SmoothWall
SmoothWall Express is a network firewall, designed with home and small business users in mind. It is based upon a security-hardened subset of the GNU/Linux operating system and is completely free to use, download, and distribute. SmoothWall Express offers facilities and features normally only seen in expensive commercial offerings.
| Tags | Systems Administration Internet Proxy Servers Networking Firewalls Operating Systems Linux Distributions |
|---|---|
| Licenses | GPL |
| Operating Systems | OS Independent |
| Implementation | C Perl |
Recent releases
- 22 Aug 2007 06:36
Changes: This version is based on the Linux 2.6 kernel and is a huge advance beyond version 2.
- 27 Oct 2005 16:16
Changes: This release uses the to 2.6 kernel and has an updated Web UI.
- 17 Dec 2003 06:34
Changes: SmoothWall GPL is now SmoothWall Express. SPI using Linux 2.4 kernel with iptables and netfilter. The installer, the Web user interface, VPN, graphs, and proxy performance were improved. Connectivity device support was improved, including USB/PCI ADSL and USB BT HH ISDN. uPnP support was added for Microsoft Windows XP users. Static DHCP assignments are now possible. The time can be synced with an internal or external NTP server. The configuration can be backed up or restored to a floppy disk. Simpler port forwarding was added. An external IP blocking feature was added. A new Java SSH client was added.
- 22 Nov 2003 13:11
Changes: This is the first release candidate for SmoothWall Express 2.0. ipac was replaced with RRDtool. Custom DynDNS was fixed. Some changes were made to the Web UI. The updates list location has changed. More bugs were corrected.
- 24 Oct 2003 13:27
Changes: Security fixes for OpenSSH and OpenSSL from beta6. Graphs for PNG, an .htaccess bug, Snort log rotation, a DHCP problem, and a gettime.pl bug have been fixed. This release has advanced TCP networking, IP blocking, configuration backup and restore, an updated BeWAN driver, and a better, faster squid with diskd support.
- All comments
Recent commentsRe: (new information) Re: Do not buy not use this product! Support sucks!!
>
> OK, this is getting really silly,
> lets
> start from the top shall we.
> 1. Dick morrell is no longer with
> smoothwall & his supporters are very
> outspoken.% % 2. Smoothwall.org has forums & IRC
> mailing lists for community use,
> smoothwall.net (the corporate one)
> has
> paid support available on
> smoothwall.net
> ONLY. The two sites do not give
> support
> for the other site.
> 3. Support at smoothwall.org is very
> friendly & provided by people who
> volunteer their time to help. (...)
>
>
> Thank you Samuel for saying partially
> what was on my mind while reading these
> posts. I offered FREE technical support
> for FREE software online for a few
> years, so I know what it is like being
> on the other side of technical problems.
> There will always be those users who
> have a problem and when they don't get
> the answer they want from someone
> offering FREE support, they get quite
> irate. Often times, they go so far as
> to spread rumors and often flat-out lies
> to discourage others from using the
> product. I do not know Mr. Morrell, nor
> have I dealt with him at all so I have
> no opinion one way or the other about
> him. However, I do have some friends
> who were made out to seem just as bad
> though they are some of the nicest
> people I know.
>
> SmoothWall is a great firewall.
> However, if you download any FREE
> software and want some technical
> support, don't expect award-winning free
> support. RTFM
well put, guys. But still, how can you expect people to want your software if there's no good support? o_O
Re: Another support horror story
>
> I don't see any defence by myself
> regarding the person you mention
> anywhere on this page. I pointed out to
> stonki the initial errors he made - you
> weren't actually present at the time
> afaik, so I feel I am more able to
> comment on stonki and his initial
> actions than you are, and my reply to
> him remains valid. I no longer have
> contact with the person you mention, and
> therefore do not wish to comment on his
> previous, present or future actions only
> to say again that he is no longer with
> the project or the company, and we do
> not take that tone or level of language
> with any of our customers or users.
So, if you didn't condone his actions, why wasn't he fired the first time you read about him treating users like this?
Re: (new information) Re: Do not buy not use this product! Support sucks!!
> OK, this is getting really silly, lets
> start from the top shall we.
> 1. Dick morrell is no longer with
> smoothwall & his supporters are very
> outspoken.
> 2. Smoothwall.org has forums & IRC &
> mailing lists for community use,
> smoothwall.net (the corporate one) has
> paid support available on smoothwall.net
> ONLY. The two sites do not give support
> for the other site.
> 3. Support at smoothwall.org is very
> friendly & provided by people who
> volunteer their time to help. (...)
Thank you Samuel for saying partially what was on my mind while reading these posts. I offered FREE technical support for FREE software online for a few years, so I know what it is like being on the other side of technical problems. There will always be those users who have a problem and when they don't get the answer they want from someone offering FREE support, they get quite irate. Often times, they go so far as to spread rumors and often flat-out lies to discourage others from using the product. I do not know Mr. Morrell, nor have I dealt with him at all so I have no opinion one way or the other about him. However, I do have some friends who were made out to seem just as bad though they are some of the nicest people I know.
SmoothWall is a great firewall. However, if you download any FREE software and want some technical support, don't expect award-winning free support. RTFM
Re: Do not buy not use this product! Support sucks!!
>
> Ok, I was thinking of a fw-admin tool to
> include in a gentoo-based LiveCD..
>
> The lines above eased my decision.
>
> Byebye!
SmoothWall is not an admin tool, but a self-contained distro designed to be installed to hard disk - it would therefore not meet your requirements without some major surgery. As to the comments which led to your decision, I can only refer to my previous comments on this page.
Re: Another support horror story
> And I can only point out your defense of
> his actions on this very page. If you
> defended his actions when he was with
> the company, why should we assume that
> you feel any differently about things
> than he did?
I don't see any defence by myself regarding the person you mention anywhere on this page. I pointed out to stonki the initial errors he made - you weren't actually present at the time afaik, so I feel I am more able to comment on stonki and his initial actions than you are, and my reply to him remains valid. I no longer have contact with the person you mention, and therefore do not wish to comment on his previous, present or future actions only to say again that he is no longer with the project or the company, and we do not take that tone or level of language with any of our customers or users.