IpCop better than Smoothwall - at least for 1 thing

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bb_matt

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I've been a smoothwall fan for a few years, but recently came across a problem with it's Port Forwarding, in that I couldn't forward port 80 to my slackware box.

I tried everything, but the damn thing just refused to work.

So, I gave IPCop a spin again - 1.4.5 - worked 100% !

They are really similar in terms of functionality and install, but I think IPCop now has the edge, considering development on Smoothwall has pretty much stopped - there's been no new version since Jan 2004.

IPCop also has features Smoothwall doesn't have (out of the box) :-

Traffic shaping
NTP (Network Time Server sync)
Connection tracking - this is a damn awesome feature
Dynamic DNS - still need to set this up !

Anyway, I'm happy with IPCop now - smoothwall served me well, but due to my recent problems, I've given it the boot :)

BTW, you can create a Flash Card based IPCop system :-

http://www.ipcop.org/1.4.0/en/install/html/mkflash.html
 
There's much more... Ipcop has a mod for it called the Addon-Server which allows very very easy installs of other mods through the Web-UI. Read my post [thread=18847]HERE[/thread] on how to setup a bandwidth usage monitoring system with the help of the addon server, VERY USEFULL if you want stats on ur current up-to-the-second bandwidth usage for the month.... There's also the URL-Filter addon that's available for smoothwall too, but the iPcop version has much more functionality, take a look here. other ipcop addon's can be found here

I've also found ipcop more stable than smoothwall. Connecting dual channel ISDN was a hit and miss task with smoothwall, only to have the smoothwall box drop the connection at a random time after you finaly got it going....needing many re-connects on the weekend making large downloads very tedious and almost defeating the purpose of the Infinit-Call(R7call) service making it very expencive.

With ipcop installed, i've never had a dropped connection and dual channel connects first time, everytime... and it hasn't gone down in months....

I would defenatly recomend this to any one over smoothwall, now that i have seen the light:D
 
brooko said:
I would defenatly recomend this to any one over smoothwall, now that i have seen the light:D
Click to expand...

I'm keen to experiment with VPN, Dnydns etc. and Smoothwall as I mentioned just wasn't working for me.

So now I've seen the light too ! - so long Smoothwall, you served me well, but your time is up :D
 
let us know how the vpn stuff works, i've also been keen to try that out, i just dont know too much about VPN's...yet... could be an interesting thing to do, having ALL of the comps on ur local network able to use the same VPN tunnel without having to setup each machine individualy:D if i understand it correctly...

I have DnyDNS running, works very well but there is a small delay of about 2-3min after connecting before it automaticly updates the address. You can however just do a "force update" in the DnyDNS menu if you cant wait that long..I just cant figure out why there is the wait:confused:

here's an extract from the log...
19:20:02 ipcop Dynamic DNS ip-update for ******.kicks-ass.net: success
19:17:34 ipcop PPP has gone up on ippp0
19:17:28 ipcop Dialling Icon 128k.
Click to expand...

any ideas???
 
what makes you say it doesnt work?

IPCop also has features Smoothwall doesn't have (out of the box) :-

Traffic shaping
NTP (Network Time Server sync)
Connection tracking - this is a damn awesome feature
Dynamic DNS - still need to set this up !
Click to expand...

Uh??

Smoothwall has Dynamic DNS support, Smoothwall has NTP support.

Smoothwall does not have a crappy useless traffic shapper that can only do simple single protocol prioritisation - no loss there IMHO...

Smoothwall does not have a connection tracker - what is the point of it anyway?
 
Karnaugh, no matter what I did with smoothwall, I couldn't give external access to my Slackware box. Absolutely nothing would make it work.

It's a dead simple process - allow external access on port 80 and port forward 80 to the internal slackware IP.

Smoothwall just didn't want to play ball.

IPCop on the other hand (darren) :-

http://bbmatt.dyndns.org/

EDIT : I'm not knocking Smoothwall, heck, I've been using it for years - possibly there's some kinda hardware issue, or maybe I had some rules installed I was unaware of - but there was no config issues I could find.
 
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Smoothwall is an awesome product, and i still regard it very highly BUT at the moment ipcop have a superior product that, and in my experience, is more stable and offers more features.

You should always remember that one of the reasons open source software is so great (or crap) is its all about CHOICE, no one here is saying that you HAVE to use ipcop over smoothwall or vica-verca, we're just showing the other side of the argument which at the moment is a better choice. Who knows smoothwall could release another version tomorrow that will be better than ipcop and guess what..it wont hurt to swap back again. Some people may find that one product suite's

With free easy to use software like this you can switch as often as you like and it wont hurt to do so.:D
 
brooko said:
let us know how the vpn stuff works, i've also been keen to try that out, i just dont know too much about VPN's...yet... could be an interesting thing to do, having ALL of the comps on ur local network able to use the same VPN tunnel without having to setup each machine individualy:D if i understand it correctly...

