Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 20:28:55 +0200 From: Giorgos Keramidas <charon@labs.gr> To: Cliff Sarginson <cliff@raggedclown.net> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Just a little persuasuion, that's all I need (convert me to FBSD) Message-ID: <20011109182854.GA56403@hades.hell.gr> In-Reply-To: <20011108173630.B22523@raggedclown.net> References: <20011108173630.B22523@raggedclown.net>
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Cliff Sarginson <cliff@raggedclown.net> wrote:
>
> Without going into details I have become increasingly fed-up
> with Linux, more specifically with the distribution I have been
> using, as a desktop. I have no beef with Linux itself, but just
> the nightmarish world surrounding it.
Unless I got you all wrong, you're basically asking if FreeBSD can do
the things you list below. So I'll take a few minutes to write what
it can do, and see if that is persuasive enough :)
> What I want is:
>
> - I will shortly be online 24/7 with an ASDL connection, so I want a
> firewall.
FreeBSD has two different types of firewalls. ipfw and ipfilter.
They're both pretty good, and which one you will eventually choose to
use is more a matter of personal taste.
> - I want to run a small mail-server. I do not want to run an externally
> accessible DNS however.
I am running a caching named on my dialup box that is not accessible
from `outside'. This is easy to do with the configuration of BIND,
the name server daemon. It's just a matter of setting up properly the
options in named.conf. Mine has the following options enabled:
options {
directory "/etc/namedb";
pid-file "/var/run/named/named.pid";
listen-on { 127.0.0.1/32; };
};
This way the name server only listens on 127.0.0.1 for queries.
It does query other name-servers without problems though :)
For more configuration details about BIND, you can either grab a copy
of "DNS & BIND" from O'Reilly and associates, or read the BIND
documentation, which is installed (in FreeBSD) in your system at
/usr/share/doc/bind/html.
> - The firewall must let anything out, and web, ftp, ntp and ssh access
> in. I have a firewall machine using Smoothwall, but I have not yet
> had time to do much with it.
There are various articles and tutorials online, which can prove
helpful when you are trying to set up a firewall with FreeBSD. I've
posted in an older message several links to useful material. Look at
the archives of this list, and you'll find a wealth of pointers and
helpful posts.
> - I want at least one of the machines (see spec. below) to be capable of
> running a stable desktop, WindowMaker and KDE/Gnome.
I haven't tried using FreeBSD both as a firewall/router and as a
desktop machine, but given enough resources (read memory, cpu speed,
and disk space) it should be OK.
> - I don't want hassles with hardware compatibility.
> - I want access to an easy update mechanism, particularly with regard to
> security.
One of the strong points of FreeBSD is its ease of installation, and
the way updates are done. It's why I liked FreeBSD over other OSes
I've worked with in the first place. The Handbook (available online
too, at http://www.FreeBSD.org/) explains in detail the way you can
update your system, when the need arises.
> - I want access to a bug-tracking/status system for the OS.
There are various ways to `keep informed' about FreeBSD updates.
* The freebsd-announce mailing list is a low-volume list, which you
can subscribe to, for the latest news in FreeBSD releases.
* The freebsd-security list and the FreeBSD.org security pages
<URL: http://www.freebsd.org/security/ > are a few of the things
that pop to my mind for information related to FreeBSD security.
* The `Problem Report' system of FreeBSD, which has both a
web-interface and works with mail notification too, works fairly
well. And then of course, ...
* This list is always here, if you want to ask questions regarding
installation and use of FreeBSD.
Hope this helps :)
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