SmartDude –
This is not a hard task and you should be up and running successfully in no time.
I run the same configuration on my SOHO (Small Office Home Office) Network.
The box I have this configuration is called my Firewall Box and a few applications installed and a few tweaks to be made should keep you very secure and have your clients accessing the internet. You should consider making this a dedicated firewall box and not use it for day to day activities, nor allow any one to touch it, keep it very secure.
First of all to make the two NIC’s to pass traffic from the WAN to the LAN and/or visa versa you will need NATing (Network Address Translation. There is a good section here on Firewall.cx that will go more in depth on NAT) software or use what MS 2K offers.
For MS you can use ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) which is very simple to use but not much control of what comes in and out of your network but may be sufficient. This option will be found in the NIC configuration area, look for a tab that’s labeled “Sharing” then tick the option that allows you to enable ICS. Then click on “Details”, here you’ll see how you can control the ports.
There are other software’s that you may find better control with but of course the learning curve may be higher then MS ICS. On my SOHO for NAting I use Sygate (
www.sygate.com/
). This allows far better control.
I would also strongly suggest implementing good firewall software or if you can afford firewall hardware. Sygate’s product does use decent firewall software with the corporate product, that’s the only difference between Home and Corporate.
Kill ALL ports you do not plan on using by doing so this will help slow down any attacks. Use good Anti Virus Software as well. Turn off the Guest accounts, don’t use the Admin account, create a totally different admin user and include special characters by doing so this will slow down would be hackers. Don’t be stupid and install ANY remote control software with out having it VERY secure, add secure user names and passwords.
By doing this and practice very tight (anal) strategies you should be ok. Remember to keep your OS up to date with all patches from MS.
