new project.

[James Ortega]

Hello All,

Great project guys!

I'm new to Coreboot.  What I'd like to do is load CoreBoot on to a mainboard
that has dual NIC support.  Once that is done I'd like to load Linux
Firewall off a solid state drive.  Requirements.

AMD mainboard
2gb ram
dual nic (must have)
micro atx
2x 2.5 sold state drive. or the new 1.8 inch drive. (raid)

This hardware needs to fit into the new Antec Skeleton Mini case.

Thanks for your time & attention,

[Peter Stuge]

Hi James,

James Ortega wrote:
> load Linux Firewall off a solid state drive.

If you have the possibility to use a larger flash chip than the
standard supplied with the board you can even load the Linux kernel
itself off the boot flash.
> Requirements.
>
> AMD mainboard
> 2gb ram
> dual nic (must have)
> micro atx
> 2x 2.5 sold state drive. or the new 1.8 inch drive. (raid)
>
> This hardware needs to fit into the new Antec Skeleton Mini case.

Hmm, what kind of CPU power do you need? And how would the drives be
used? For example the PC Engines ALIX.2 boards are well supported by
coreboot and come in different configurations with multiple network
ports.

//Peter

[James Ortega]

On Sat, Oct 18, 2008 at 10:09 AM, Peter Stuge  wrote:
> Hi James,
>
> James Ortega wrote:
> > load Linux Firewall off a solid state drive.
>
> If you have the possibility to use a larger flash chip than the
> standard supplied with the board you can even load the Linux kernel
> itself off the boot flash.

Thanks for your speedy response.

Forgive my ignorance, something like CF Flash?
> > Requirements.
> >
> > AMD mainboard
> > 2gb ram
> > dual nic (must have)
> > micro atx
> > 2x 2.5 sold state drive. or the new 1.8 inch drive. (raid)
> >
> > This hardware needs to fit into the new Antec Skeleton Mini case.
>
> Hmm, what kind of CPU power do you need? And how would the drives be
> used? For example the PC Engines ALIX.2 boards are well supported by
> coreboot and come in different configurations with multiple network
> ports.

I was looking for maybe an x2 would be fine for the processor.  The drives
will be needed to house the firewall software.  In addition they will
contain the log files.  As a precaution the log files will also be sent to a
syslog server.

I'll look at the above mentioned boards and see if they fix my requirements.

Thanks for your time & attention,

[Peter Stuge]

James Ortega wrote:
> > > load Linux Firewall off a solid state drive.
> >
> > If you have the possibility to use a larger flash chip than the
> > standard supplied with the board you can even load the Linux
> > kernel itself off the boot flash.
>
> Forgive my ignorance, something like CF Flash?

No, I should have been more clear, sorry. :)

Coreboot and a so-called payload are programmed into the flash chip
on the mainboard there the BIOS used to be.

The payload can of course be a boot-loader that loads a kernel from a
hard drive or CF (which is functionally identical to a hard drive) -
but the payload can also be a Linux kernel.
> I was looking for maybe an x2 would be fine for the processor.

If you're only going to forward packets I think that is huge
overkill.
> The drives will be needed to house the firewall software.  In
> addition they will contain the log files.

If you're running Linux there's already a firewall built-into the
kernel. If by software you mean lots of applications that will run
on top of the kernel then maybe those drives can be useful.
> As a precaution the log files will also be sent to a
> syslog server.

That's always a good idea.
> I'll look at the above mentioned boards and see if they fix my
> requirements.

Well, the Geode LX doesn't have the same bang as an X2, but it will
do firewalling without any problems.

//Peter