Proxy Server?

SephStorm

Hi all,

I am hoping you guys can help me out, ive been working on this all afternoon. I would like to have a proxy server for my home network, and I dont trust random online proxies, and I dont thing a simply php or http proxy will suit my needs.

I was following the instructions here: Setting up a proxy server at home | The Web Page of Kristopher Linquist but Its just not working, i believe the problem is with the OpenSSH program. I could go into details, but in the end, I dont think its going to work

Anyway, I am running WS2k8, and several W7 machines (a mix of premium and Ult. I cant believe premium cant join a domain!...) Any help would be greatly appreciated!

docrice

What is it you're trying to accomplish? Do you want to obfuscate your traffic at location x (such as at work) so the network monitors there can't see the first leg of the communication? If so, it sounds like you could just set up a VPN server that tunnels everything and be done with. OpenSSH can probably do this too, but I'm just used to using traditional VPN solutions.

http://kimiushida.com/bitsandpieces/articles/openbsd_openvpn_quickstart/

The first thing to keep in mind is that traffic that comes from your client machine to your home VPN server which then U-turns back out to some Internet resource (like Facebook) will be visible to your ISP. I'm guessing that's probably not a concern for you.

The second issue is your home Internet connection's upload speed. If you're on a low-cost DSL plan where upload speeds are at like 384kbps or less, you might feel some degree of constraint when you try to download from the Internet as it flows back to your home network, and then uploads / flows back to your client origination point.

By the way, no "home" version of Windows can join an Active Directory domain. I think Microsoft cripples their business / enterprise level versions so it has a dedicated lower-priced SKU for the consumer market.

zerglings

Would you consider using Ubuntu for this? If so, then I have a solution for you. I have one running at home and it was very easy to accomplish.

Everyone

Sounds like you want to do NAT, and not really just a Proxy since you want more than just web traffic to go through it.

I highly recommend pfSense. You can run it in a virtual machine on top one of your existing systems. Route your whole network through it, let it take care of the NAT. You could also add the Squid proxy package to it, and have a proxy setup too.

SephStorm

Those are very good questions guys.

Hmmm. Honestly I don't know. Most businesses use dedicated proxies don't they? I'm trying to replicate a business setup in as many ways as I can, gaining myself some hands on time with the technologies. I do know that most routers act a NAT devices anyway, so I should already have that functionality... but I wouldnt mind trying out PFSense, it would give me some hands on with a firewall.

Doing the VPN thing is something I hope to do down the line, so my communications from mobile devices will be encrypted on unknown networks.

Everyone

SephStorm wrote: »

Those are very good questions guys.

Hmmm. Honestly I don't know. Most businesses use dedicated proxies don't they? I'm trying to replicate a business setup in as many ways as I can, gaining myself some hands on time with the technologies. I do know that most routers act a NAT devices anyway, so I should already have that functionality... but I wouldnt mind trying out PFSense, it would give me some hands on with a firewall.

Doing the VPN thing is something I hope to do down the line, so my communications from mobile devices will be encrypted on unknown networks.

Yes most business use a proxy.

You should run Squid on pfSense then. You can set it up as a transparent proxy. pfSense also has OpenVPN on it, so you can try setting up a VPN later on when you're ready for it.

docrice

Untangle might fit the bill for you as well:

http://www.untangle.com/

zerglings

Everyone wrote: »

You should run Squid

This is what I run at home on Ubuntu Server 9.04. I didn't have to configure anything since I was only doing basic proxy.

crrussell3

docrice wrote: »

Untangle might fit the bill for you as well:

Multi-functional Firewall Software - Open Source Content Filter & Spam Filter | Untangle.com

+1 for Untangle. Been using it at home for almost a year or more now (since v7, now on v9). Works great! Only two issues I have had with it:

1. Streaming Netflix. Had to allow my netflix devices (x360 and bluray player) to bypass the A/V scanner, as that was screwing with it. Not sure if the issue has been fixed, haven't made any changes to see.
2. No FTP helper for firewall. If you use the FW appliance, ftp will be a PITA! Again, not sure if the newer versions have fixed it, since I haven't tested.

Otherwise great product. Built in A/V, AdBlockPlus, Protocol blocker, etc make it an excellent (free) utm.

sting_224

I use untangle, it's easy to configure.