[GlobalNomad]

Hi, I'm not sure if I should ask this in here or in Networking...

First let me say what I have at the momment. I have:

- 1x Netgear 4 port (switch) aDSL Router
- 1x Airport Extreme
- An aDSL connection via PPPoE
- 3 Macs
- 3 Win

The internet goes from the Modem to the Netgear Router. I have 2 Computers plugged In off the Switch. I have the Airport Extreme off the switch, which 4 computers use.

I want to set a server up. I want to be able to monitor what everyone does online:
- websites they go to
- email they send
- Amount data they transfer and what they transfered (what ports, like Kazza or something)
- when they log on
- hack atteps
- could it be possible to do in real time?
- etc.

I was thinking about using my g4 733 digital Audio as the server (it only has one Network card. So i would proberly need another one?)

The main reason I want to setup a server is to keep a eye on the young kiddies who are just getting on-line that could easily be pointed in the wrong direction.

[Scotttheking]

This is a networking question.
What you probably want to do is setup a proxy server for web, and some other monitoring tools.
I'd recommend linux for it, there are a lot more tools available.
Setup a box with 2 NICs and run all traffic thru it. Sorry I can't be more help, I don't have too much experience doing things like that.

[Rainy Day]

Well now, you see, to my mind this is primarily a server issue.

There are many solutions to do what you want. If you want to set up one of your computers as a firewall, you can monitor (and log) all traffic in/out, attempted, etc. A good OS choice for such a critter would be OpenBSD (Linux isn't a very secure OS). You could drop OpenBSD onto one of the Windoze boxes if you like, or any FPU enabled 68K or New World PPC Mac. For this to work, you should have 2 NIC's. You most likely could use MacOS X too, but you should harden it if you do. OpenBSD is hardened by default, is generally faster, and the folks using OpenBSD know how to do this kind of stuff in their sleep, so you have a place to ask questions when setting it up.

Other kinds of solutions would include dropping monitoring software on the kiddie's boxes (e.g. many firewall products can log activity), and setting up a mailserver to BCC you on any incoming or outgoing eMail. These solutions, however, are less bulletproof than the aforementioned solution, although they may be easier to set up initially.

[GlobalNomad]

Hmmm.

I think I might want to use Mac OS X, mostly because I already have it. So if I get a NIC card for one of the extra PCI slots that is all I need on the hardware side.

Is there a website with help documentation to help with the inital server setup?

I think you are right, maybe a proxy server is the way to go.

[Camelot]

Originally posted by GlobalNomad:
Hmmm.

I think I might want to use Mac OS X, mostly because I already have it. So if I get a NIC card for one of the extra PCI slots that is all I need on the hardware side.

Is there a website with help documentation to help with the inital server setup?

I think you are right, maybe a proxy server is the way to go.

Agreed. Ignore those BSD and L*nux junkies. Mac OS X can do what you want.

Install a second NIC. install Squid ( http://www.squid-cache.org/ ) - it's a proxy server that runs fine under Mac OS X and will handle all your http filtering.

Get a copy of BrickHouse ( http://personalpages.tds.net/~brian_...rickhouse.html ) and use its control of Mac OS X's internet sharing to setup the NAT function in Mac OS X, and to configure the firewall to block the traffic you don't want the kids accessing.

From there it's largely tuning and playing with the options. Sure, it's not 100% but you're at least 2 steps ahead of the kids - you'll learn a lot by installing and configuring these programs and with luck you'll be able to stay ahead of them.