All aboard the SmoothWall Express

The SmoothWall Open Source Project recently released SmoothWall Express 3.0. This is the first release of this free/open source firewall/router distribution in some time. SmoothWall Express 2.0 dates back to December 2003, although an update became available in December 2006. Version 3.0 is the first version to use the 2.6 kernel and adds support for 64-bit processors.

In fact the release notes contain a lengthy list of new features and improvements since 2.0. This release comes in four editions: user and developer editions for 32-bit and 64-bit systems. The developer editions contain everything in the user editions and add the needed tools for working on Express itself, including complete builds, check outs and commits. Those who choose the developer version should read the build notes.

Your editor recently installed the 32-bit user edition of SmoothWall Express 3.0 on an old computer whose sole function is to provide a home network. This box plugs into a cable modem with one ethernet card and into a SnapGear Lite (four port) box through another ethernet card. SmoothWall Express is small, so it doesn't take very long to download the ISO or to burn a CD. Installation is very easy and prompts you to enter setup during the install. The setup program can also be run at any time after the install. During setup both ethernet cards were correctly identified and were soon configured to use DHCP. My main desktop was back on the net only minutes after beginning the SmoothWall Express installation.

SmoothWall Limited provides support and funding for the SmoothWall Open Source Project. This support includes two SmoothWall employees to head the open source development team. As the commercial arm of the SmoothWall community, SmoothWall Limited offers a range of supported security solutions to schools, enterprise networks and small/medium businesses. The SmoothWall Open Source Project produces SmoothWall Express which is released under the GPL and can be downloaded from this page. You can also get VMWare images. Installation and Administrator guides are also available in the download area. There's also a web forum and an IRC channel available for those who need more help.

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