From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Mar 23 21:03:07 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A00E816A4CE for ; Wed, 23 Mar 2005 21:03:07 +0000 (GMT) Received: from prosporo.hedron.org (hedron.org [66.11.182.60]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 08A6E43D2F for ; Wed, 23 Mar 2005 21:03:07 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from ean@hedron.org) Received: from www.hedron.org (localhost.hedron.org [127.0.0.1]) by prosporo.hedron.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C3754C11D; Wed, 23 Mar 2005 16:03:20 -0500 (EST) Received: from 216.220.59.169 (SquirrelMail authenticated user ean); by www.hedron.org with HTTP; Wed, 23 Mar 2005 16:03:20 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <3831.216.220.59.169.1111611800.squirrel@216.220.59.169> In-Reply-To: <20050323204710.56664.qmail@web30202.mail.mud.yahoo.com> References: <20050323204710.56664.qmail@web30202.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 16:03:20 -0500 (EST) From: "Ean Kingston" To: "Shawn B" User-Agent: SquirrelMail/1.4.3a X-Mailer: SquirrelMail/1.4.3a MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Importance: Normal cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Firewall questions X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 21:03:07 -0000 > I have been looking for a great firewall, something > not too technical, since I have only been using > FreeBSD for two months now. > > I have FreeBSD-4.8 installed, Apache-1.3, and > Netqmail-1.05. I am also planning on running an NTP > time server and possibly a forum in the future. The > web site is expected to become a well-recognized site, > so that complicates matters. More attention to the > site means more attacks. If it's a firewall you might want to upgrade to the latest in the series you are using (4.11). There may be security holes in 4.8 by now. > Also, I am looking for antiviral protection for both > the FreeBSD server, and any Windows or Macintosh > systems that may be using the POP mail. I know qmail > has one solution, which was contributed by a qmail > user, but what are the alternatives? There are very few anti-virus packages for FreeBSD. AFAIK there are no viruses that target FreeBSD. There are a few that target x86 hardware but these don't propagate over the 'net. Have a look at amavis (it's in the ports collection). I've never used it but it's been mentioned a number of times on various lists. Also, F-Prot (www.f-prot.com) provides an AV product for FreeBSD (NetBSD, and OpenBSD too). They even have a mail scanner product. I used the file scanner for a while but stopped the last time I upgraded the OS. > > Any suggestions as to what firewall would provide me > with the best protection, while not being overly too > complicated? For simplicity, get one of the Firewall Router devices and stick your FreeBSD system behind it. Most have a web interface to manage them. Just make sure you get the Firewall model and not the Router with NAT model. Unless you get lucky, the guy a Best Buy (or whereever) won't have a clue about the differences and will not be able to help even if he thinks he is helping. You need to do your research on this. On FreeBSD you have a choice of IPFW, IPF, and PF. IPFW is FreeBSD only, IPF runs on many OSes (but not Linux), and PF is a port of the OpenBSD firewall. All are included with the FreeBSD distribution but require a kernel recomple (it's explained in the handbook and isn't nearly as scary as it sounds). All are about a complicated to configure/manage. -- Ean Kingston E-Mail: ean_AT_hedron_DOT_org PGP KeyID: 1024D/CBC5D6BB URL: http://www.hedron.org/