci-x network card I'd need to buy? _________________ • Helpful Linux Tidbits |
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Dirk.R.Gently Guru
Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 546 Location: Titan
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Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 11:01 pm Post subject: |
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ok i figured it out a good card (from the reviews I've looked at) for this computer that's supported in linux is the Rosewill RC-400 card. I just bought it - should do the trick. _________________ • Helpful Linux Tidbits |
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Carnildo Guru
Joined: 17 Jun 2004 Posts: 594
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Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 12:58 am Post subject: |
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The rule of thumb for PCI and PCI-X cards is that if it fits in the slot, it'll work. The bus and cards will negotiate the fastest, widest connection that all of them can use, so a 133MHz 64-bit card in a standard PCI slot will transfer data as if it were a 33MHz 32-bit PCI card. |
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Dirk.R.Gently Guru
Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Posts: 546 Location: Titan
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Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 1:29 am Post subject: |
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thanks for all the help guys. I did a good amount of research (it was here I got the best tips) on the net and the information as time can be confusing (many are mistold the differences between pci, pci-x). I decided to blog about it to help any in the future. _________________ • Helpful Linux Tidbits |
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