A bit off-topic - MUSHclient & firewalls

As the topic suggests, not exactly a MUSHclient issue, but I was just wondering if anyone here has experience with using MUSHclient on a machine behind a router with a firewall?

We're going to be switching to ADSL soon, and will be getting a router with a firewall to share the connection on two computers, but we're sort of concerned it will be much harder to configure a hardware firewall to allow MUSHing than it has been with the basic software firewall that comes with SyGate Home Network (which we currently use to share dial-up).

Actually, the hardware/software configurations on the MC side are largely identical. Ive used both extensively here in testing what works best in a rather odd number of circumstances. Shouldn't be a problem at all as long as you get a quality router with up-to-date firmware.

Oh, and while Im thinking about it, unless you have a truly compelling reason to switch to a hardware router, Sygate Home handles DSL and cable sharing quite nicely in my experience.

Originally, I was just going to get a switch and use SyGate as the router still, but apparently SyGate can't handle all kinds of ADSL connections, and it appears that the one I am getting is one of these.

Would you recommend any particular routers, btw? I've looked at a few:

D-Link DI-604

Alcatel Speedtouch 510v4 (with built-in adsl modem)

Netgear DG814 (also with a modem built-in)

Any experiences with these, in particular with regards to configuring their firewalls?

My personal router recommendations would be (by preference) cisco, linksys, 3com, dlink. I'm also gonna say it's extremely odd that sygate doesnt support the dsl connection since theyre recognized as a leader in software router programs.

I had a Dlink at one point, and it had... Issues. Dlink denied adamantly that it was a fault with their product, but there were others that I found having the same problem. I've had similar things from time to time with my SMC Barricade, but not nearly so many; it's generally been good to me.

The Dlink software was prettier, granted, but it had this tendency to disconnect me from my MU*s and IM services and the like every few minutes. Not fun.

I am running MUSHclient behind a firewall and NAT which sounds like what you are planning to do, except I have cable and not ADSL.

In my case I used an older PC as the router/firewall/NAT box, which works fine. I installed OpenBSD (www.openbsd.org) which is a Unix variant, and was pretty easy to install. All you need is two networks cards in this PC, which is pretty easy to manage these days (as they are about $20 each or thereabouts).

A smallish amount of configuring and it acts as a NAT box and router. I have pretty straightforward firewall rules. OpenBSD supports state-full packet switching which simplies things somewhat. Basically you can configure it to reject practically everything coming *into* your system, but to make an outwards connection (eg. to a MUD) you tell it to "keep state" or "modulate state" - which means that it remembers that *you* initiated that connection, and so the reply packets are let back in.

You can also configure port redirection (discussed at some length in another post today) which lets you choose to run a MUD server on one of your PCs, and have the firewall route incoming calls to it.

Another free solution I have heard of, but not actually tried, is Smoothwall (www.smoothwall.org) which has a free version, and apparently is very easy to configure, via a web interface. This might be the go, also.

Meerclar,

According to SyGate's own page, they don't support ATM or PPPoE connections, and mine is an ATM type. I find it odd too, though.

Cisco, Linksys and 3Com seem to be mostly unavailable here in Sweden, or too expensive for home use.

About D-Link I've heard ... about 50% good stuff, 50% negative stuff. Makes it hard to choose. ;)

Nick,

Using an older PC has been suggested, but wouldn't really be practical for me. Don't have a spare one, or the space to put one in, really. Two is about all I can squeeze into the workroom. :)

Thanks everyone for the comments, though. :) At least it should be possible to get it working okay behind a Router. I am thinking now if getting one where I can easily turn off the firewall and just use the NAT, and then use a software firewall on each computer.

Yeah, I had a feelin it was some genuis company using either ATM or Frame Relay to muck things up for you. At least that makes sense since the protocols used in ATM arent compatable for squat with ethernet :( Hrm, as for you being in Sweden, that would rather complicate router selections, you may want to look into a layer 3 or 4 switch instead of a router as well. As for quality with dlink, the firmware maintenace is reasonably demanding but its usually worth the work for the quality of the product.