[coreymcl]

I have a couple of newbe questions I was hoping to get answered. I have a static IP address supplied with my internet connection.

If I have a Power Mac G5 with OS X Server 10.3. Does it include OS X server include firewall software? Or does my LinkSys Router supply enough protection?

[zwiebel_]

OS X Server has a built in firewall that you can configure using the Server Admin app (click on the server IP, expand the Services view next to the IP to see the Firewall option). On the router side, map the ports using the available NAT options to the serices you will provide on the server itself, i.e. map port 80 to server IP for web services, etc.
Hope this helps.

[[APi]TheMan]

Originally posted by coreymcl:
I have a couple of newbe questions I was hoping to get answered. I have a static IP address supplied with my internet connection.

If I have a Power Mac G5 with OS X Server 10.3. Does it include OS X server include firewall software? Or does my LinkSys Router supply enough protection?

Mac OS X Server includes the same firewall that Mac OS X client does, <i>ipfw</i>. You can use the Server Admin application (in the "Server" folder of the Applications folder) to allow access to certain services that you plan to run on the server. The Linksys router should be sufficient if this is the case.

What do you plan to do with your OS X Server? If all you'll be needing is local stuff (internal to the linksys router), then I wouldn't worry about using Mac OS X's Firewall. If you'll be serving to the internet at large then it might not hurt to filter traffic and only allow access to ports pertaining those services you'll be providing.

Mac OS X is pretty secure out of the box, and if you keep up with security updates you should be good to go.