It’s been a long time since I updated my firewall. Right now it’s a PC Engines ALIX 2c2 that I’ve been really happy with. I used flashdist and put OpenBSD 4.4 on it.
I think that’s a winning combination, but it’s time to upgrade. First, I want to go to OpenBSD 5.1. Next, flashdist has been replaced with flashrd, which is easier to install and use, and more appropriate for larger CF cards.
I started by getting an ALIX 2d2 (just one more IDE header than the 2c2, not much change). I bought it from mini-box.com, and I also picked up the custom enclosure for it and a power supply.
I already had a 4 GB CF card: a Kingston 4GB elite pro 133X, which was new when I built the original firewall. Make sure you have a good CF writer. I’ve had failures with cheapies, but got a Kingston FCR-HS219/1 and that worked.
There are a number of steps to get a working firewall. They are:
- Getting OpenBSD 5.1 on the ALIX
- Setting up networking for the ALIX firewall
- Setting up PF for the ALIX firewall
- Setting up BIND on the ALIX firewall
- Final cleanup for the ALIX firewall