Linux on a Sparc???

larryone

gline wrote:

a little OT but what would people recommend as the best linux based dedicated firewall for a sun sparc machine? bascially want to turn it into a firewall only.

Personally, I wouldnt put linux on a Sparc machine. The hardware was designed with Solaris in mind, and Solaris was designed with Sparc architecture in mind. You can get OpenSolaris for nothing, and it'll run just as well on your Sparc... There are some amazing things in Solaris that wont be seen on Linux for years to come. If I have an x86 box, then I'd definitely be installing Linux on it, but when I have Sparc hardware.... (Which reminds me, I have a Sun Ultra2 in need of a good reinstall)

To answer your questing honestly tho, if I really had to put linux on a Sparc box, it'd proably be debian.

Any other opinions/ideas on this?

niallb

I run debian sarge on an Ultra 5 and it performs well.
Installed without problems using a serial console.

If you're familiar with iptables/netfilter, it makes sense to keep
the firewall as something whose configuration you know,
so linux is a good choice here if that's the case.

A base debian install with shorewall or arno's script installed
would be a good starting point.

If you're used to configuring firewalls, the solaris configuration
files are easy to read, though they can be hard to find...

NiallB

gline

im looking for something not TOO complicated, ive configured hardware firewalls before, but never delved into a software based firewall that didnt have a gui

Im only going to be using it with about 4 pcs and a broadband connection.

its more of a learning experience then anything
I was told to use smoothwall, but im not sure if that will run on a sparc based machine.

niallb

gline wrote:

its more of a learning experience then anything
I was told to use smoothwall, but im not sure if that will run on a sparc based machine.

It won't.

Smoothwall is great. You have to pick either smoothwall or the sparc.
What kind of sparc is it? How many network cards does it have?
I might be able to swap you something similar in an intel if you
want to run smoothwall.

NiallB

gline

niallb wrote:

It won't.

Smoothwall is great. You have to pick either smoothwall or the sparc.
What kind of sparc is it? How many network cards does it have?
I might be able to swap you something similar in an intel if you
want to run smoothwall.

NiallB

its an Ultra1 workstation, i think it has 1 nic. thats another question i wanted to ask, is it possible to add a nic to sun machines, im a noob when it comes to sun machines, never used one or opened one up

niallb

You can add a NIC, but don't expect to pick one up in PC World!
The Ultra 1 uses an SBUS connector.

With only one NIC, it's not going to be much use as a firewall.
I'd expect it to be quite loud as well!

Do you have any really old PCs available?
Smoothwall will just install and come up running
on pretty much anything you can throw it at.

NiallB

gline

niallb wrote:

Smoothwall will just install and come up running
on pretty much anything you can throw it at.

NiallB

except the sparc machine
no i have no old pcs available

im sure ebay can help me out with a nic:D

larryone

What are the specs on that Ultra1??

dubhthach

Your best option for firewalling on a Ultra1 would probably be OpenBSD, after all Theo the founder of project was the main Sparc coder in NetBSD and still does alot of work on Sparc in the OpenBSD tree.

Solaris is an option i recall coming across a post on one of the blogs on opensolaris that informs ye how to do a minimal install (no X/GUI etc.) just core Solaris/opensolaris install along with some of sfw consolidation (sfw - opensource/Gnu stuff -- /usr/sfw/bin )

gline

larryone wrote:

What are the specs on that Ultra1??

dont have full specs yet, has 1 gig ram though, thats all i know, gettting it tonight

seanos

Used debian on Ultra 5 also, with good results.
CentOS also works on SPARC arch (unsure of needed specs, and haven't used on SPARC before).

gline

SeanOS wrote:

Used debian on Ultra 5 also, with good results.
CentOS also works on SPARC arch (unsure of needed specs, and haven't used on SPARC before).

what are these distros like for firewall functionality. thats all i want to use it for.

seanos

Well, if your using Linux, your going to be using iptables.
could look into quagga (heard works pretty well).

If box is just for firewall, then OpenBSD probably be best, functionally - ease of configuration etc - not too sure about.

gline

SeanOS wrote:

Well, if your using Linux, your going to be using iptables.
could look into quagga (heard works pretty well).

If box is just for firewall, then OpenBSD probably be best, functionally - ease of configuration etc - not too sure about.

cool

i just downloaded openbsd/sparc 64, il try it out

niallb

sparc64 openbsd is the best performer I've had on my Ultra5.
It should be ideal, but you'll probably end up using it for more
than just a firewall :-)

fwbuilder will let you translate
a firewall's ruleset from iptables to ipfilter to use under openbsd.

NiallB

leeroybrown

I've run Debian on a Fire 280R. It ran fine but the installation was a bit of a pain.