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Date:      Wed, 30 Jan 2002 14:16:26 -0700
From:      Nate Williams <nate@yogotech.com>
To:        Matthew Whelan <muttley@gotadsl.co.uk>
Cc:        Matthew Dillon <dillon@apollo.backplane.com>, "Thomas T. Veldhouse" <veldy@veldy.net>, andrew.cowan@hsd.com.au, "Nate Williams" <nate@yogotech.com>, "Freebsd-Stable" <freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   Re: Proposed Solution To Recent "firewall_enable" Thread. [Please Read]
Message-ID:  <15448.25258.559642.146789@caddis.yogotech.com>
In-Reply-To: <JI75GAYSTRA5PJZYUKGON75TOB88.3c586114@VicNBob>
References:  <200201292106.g0TL6T748013@apollo.backplane.com> <JI75GAYSTRA5PJZYUKGON75TOB88.3c586114@VicNBob>

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> Nate dismisses the install stage (have compiled custom kernel but not yet 
> configured firewall rules) as a 'straw-man' but that's rubbish IMO.

I still say it's complete rubbish.

> Say your 
> gateway has an unfortunate accident and needs replacing with a new
> machine. 

Then, you're down until the box is *completely* brought back up.  That
means you configure it *off-the-network* before replacing the old
machine with the new one.

(And, any sys-admin worth the salt will have a backup tape of the box
ready to load on a new machine, so the box will have been
loaded/configured before it's installed anyway.)

> First up you'll compile a kernel with gateway and firewalling
> enabled. 

No, first thing you do is install the basic FreeBSD installation on the
box, then restore your backed up firewall onto the box, so it's ready to
go *RIGHT AWAY*?  What you don't do backups?  Then you're going to have
to configure the crap out of the box anyway, and who'se going to try and
configure it with a locked-down firewall and no remote access?

Again, this is a complete strawman.

> You'll also need to pull your firewall rules off tape/the old disk/networked 
> backup/whatever.

How you gonna access the network backup if you are completely locked
down?  If the firewall box is dead, how you gonna access the disk?  If
it's up, then you by god have the ability to create the new box *before*
it's deployed, so the firewall being locked down is a moot point.

However, I'm again going mute, because those folks who are arguing about
this (aside from Warner's specific example) appear to not use the stuff
much, or simply like the old way because it's the old way.



Nate

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