Using ClearOS to secure your network gateway

BANGALORE, INDIA: There are several approaches one can take to secure your corporate network from external threats; one way is to have one in all gateway server (or UTM) that can scan data at the point of entry/exit. Now even if you have decided about the UTM, the next obvious question that would strike you is-- how much money can you spend? And can you find out tried and tested open source solutions with features comparable to any paid solution.

When we thought on these lines we came up with ClearOS, a gateway level server that has almost every feature one can think of and comes in different flavors, and most importantly the basic package is freely downloadable. To download latest version of this gateway software, simply visit www.clearfoundation.com and go to the download section, that can be located at 'software>ClearOS Download Center'. The size of the ISO is around 700 MB. Once downloaded, burn this ISO to CD and you are ready with software installation.

Test setup

As the name suggests ClearOS is a gateway server and the fact we are focusing on security features we should place this server at the point of entry/exit. In our sample setup we used AMD Phenome machine with 4 GB of RAM and 1 TB of HDD and most importantly with two network cards. We connected this machine directly to our router via first network card. Next we connected our machine with ClearOS to a switch and finally connected all test machines to the switch.

Installation

For installation simply boot machine with ClearOS ISO and fill in a few details and you are done. During installation here are few important steps where user input is required.

The first important window that might baffle you is 'System Mode' where you have option to select either 'Gateway' or 'Standalone'. Here the gateway mode is the one that would need two network cards; the system in this mode would act as firewall and server on local network.

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On the other hand, in a standalone mode, system would act as a server on local network. In this test setup, as we are looking into security aspect we have used the gateway mode. After this screen, there are few screens that would ask you simple network configurations, if name sever is missing you can keep that field blank and move ahead.

Next window would ask you about LAN IP; this is the address of the LAN side of the gateway server. Enter whatever subnet you need (192.168.1.1 in our case). Once network configurations have been checked you are asked to enter a root password. We have used default partitioning for this setup. ClearOS comes as a modular package and by default only 'Graphical Console' is selected for installation. Select relevant options from the software modules window that you wish to install. Once you are done with it installation would start. As soon as installation is over there is a login screen which would start a wizard that would require you to input few details including organization details, time zone, domain name etc.

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