Need a good free proxy

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jamesla

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#57500 15-Feb-2010 18:52

Hey just looking for a free proxy server that is pretty good, it's a very basic setup (10 computers and all we need is 2 groups restricted users and full access users and also some way of viewing reports to see who is browsing what. We don't have a windows domain so don't need active directory ldap integration.

Has anybody got any ideas?

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#299175 15-Feb-2010 19:02

If you have a linux machine, then squid is the be all - of course that's also it's downfall. There may be a webmin module for it out there. Reporting would be interesting (there are a number of tools to do reporting)

If you are going to run it off a windows server, then possibly ISA server (I'm thinking Small Business server here ...)

That's two ideas off the top of my head :-)

EDIT: Oops! ISA Server is not free ...

sbiddle

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#299178 15-Feb-2010 19:08

What you want to do it's quite that basic and I doubt you'll get something that does all of that for free.

Ragnor

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#299186 15-Feb-2010 19:30

There are tons of free linux and bsd distribution designed to work as a network firewall appliance.

Eg:
Monowall
pfsense
Smoothwal
ipcop
..etc

They are good enough for casual SMB use I guess but I wouldn't run a mission critical business internet connection on something like that or on something free.

robjg63

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#299210 15-Feb-2010 20:00

wazzageek: If you have a linux machine, then squid is the be all - of course that's also it's downfall. There may be a webmin module for it out there. Reporting would be interesting (there are a number of tools to do reporting)

If you are going to run it off a windows server, then possibly ISA server (I'm thinking Small Business server here ...)

That's two ideas off the top of my head :-)

EDIT: Oops! ISA Server is not free ...

Ooops Indeed!!!!! You can get squid for windows. We run it at work - its good.

We ditched ISA because it was inclined to get flakey!

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wazzageek

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#299212 15-Feb-2010 20:04

Ragnor: There are tons of free linux and bsd distribution designed to work as a network firewall appliance.

Eg:
Monowall
pfsense
Smoothwal
ipcop
..etc

They are good enough for casual SMB use I guess but I wouldn't run a mission critical business internet connection on something like that or on something free.

I'm curious - ok for casual SMB use, but no mission critical?

Care to expand on why you say that?

Ragnor

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#299219 15-Feb-2010 20:10

Few reasons:

Most of them are community projects where development and bug fixes happen whenever, configuration and tweaking is up to you... no technical support/helpdesk for the free versions.

If their internet connection is mission critical I would look at some form of commercial support at least.

However given he's looking for something free it doesn't really sound like that's a factor in this situation.

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jamesla

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#299297 15-Feb-2010 21:21

Ragnor: There are tons of free linux and bsd distribution designed to work as a network firewall appliance.

Eg:
Monowall
pfsense
Smoothwal
ipcop
..etc

They are good enough for casual SMB use I guess but I wouldn't run a mission critical business internet connection on something like that or on something free.

They are all firewalls/routers aren't they???

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Snowflake

#299298 15-Feb-2010 21:25

robjg63: We ditched ISA because it was inclined to get flakey!

i would suggest that your implementation was problematic, rather than the product being flaky. we have been running ISA since 2000 and have found it to be quite stable.

another popular paid-for proxy server product for windows is web marshal. there are also firewall devices that have web proxy or web securty built into them which wont break the bank

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jamesla

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#299306 15-Feb-2010 21:37

the thing about squid for windows is they will need to pay for a copy of win2k3 or 2k8 since xp or vista or 7 has a 10 concurrent connection limit so technically not free >_<

man for something so simple theres not a lot out there, can anyone advise of anything that does reporting? I'm tempted by this webmin thing that has squid included has anyone tried that? Or squidguard?

jamesla

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#299307 15-Feb-2010 21:43

Regs:
robjg63: We ditched ISA because it was inclined to get flakey!

i would suggest that your implementation was problematic, rather than the product being flaky. we have been running ISA since 2000 and have found it to be quite stable.

another popular paid-for proxy server product for windows is web marshal. there are also firewall devices that have web proxy or web securty built into them which wont break the bank

hmm the thing is all of those firewalls are proper firewalls ie fortigates/junipers at around $1500 each which is a bit over the top for a 10 computer site also they don't allow for groups ie I cant allow some users full internet access and some users restricted..

I've used Isa before and I think it's totally underrated BUT you need a windows domain for it to be any good plus its expensive.... a windows 2003 license + a copy of isa is expensive for a 10 user site :(

boby55

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#299308 15-Feb-2010 21:43

jamesla: the thing about squid for windows is they will need to pay for a copy of win2k3 or 2k8 since xp or vista or 7 has a 10 concurrent connection limit so technically not free >_<

man for something so simple theres not a lot out there, can anyone advise of anything that does reporting? I'm tempted by this webmin thing that has squid included has anyone tried that? Or squidguard?

Squid Coupled With Dans Guardian Should do it?

We run ISA at work and have done since 2000 and never had a issue with it

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Regs

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Snowflake

#299312 15-Feb-2010 21:46

jamesla: hmm the thing is all of those firewalls are proper firewalls ie fortigates/junipers at around $1500 each which is a bit over the top for a 10 computer site also they don't allow for groups ie I cant allow some users full internet access and some users restricted..

you can always use DHCP to dish out specific IP addresses, segregate the range and then build rules to allow/disallow based on the client IP range.

many of the DSL routers could potentially do this too as they often tend to have firewall capabilities built in.

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#299316 15-Feb-2010 21:48

jamesla: hmm the thing is all of those firewalls are proper firewalls ie fortigates/junipers at around $1500 each which is a bit over the top for a 10 computer site also they don't allow for groups ie I cant allow some users full internet access and some users restricted..

If you are looking for firewalls/security for a SMB without that price tag, NETGEAR has announced some, er, gear recently.

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jamesla

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#299331 15-Feb-2010 22:08

boby55:
jamesla: the thing about squid for windows is they will need to pay for a copy of win2k3 or 2k8 since xp or vista or 7 has a 10 concurrent connection limit so technically not free >_<

man for something so simple theres not a lot out there, can anyone advise of anything that does reporting? I'm tempted by this webmin thing that has squid included has anyone tried that? Or squidguard?

Squid Coupled With Dans Guardian Should do it?

We run ISA at work and have done since 2000 and never had a issue with it

Dans Guardian looks good, what do you recommend I do about the reporting?

Ragnor

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#299377 16-Feb-2010 01:12

jamesla:
Ragnor: There are tons of free linux and bsd distribution designed to work as a network firewall appliance.

Eg:
Monowall
pfsense
Smoothwal
ipcop
..etc

They are good enough for casual SMB use I guess but I wouldn't run a mission critical business internet connection on something like that or on something free.

They are all firewalls/routers aren't they???

Just google the names of some of the above and then click on features and/or screenshots for an idea of what they do.

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