Dedicated server firewall?

[Fraser]

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Got a quote from rackspace for an entry level dedicated server and on the bottom of it was

"For a Netscreen Firewall – highly recommended – add £135 per month and £135 to setup"

I know if I ask them they will just tell me I need it but what is it? and is it needed? It's a pretty big cost increase on the cost of the server but is it worthwhile?

Any thoughts are much appreciated

[Aquanuke]

Its a hardware firewall, does say like zone alarm does for windows but better

Most folks would just use a software firewall, ie google stuff like bastille firewall and port sentry which are linux software firewalls (all free)

Is this a linux or windows box?

Win2003 server comes with a basic firewall and linux comes with iptables. http://www.netfilter.org/documentati...-tutorial.html

[Fraser]

Thanks Aquanuke

It's a linux box - looks like I have a whole lot of reading to do before I go ahead with this

[Aquanuke]

Its worth having a gander at http://forums.ev1servers.net/ and doing a search for security, firewalls etc. Theres quite a few good threads.

You can even join the board and just pretend you have a server there, if you have one elsewhere

Theres not really much to learn.. all a firewall does essentially is block or allow access to cetain ports on your PC. ie http, ftp, ssh etc etc

A basic web server has open..

http = 80
email = 25
dns = 53
ssh = 22
ftp = 23

and the rest all closed. (that was just off top of my head)

[Aquanuke]

If your a newbie I would say just get a box at ev1servers.net (server folks formerly known as rackshack) for $99 play around with it for a few weeks and run through some of the server checklist threads on the forums ie

http://forums.ev1servers.net/showthr...threadid=21619

and then once you have a good idea of whats what, put in a ticket to have your box restored (its free) and they will format your disk and then you can set it up properly.

[Fraser]

Thanks again for the advice Aquanuke

I think your recommendation of a box to play around with sounds good and those forums look a great resource.