Setting up printer and File sharing ONLY on Local Network

ngjunkie0011 · 10-08-2008, 01:51 PM

Is there anyone with experience that has done the following or can recommend a good solution to implement the following:

Task:
Set up file and printer sharing @ home allowing access only to local home network.

Equipment:
Network consists of a cable modem, a router, and linux clients and potentially windows clients as well. I have an old PII that will be used to share a USB HD and a printer.

I want to try this set up first with security in mind. Once I am more knowledgeable and have better grasp of linux networking I will configure the file sharing so that I can access it from anywhere. Right now I am still a linux networking novice.

I am willing to try any distro that you recommend. Is it safe to just configure samba and turn on file and printer sharing on my ubuntu box? Or is it better to use a networking flavor of ubuntu like nubuntu? I can do without the GUI. How does the filtering get done? Through samba or should the ubuntu box filter traffic through a firewall?

Can someone please steer me in the right direction!

theNbomr · 10-09-2008, 07:47 AM

The router should isolate your 192.168.x.x network from the internet. No special configuration required.
--- rod.

ngjunkie0011 · 10-09-2008, 09:48 AM

Will it matter if I install a server version of ubuntu?

theNbomr · 10-09-2008, 11:05 AM

Server version simply implies the general style of included packages. The network still behaves the same. It is the router which is important. No conforming IP router is supposed to pass any of the classes of private IPs. Most home networks use the 192.168.x.x class.
--- rod.

ngjunkie0011 · 10-10-2008, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theNbomr

Server version simply implies the general style of included packages. The network still behaves the same. It is the router which is important. No conforming IP router is supposed to pass any of the classes of private IPs. Most home networks use the 192.168.x.x class.
--- rod.

I thought my setup as it was, computers on the internet could still access my machine. I have a linksys router connected to my cable modem at home. I am going to try the setup with a PII machine with xubuntu on it. I already installed xubuntu, the next step will be to configure the file and printer sharing. Once that is up and running and am familiar configuring everything I will then try installing nubuntu. Once I am confident my setup is secure I will then configure my server so that I can access it from anywhere on the internet. Thank you very much for pointing me in the right direction!!!

theNbomr · 10-10-2008, 04:10 PM

The router could, if so configured, forward from the internet to the local LAN. Since no other router should be putting 192.168.X.X traffic on the WAN, there will be no packets addressed to your local hosts. Your router certainly should not pass any such traffic unless specifically configured to do so.
--- rod.