[nzlug] Redundant Linux based firewall hardware?

[Jim Cheetham]

On Mon, Jun 30, 2008 at 2:53 PM, Ian Beardslee <ian at karearea.gen.nz> wrote:
> We have several older 1U/2U machines acting as firewalls.  Replacing them
> with nice hardware is getting more and more ridiculous when you start
> thinking redundant disk, redundant power .. after all you want to reduce
> the chances of hardware failing don't you.

No, you want to minimise the outage to the service when (some of) the
hardware providing it fails.

Otherwise, you'd just have a cold standby. In fact, unless you
understand how your networks really operate, anything except a cold
standby can cause you issues you were not expecting (e.g. ARP
reassigment).

> I'm on the lookout for a setup that is something like a couple of via c3
> motherboards in a 1U rack unit that can act as a redundant firewall setup.
>  Low power, low $$ and 'decent' redundancy.

What sort of hardware failure are you protecting against? Motherboard
failure? Power supply failure? Disk failure? Rack failure?
If you have two mobos in one case, can you replace one of them while
the other is still powered-up and working?

-jim