Just a place to put together some thoughts on Java, Technology and Other Stuff (tm) that interests me.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Time for a (cool) change

I have had a Linksys WRT54G wireless AP/Router in my network for sometime. When I first put my current server in place I didn't have any wireless gear. That server had a pair of NICs; one for external / internet connectivity, and one for traffic on the internal lan. That server, which is WAY overdue for replacement, has served as just about everything you can think of as a network service: proxy, content filtering (for my kids), web server, mail server, firewall, samba file / print sharing, ldap authentication and authorization, extra workstation in a pinch, etc.

It's time to utilize the equipment a little better. Thanks to my buddy Duke, I have a new(er) box to fill the majority of server roles. Hopefully, even though it has more power (cpu, memory and disk), it will use less power in operation. The diagram below should help to illustrate how things will be after the cutover. Basically, I'll have the server in a DMZ'd subnet, with restricted access to the internal network. The internal wired and wireless LANs will be bridged together into one segment. The WRT54G is running OpenWRT and will serve as the firewall, dns and dhcp server. The DMZ'd server will fill in all the other roles mentioned above. This article on DMZ and
this one on network interfaces were a big help.

Here's the diagram to help clear up any gaps: