Build your own super "hardware" Firewall Router

[Document Introduction]

If we take a closer look at some hardware NAT routing firewalls that require hundreds or even thousands of disks, we may find that, the CPU clock speed and memory capacity of these devices may be inferior to that of a 486 computer,

Some time ago, many small LAN users were unable to share the Internet due to a special attack against the virus with a cat routing. In this way, the devices that we bought together would be useless. To solve this problem, there are also related solutions on the Internet. In general, there are two types: 1. buy a router with a firewall, but working-class people like us don't want to spend a few hundred dollars to buy a new device. 2. Use a computer as the proxy server, but a well-configured computer needs to be turned on 24 hours a day, wasting resources.

In order to solve the above two problems, I was eager to search for information on the Internet and finally came up with a wonderful solution.

BBIagent software + one computer eliminated 486 computers + one switch + several NICs, network cable

You may say that this method is not new. You just need to find a machine as a router to share the internet, but this time we only use an old machine. In fact, if we carefully study some hardware NAT routing firewalls that require hundreds or even thousands of disks, we may find that, the CPU clock speed and memory capacity of these devices may not be as good as a 486 computer. The reason why it can provide good performance is that its software system is well optimized, load only the components necessary to complete the work, and use all the system resources on the specific work. Compared with routing using a common PC, the general routing software is based on an operating system, and these operating systems must meet various work requirements, for this reason, the various drivers and dynamic runtime libraries loaded are numerous, and only a few of them are related to routing and firewall, and all of them occupy limited system resources. Therefore, even if your computer configuration may be better than these firewalls, but in completing the routing and firewall functions, its performance is not necessarily worthy of compliment. Therefore, if we use optimized dedicated systems to operate our PC, will it make him a super hardware router and firewall? Even 486 machines are better configured than those firewalls. Moreover, at present, there is a new period of machine updating. It is very likely that you still have 486 or 586 old machines in your home. At that time, if you buy thousands of baby products as a waste product, you can only sell yuan, however, if you continue to use it, you will not be able to use a variety of modern operating systems. Instead, let him become a super "hardware" router without a display, mouse, or keyboard, the NIC must be included as long as it is in the chassis.

Well, the idea is coming out. Now let's take a look at how to operate it.
Software introduction:

BBIagent is a free router software. Through it, we can set a common 486 computer as a router. All users in the LAN share a broadband line to access the Internet. At the same time, it also has a firewall function that can effectively prevent hackers from intruding into computers in the LAN. BBIagent supports various popular networking methods, such as PPPoE, PPTP, PPPoATM, PPP, DHCP, and fixed IP addresses. It also has built-in DNS and DHCP servers, avoid complicated settings when computers in the LAN access the internet. The software is extremely small. a mb Floppy Disk can accommodate BBIagent. The router hardware configuration requirements for this system are as follows,

486 or better central processor
8 MB or more memory
1.44 MB Floppy Disk Drive
Network Card (connecting LAN)

How is the configuration of your old computer relatively good. All software involved in this article can be downloaded from www.xffww.com/software/bbi.rar

Create a router boot disk

Before installing the BBIagent router, you need to use the "BBIagent production wizard" to create and download the image file of the boot disk based on the hardware configuration (such as NIC) and network connection protocol of the Computer Used as the router, write it into a formatted 1.44 MB Floppy disk as the boot disk of the router. The installation process is as follows:

　　TIPS: The BBIagent software is written in Java. Therefore, you must install the Java Runtime Environment in the boot disk system.

When you have the java Runtime Environment, you can directly click the BBIsetup. jar software downloaded above, and a "BBIagent production wizard" window will pop up.

1:

The first step is the basic settings of the vro. Note that the IP addresses mentioned here are for IP addresses in the LAN. Other options can be entered based on the actual situation of the LAN.

2:

Step 2: select the device that connects to the internal network, for example, use the 8139 Nic

3:

Step 3: Fill in the device's interrupt number and other settings, generally do not need to move.

4:

Step 4: select the communication protocol

Figure 5:

Step 5: select the device connecting to the external network, that is, the network card connecting to the ADSL cat.

Step 6: set the device interrupt number and other settings for connecting to the external network

Step 7: Set the built-in services of the vro. It is mainly DNS (Domain Name Resolution Service) and DHCP (Addressing service). You need to provide the IP address of the DNS server, select DHCP, and specify the IP address range for the system to allocate, the scope depends on the number of computers in the LAN.

Figure 6:

Step 8: After confirming that the selected parameters are correct, download the custom files to the hard disk.

Figure 7:

Write the downloaded image file to a floppy disk as the router boot disk.

Download the BBIwrite.exe write software tool, format a 1.44 MB Floppy disk, and write the image file BBIagent. img into the floppy disk as the boot disk of the vro.

We put the created router boot disk into the computer to be used as the router, and start the computer with drive A. If there is no Fail or other error information, it means that the router has started to work normally. If an error occurs, the main cause is that the NIC interrupt number or I/O address is set incorrectly. Therefore, when generating a vro file, make sure that the hardware parameters are correct.

Install vro management software-BBIagent Manager

Download the BBIagent Manager software (BBIagent. jar) to manage the vro. Double-click to open the software. The vro management interface shown in Figure 8 is displayed. Do you think it is a bit like the configuration interface of ADSL cat? We just need to set it as usual.

For most users connected to PPPoE, you only need to enter the user code and password and click "Connect" to connect to the Internet. If the network cannot be connected, enter debug in "other connection Parameters" and click "Connect" to display more detailed connection information. Click "Save to vro floppy disk" to save the settings on the current screen to the vro boot floppy disk. These settings are automatically restored after the next boot.

The following describes how to set the main fields of the PPPoE connection protocol. As for other settings, I personally think it is not very important. If any reader is interested, please contact me:

User code: the user account code that the network service provider (ISP) provides for accessing the Internet.

Password: the user password that the ISP provides for accessing the Internet.

Service name: When an ISP uses PPPoE for connection, it is used to differentiate the names that provide different services. Generally, this parameter is not required.

Access Server: IP address of the PPPoE access server of the ISP. Generally, this parameter is not required.

Fixed IP Address: if you use a fixed IP address to access the Internet, you must select this option. In the "local" block, fill in the fixed IP address assigned to you by the ISP. "Remote" is the IP address of the ISP Server, which is generally not required.

Connection when there is a request: If this option is selected, the vro will automatically connect to the Internet when a computer in the network has a network request. This item is generally used together with "automatic disconnection when idle" to enable the router to automatically access or disconnect the Internet at the specified time.

Automatic Connection when the vro starts: select this option and save the settings to the floppy disk. After the vro starts, the settings are restored and the vro automatically connects to the Internet. Before selecting this option, it is best to make sure that all settings are correct and you can connect to the Internet.

Automatic disconnection when idle: select this item and enter the number of minutes. If no data passes through and exceeds the specified time, the connection will be automatically interrupted. Can be used with "connection when there is a request"