I have DnyDNS running, works very well but there is a small delay of about 2-3min after connecting before it automaticly updates the address. You can however just do a "force update" in the DnyDNS menu if you cant wait that long..I just cant figure out why there is the wait:confused:

here's an extract from the log...


any ideas???
Click to expand...


I think that's pretty normal ?
Mine takes about 1min - but I've only had it up and running for an hour or so.

It's completely redundent for my purposes - just wanted to experiment.
VPN is next, as it would be useful to access work PC from home and visa-versa.
 
Well, personaly having used both very often, I find Smoothwall far more stable and better supported - mainly seeing as ipcop simply trails Smoothwall's development.

As for not getting port forwarding to work - are you sure you were not trying to access the port forward from your local network? Because that wont work via NAT - but that doesnt mean it isnt accessible from the outside world.
 
On the outside IPCop and Smoothwall is pretty much the same as Karnaugh explained.

BUT

There is tiny difference under the hood. Smoothwall is built on redhat 6.x packages whilst IPCop was based on that too in 0.1x-1.3x, they have rebuilt the whole distro from scratch with LFS. It is thus not the exact same OS anymore.

Also, IPCop is licensed under GPL while smoothwall is a commercial product, which is free with ads bloated all over it to home users...

(smoothwall ads only, but still its ads I dont want to see in the web interface)

Ok I know I am not one to talk as I dont use any of these 2 anymore, I run a nice FreeBSD box self setup now. Much more stable than any of the above and you can do more as you have a nice ports-package collection available at your finger tips.
 
Does IPCop support PCI ISDN modem cards based on the Hitachi HFC-2BS0 / HFC-PCI chipset like the Zoltrix Speedier 128K ISDN Terminal Adapter? I can't find a hardware compatibility list on ipcop.org. I currently use a Zoltrix Speedier ISDN in my Smoothwall box but I want to try IPCop if it supports it.
 
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Hey i just checked, the HFC-2BS0 based / PCI cards ARE supported, so ur modem will work...

Hope it helps
 
Karnaugh said:
Well, personaly having used both very often, I find Smoothwall far more stable and better supported - mainly seeing as ipcop simply trails Smoothwall's development.

As for not getting port forwarding to work - are you sure you were not trying to access the port forward from your local network? Because that wont work via NAT - but that doesnt mean it isnt accessible from the outside world.
Click to expand...

It may be more popular, but it seems development on the free product has run a bit dry - the only updates I see are for the commercial side of things.
The last actual release was a year ago, whereas IPCop had a release last month.

As Brooko says, they are both free.

I've got no allegience to either product and in fact didn't like IPCop when I tried it about 18 months back, now it seems to fit in with what I'd like to do.

My ultimate goal is to learn IPchains myself and get rid of that extra PC and instead, use my Slackware box for a firewall as well as for learning Linux. Too many things to learn, so little time for drinking ! :D
 
I also tried it about 18months ago, and the interface was terrible, it sent me running straight back to smoothwall as fast as i could get the install image burned again. That was untill i saw v1.4 got released, and it looked like a HUGE change from its older siblings... and so i gave it a try and have never looked back:D
 
Don't tell me you have tons of Linux CD's of all versions - 'cos I have TONS of the damn things.

I even turfed half the damn things out, finding a Boxed SCO Unix OS stuffed in the bottom of the box from 1996 - turfed it and can you imagine what it must've cost back in '96 ?

I now have at least 300 odd linux disks overall - my oldest release I think is Redhat 6.0

Latest full release I have is Slackware 10.1, smallest latest release is IPCop 1.4.5

I've got stacks of wierd stuff - GeexBox, Arch Linux, old mandrake, live Suse releases, Gnoppix, Debian, FreeBSD - you name it, I've tried it.

Damn addict at one point, but for the last 6 months I've stabalised this debilitating addiction ! :D
 
Karnaugh said:
Dont suppose you have a copy of Solaris 9/10 x86 there?
Click to expand...
If you're in JHB and you give me a 10-pack of blank CD-R's, I'll give you Solaris 10 x86 (7 cd's in total) - pm me if you want...
 
Karnaugh said:
Dont suppose you have a copy of Solaris 9/10 x86 there?
Click to expand...

No - called my bluff and caught me out ! :D

What I can find within reach :-

Arch Linux 0.7
Mandrake 9.1
Mandrake 10.0
Suse 9.0 Professional
debian 3.0r1
Redhat 9.0
Slackware 9.1
Mandrake 8.0
Slackware 7.0
FreeBSD 5.1
Slackware 10.0
Slackware 10.1
Suse 9.2
Topologilinux
Mandrake 10.1
Fedora Core 1
Knoppix
Open BSD 3.4
Sun Java Desktop
+ a whole bunch of mini-distros

I've slowed down a lot in terms of downloading distributions due to not having a diginet line to play with anymore, 3gig is rather debilitating.
 
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