From owner-freebsd-questions Tue Sep 29 00:17:27 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id AAA00328 for freebsd-questions-outgoing; Tue, 29 Sep 1998 00:17:27 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from witch.xtra.co.nz (witch.xtra.co.nz [202.27.184.8]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id AAA00323 for ; Tue, 29 Sep 1998 00:17:25 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from junkmale@pop3.xtra.co.nz) Received: from wocker (210-55-210-87.ipnets.xtra.co.nz [210.55.210.87]) by witch.xtra.co.nz (8.9.1/8.9.1) with SMTP id TAA06655; Tue, 29 Sep 1998 19:17:05 +1200 (NZST) Message-Id: <199809290717.TAA06655@witch.xtra.co.nz> From: "Dan Langille" Organization: DVL Software Limited To: Joe Raine Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 19:17:10 +1200 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Subject: Re: Firewall? Reply-to: junkmale@xtra.co.nz CC: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG In-reply-to: <199809290400.OAA20985@oznet14.ozemail.com.au> X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Win32 (v3.01b) Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On 29 Sep 98, at 14:13, Joe Raine wrote: > 1. Is the learning curve horrendous for someone who is only versed in DOS > and Windows? Yes. But we've all been there. I was. I still consider myself a newbie. But don't let that put you off. > 2. Will there be any compatibility problems integrating a FreeBSD machine > into a Win'95 peer-to-peer network? Not that I know of. I use my FreeBSD box as a firewall/gateway for my home subnet. No comms issue whatsoever. > 3. Does FreeBSD have a firewall built-in or is that available as a > similarly-priced add-on? Built-in. Comes free. It's called ipfw. I use it and recommend it. There's also something called ipf, but I know little about it. > 4. We want to offer on-line transaction facilities eventually. Is FreeBSD > up to the task, especially in regard to security issues? I see no reason why not. But I have no experience in this area. Perhaps the security mailing list is better suited to this question. > 5. I would prefer to purchase the CD-ROM version of FreeBSD, is a printed > manual also available? Yes. Buy it. I wish I did before I installed. It's called The Complete FreeBSD and has lots of good stuff in it. Unfortunately, it's written by an ocker. :P > I apologise in advance if I have asked some questions that might be > answered by browsing your website, but spare time is a scarce commodity > for me just now and I have not had enough of it to browse in a productive > manner. No worries. My website might have some handy hints on getting started. It also shows you what not to do (e.g. The CDROM story; kids, don't try this at home). -- Dan Langille DVL Software Limited The FreeBSD Diary - my [mis]adventures http://www.FreeBSDDiary.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message