How to set up a network scenario with eBox

Introduction

This document is meant to explain where eBox should be placed in your network.

There are basically two typical scenarios where eBox can be installed.

In the first scenario eBox is placed between your router and your local network. In the second one, eBox is installed just like another machine in your network. The latter has some limitations as we explain later.

Scenario 1

In this scenario eBox is placed between your router and your local networks. That is, eBox will work as your default gateway.

This is the preferred scenario to fully exploit the capabilities of eBox.

Use this topology if you plan to do any of the following:

• Transparent proxy
• Content filtering
• Firewalling: protect your local network from external networks
• NAT
• Traffic shaping
• Multipath routing
• Using openVPN to interconnect networks

As you can see, in this scenario you will need at least two network interfaces. Keep in mind that:

• Every network interface must belong to a different network.
• At least one of the interfaces must be marked as external, and your router must be accessible through this interface.

If you take a glance at the picture you can identify these elements:

• Interface eth0 is an internal interface configured with the IP 192.168.1.254, its network address is 192.168.1.255. The local machines will be connected to this network and will have 192.168.1.x addresses. You must set eBox's IP as their default gateway.
• Interface eth1 is an external interface configured whose IP is 10.0.0.254. The router belongs to same network and its IP is 10.0.0.1. Note that you will have to add the gateway trough the web interface.