From owner-freebsd-questions Mon Sep 28 22:38:31 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id WAA16691 for freebsd-questions-outgoing; Mon, 28 Sep 1998 22:38:31 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from allegro.lemis.com (allegro.lemis.com [192.109.197.134]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id WAA16640 for ; Mon, 28 Sep 1998 22:38:22 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from grog@freebie.lemis.com) Received: from freebie.lemis.com (freebie.lemis.com [192.109.197.137]) by allegro.lemis.com (8.9.1/8.9.0) with ESMTP id PAA11530; Tue, 29 Sep 1998 15:08:02 +0930 (CST) Received: (from grog@localhost) by freebie.lemis.com (8.9.1/8.9.0) id PAA22426; Tue, 29 Sep 1998 15:08:00 +0930 (CST) Message-ID: <19980929150759.N15172@freebie.lemis.com> Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 15:07:59 +0930 From: Greg Lehey To: Joe Raine , freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Firewall? References: <199809290400.OAA20985@oznet14.ozemail.com.au> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 0.91.1i In-Reply-To: <199809290400.OAA20985@oznet14.ozemail.com.au>; from Joe Raine on Tue, Sep 29, 1998 at 02:13:22PM +1000 WWW-Home-Page: http://www.lemis.com/~grog Organization: LEMIS, PO Box 460, Echunga SA 5153, Australia Phone: +61-8-8388-8286 Fax: +61-8-8388-8725 Mobile: +61-41-739-7062 Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Tuesday, 29 September 1998 at 14:13:22 +1000, Joe Raine wrote: > Hi, > My company intends to become its own internet provider and I realise that > we have a lot of learning to do! I have had a look at MS NT4 Server with MS > Backoffice, but it costs a bomb and basically crippled an otherwise OK > Pentium 120MHz machine (Boy, did it slow down!!). > > I have been getting the FreeBSD newsletters for a while and have to admit > that they go straight over my head on the whole, but some info sticks, so > there's hope for me yet :) > > It looks like FreeBSD is fast and efficient. My questions... > > 1. Is the learning curve horrendous for someone who is only versed in DOS > and Windows? Difficult to say. It depends on you, and it depends on what you consider horrendous. Others have done it, and I personally think that I can understand the stuff better than Microsoft. Take heart, anyway: it's not insurmountable. > 2. Will there be any compatibility problems integrating a FreeBSD machine > into a Win'95 peer-to-peer network? Doubtless. Depending on what you want to do, they could be easy or not-so-easy to solve. Again, it's been done many times. > 3. Does FreeBSD have a firewall built-in or is that available as a > similarly-priced add-on? Yes. There are a couple on the distribution CDs. They're technically add-ons. > 4. We want to offer on-line transaction facilities eventually. Is FreeBSD > up to the task, especially in regard to security issues? Yes. > 5. I would prefer to purchase the CD-ROM version of FreeBSD, is a printed > manual also available? There's "The Complete FreeBSD", second edition (http://www.cdrom.com/titles/os/bsdbook2.htm). It's expensive to ship from the USA (1600 pages); I can send you a copy if you want. Greg -- See complete headers for address, home page and phone numbers finger grog@lemis.com for PGP public key To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message