Hi All,

I am planning to configure a Server in my network to share my Internet connectivity and also to be able to manage the users access. I am expecting to know what is the correct solution such as the name of the software that suits to my requirement.

Thanks to all.

MN

What you're talking about is Squid, a proxy server which is the 'standard' for Linux. And if you're planning on configuring something before you even know what it is, it would seem you have a good bit more research to do first. And telling people in a volunteer forum you EXPECT an answer is fairly rude.

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Firstly, I apologise for my mistake. I am not really good in English, so please forgive me for mistakes in my language or expression. Believe me, I am very humble and I promise to be very careful from now.

I need to do research from basics and that is the reason I asked for what to start with. Thank you for your kind reply. I would now do research on Squid. I am new to Linux and I do not even know anything. Hope this is the right place for me.

Thank you!

MN

There are a few methods to share your Internet connections and manage users:
1. Use HTTP proxy like Squid. Users can get access to the Internet after authorization by login and password.
2. Use SOCKS server.
3. Use iptables and NAT (Network Address Translation). Users can be authorized by IP address, or by IP/MAC pair.
4. Use VPN (PPTP, PPPoE, LP2TP, OpenVPN, or something else) server. Users can get access to the Internet after establishing VPN-connection to your server.
You could mix different methods also. All depends from your wishes. But all methods have own specificity. To choose you have to know more before to start to configure.

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Thank you VitalkaDrug!
Your answer is very helpful. I would like to give a clear picture of what my plan is.
I have a Static Public IP and it is configured to a firewall. My LAN has a domain server to authenticate users. However, not all users should have internet. So, firstly, I need to give internet access to few groups of users with active directory authentication. Secondly, I need web filtering for different groups. and finally I should be able to check the logs of every user of their internet activity. I don't know if my requirement is simple or complicated, but I hope Squid would do my job. So first I would like to know which Linux OS is best suitable for Squid, and then I will do research on OS and Squid.
Thanks a lot!
MN

ANY version of Linux would be fine for squid. You don't say whether this is for your home or office, or how many users you're talking about. If it's a server, then CentOS 7 would be a good choice.

There is MUCH easily-found documentation about squid and active directory. Web filtering is again done through squid and/or something like Dansguardian. The internet logs will be handled through squid, and there are many different reporting tools available, or you can easily write your own.

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Thank you TBOne!
I want to implement this solution for my office network.
There are 3 to 4 teams who need internet access and the rest does not need. Our environment has 100 workstations and runs on two shift timings. There are around 40 internet users per shift of 100 users. So, 40 users should be able to access internet and 60 users should not.
Any user can sit on any workstation, that means a workstation is not permanently allot to any one user only for the sake of convenience. Say if X is an internet user and Y is not, then on any workstation X sits, should be able to access internet and on any workstation Y sits should NOT have internet. This means that the access should NOT be on IP address basis, but on user authentication basis. So the Squid should be a part of the Activity Directory.
One of the teams should not have filtering (no restriction) but the server should have the log of every activity of the team and every individual user of that team. Other teams would have different levels to restrictions and the admin should be able to view the logs and prepare a report of the activity of each user.
You mentioned about Dansguardian, does that mean that it need to be installed on Squid server?
Once again thanks for your kind guidance.
MN

Again, all easily done. And again, a bit of research on your part will get you the answers you're looking for. If you tried putting "how to integrate squid with active directory" into Google, you get lots. And reading the documentation on Squid is a good place to start:
http://wiki.squid-cache.org/ConfigEx...ctiveDirectory

There are also many other how-to guides you can find. Doing research on your own is a good first step for ANY problem, before posting questions.
Again, research on your own. The Dansguardian page is easy to find, and has much information:
http://dansguardian.org/?page=whatisdg

It filters content, as you said you wanted. It works in CONJUNCTION with your Squid server. There are MANY tools to let you report on internet activity, web sites visited, etc. Again, as said before, squid keeps track of these things in its logs.

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Thanks again TB0ne!

Now I have a direction and information for doing research for my requirement. Doing research without proper direction would be difficult for me to fulfil the goal. Though my questions might be silly, I thank you for your kindness and coming forward to guide me.

MN

The point of research IS to ask questions. That said, going to Google and putting in "how do I build a proxy server on Linux" would give you plenty of starting points. Just like putting in "how do I filter web content on a linux proxy server", or "how do I generate reports from squid logs".