OpenVPN + NAT + DHCP

[adotomov]

Hello guys,
I have recently started a small business from home and I need to set up my home network so that I can have a secure access to it from the outside world. The obvious choice is VPN, but since I am running on a very tight budget here, I have decided to make use of some old hardware that lays around in the garage. I need a lot of help setting up the system, because I am kind of a newbie to networking. I will really appreciate it if you can give me a hand here.
So, here is the situation. I have a 100Mbit/s internet connection with a static IP address. I have a desktop computer, a small server* and an HP LaserJet All-in-one device which has a LAN connectivity. I need all of them to be in a network, behind a firewall and to be able to access them from the outside world. There will be no wireless devices to the network and I would like it to be at gigabit speeds.
Now, I also have an old mini-itx build, based on an Intel Atom CPU and currently has 512MB of DDR2 RAM. The box also has two NICs. My question is, would it be possible to use this box as a router/vpn server?
My ideas is to connect the external ip to nic1, route the internet connection through NAT to nic2, connect the nic2 to a wired gigabit switch, assign ip addresses to the desktop, the server and the printer and install openvpn and gain access to this network from outside. I am planning on using Debian for OS.

First of all, is it possible to configure this and if yes, any suggestions on how? Second, I am planning on updating the Atom to 4gb ram but even so, would this be sufficient to keep up with the workload (not expecting heavy traffic)?

Also, a bit off-topic, but is it possible to run two instances of apache, one listening on nic1 and one listening on nic2, because I want to host an external website for my business on nic1 and an internal development platform on nic2.

I will really appreciate your help on the matter. Times are tough and DiY really saves costs when you are a small home-based entrepreneur.

*The server has 12TB of HDD space and a customized apache/php/postgresql installation.

[maikcat]

short answer yes you can use your pc with 2 NICs as your internet gateway.

how to do that?

in many ways...
you can install a linux distro and configure on it every services needed (firewall,openvpn etc)
or download a similar appliance and use it. (pfsense,untangle,zentyal etc)

Michael.