[djhotrock]

Hi,

I have a win2k setup that is running fine with a software firewall.
I decided however that I wanted to put my DSL modem in another computer and use a network to route my gaming machine through to the net, you see having the firewall and viruscanner running on my games machine is a pain because it either slows it down a bit or I have to disable it all before playing a game. I am hoping this way I can have firewall protection and permanant background scanning without using resources from my main pc.

My question is probably a simple one for you people here.
Is it possible to have my firewall set up on the server and still be protected? or will it just see my computer as one connection and allow anything through to it once I say "allow connection". I think you get my point, because a firewall will ask what to do for everything that goes through when its on the machine your using.
Will I be safe or do I have to do it a different way?

Also the same question applies for my viruscanner, will that just completely ignore everything too since the data doesnt stop on the server but carries straight on to my games comp?.

Any advice/comments is appreciated

 

[Javora]

This isn't exactly my cup of tea, but I'll try to answer it the best I can until a more experienced person replies. Yes you can set up a server machine and still be protected. The firewall/virus scanner will check everything at that point. IMHO if you are going to set up a multi-computer DSL/Cable connection in your home, that is the way to do it.

Setting up a server machine to speed things up I think is another matter. The way I see it is that the slow down will still take place because the firewall/virus scanner will still look at every packet that comes up and down the line. The firewall/virus scanner won't take up resources since it's on another machine. However the game that is being played is still taking a performance hit because the firewall/virus scanner is still slowing the data transfer down. So I think you will end up with some improvement but I'm not sure you will get what you are expecting.

My question is what type of DSL/Cable routers are you using? Some of the better routers come with hardware firewall that IMHO would be a better choice. This would allow you to disable or remove the software firewall and free up some more resources. Another thing is that a firewall/virus scanner is only as good as you configure them to be. The data that you allow in to play games or any other application could also be a weakness for someone to exploit. So I wouldn't be too worried about what a firewall can do because you have to allow some data transfer or you would not be able to use the Internet. Hope this helps.

 

[djhotrock]

Thanks,
Thats somewhat cleared things up,
The data transfer issue isnt as much a problem as simple cpu/ram usage since I dont play multiplayer games very often anyway.
I'm just looking for the extra power that having another machine will give, any pci card or usb device I can put in the server will help too, just having them in another machine means I have got a pure games machine without the extra drivers loading up and resources per item bieng sucked up.

Thanks alot, any other views or advice welcome too.

 

[w_grace]

The Basics of Sharing/Firewall safty.

Hello,

As a rough guide to make sure that you are protected from the Internet you need to follow the cable and this will tell you how safe you are.

If your Internet connection comes in from the wall and into a machine, then that machine is "accessable" to attack etc. Even with the firewall because it is the one that is connected.

If your connection comes into your house and into a Hub or switch and you have multiple machines connected to that Hub/switch, then all those machine are accessable to the internet even if you are using a Firewall or sharing sofware on one of those machine.

All the machines are accessable because they are connected directly to your incomming connection.

If your Internet connection comes into your house and into one machine then you have a cable from that machine to another machine or that cable goes to a Hub/Switch, then the only machine that is access able is the one that is connected to the Internet.

(Suggested sharing would be with 2 Ethernet cards if your Internet connection is via and Ethernet connection)

With Firewall software running on the the single machine and then the Ethernet connection to your second machine this make "Hacking" etc accessing the machine very difficult, of course if you are running Servers and have opened ports to that machine then it will be accessable on those ports, but no direct attack can take place.

 

[djhotrock]

Ahh thanks.

So I am hoping to go without a hub, with just two cards.
So this way my main computer will be quite safe while the server connected directly to the net is the one more prone to attack.

that sounds great.
Thanks a lot for your help.

 

[w_grace]

No problem

Any time.

 

[johnwill]

IMO, the way to solve this problem is with a broadband router. You can expose as much of the game machine to the Internet as you like, and have the other machine isolated. You also don't have the problem of having the other machine on when you use the Internet, and the lag due to activity on the host machine.