Home Server

[ashleyscopes]

Hello,

I am setting up my own SRCDS at home, last night, I managed to get it to run online perfectly in a VM in W2K3 x86_32 but when I build my home server soon which will have 16gb RAM, is it safer to run SRCDS in a VM, to protect the Host OS from Port Attacks, as the VM will run a different IP Address, or should I just run it in the host os.

Also, is it safe to keep ports 27005 --> 27015 open on my router constantly. I have to run it through Virtual Server on the router instead of port forwarding or DMZ, and it allows my to set the IP address of the machine that the ports will be connected on (x.x.x.51) so is it safe to keep the ports constantly activated, or should I deactivate them when not in use, as the Server will not be Constantly Awake.

Regards,

Ashley
(Newbie)

[Sakretsos]

hello there , if someone attack you ... to protect your server.. you must have very good connection .... so ... example.. if you have 50 gbps connection .. and someone attack you with 30 gbps.. then.. you will not have problem ... but.. i know that on home servers.. this is not available .. so .. a good idea.. is to add CSF firewall to your VM .. and open the nessesary ports .. this will block the ips that attacks you ... but .. is not the perfect protection .. just is a safe way .. from peoples that attack from applications and sends lots packets to your server !

[ashleyscopes]

Thankyou ever so much. So you say it is safer to run a VM with SRCDS over using SRCDS in the host os? I can see it would give two layers of protection if it had a firewall. If it is in a VM with a separate IP address, so if the host was x.x.x.20 and the vm was x.x.x.50, could a port attack still bounce off into the x.x.x.20? I will make sure to use a network bridge connection in the VM over using a NAT, as a NAT gives me an ip of 10.0.0.2, which redirects to the host anyway, where as if I use bridge, to any incoming connection from another PC aside the Host and VM, the VM will be seen as a separate PC.

Also, what is a good free antivirus (I use MSE) and firewall (I use Windows Firewall) to use for the server.