[KLUG Members] question on firewall distro for VPN

[Richard Harding]

I work for a small non-profit and I am trying to replace an existing 
system where we have an SonicWall firewall that is expensive to upgrade. 
I was hoping to replace it with something like a smoothwall or such 
firewall distro on a old P2-233 I have sitting here.

I have played with SmoothWall and it is impressive but there is one 
limitation. I have a Windows 2000 machine running a VPN server for a 
couple of our users. (3 to be exact) For instance the boss likes to 
print to his work printer so I have it set up so he can VPN in and print 
to his network printer for his secretary. Another is the finance guy so 
he can Remote Desktop in to his XP machine and run his quickbooks 
software from home.

I was hoping to use SmoothWall to eliminate the need for this extra 
Win2k box. (Major $$ cutbacks in Education in MI these days) but in 
order to do this you have to purchase add ons. Is there any distro like 
smoothwall that would let me set up an easy to use VPN for a few users 
while still letting me replace the firewall unit?

I would love to hear any of your experiences out there.

Thanks
Rick