Quwery about firewall software

[Petter Adsen]

On Sat, 14 Nov 2015 19:27:38 +0800
Bret Busby <bret.busby at gmail.com> wrote:

> On 14/11/2015, Bret Busby <bret.busby at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On 14/11/2015, Petter Adsen <petter at synth.no> wrote:  
> >> On Sat, 14 Nov 2015 18:10:20 +0800
> >> Bret Busby <bret.busby at gmail.com> wrote:

<snip>

> >>> Please advise which of these two firewall applications, would be
> >>> most appropriate in this context, for a relatively simple
> >>> person.  

<snip>

> >> I'm not saying you can't do what you suggest, but that a
> >> specialized firewall distribution might be better suited. You can
> >> run pfSense off a USB stick or CD/DVD as a test to see how you
> >> like it.

<snip>

> I am going to try to rewrite what I had just written, using a text
> editor, to then copy the text into the email software, the previous
> attempt, having all got deleted by the software - it appears that, in
> using gmail, with the web browser that partly works, and rabid mouse
> software in the operating system, everything that gets entered at the
> keyboard, can go absolutely anywhere, and, can all be deleted, by
> whichever software is responsible, destroying anything up to hours of
> work, at a time.
> 
> Two things have occurred to me, regarding the suggestion to use
> pfSense, after I sent my previous reply, as I may have misconstrued
> the post content, in the first reading.
> 
> The first is thus; is the pfSense thing, an encapsulated suite, that
> includes the operating system, so that it would take only one sequence
> of installation and configuration, rather than first installing the
> BSD and gonfiguring it, and then installing pfSense and then
> installing it? If it is indeed, encapsulated, then it should not be as
> difficult as I had assumed, and, the operating system presence, and
> thence, which operating system, should be transparent.

Yes. You don't interact with the base OS at all. Boot the installer,
install to the hard disk, reboot, set up the interfaces through a text
interface, and connect to the web GUI to configure. It functions as an
appliance.

You _can_ connect via ssh, get a shell, and install FreeBSD packages,
but since it is a firewall it is probably better not to do that.

> The second thing, is thus; with you having mentioned that "You can run
> pfSense off a USB stick or CD/DVD as a test to see how you like it.",
> it it available, as a "live" system, like the Debian and Ubuntu and
> formerly, Gnoppix, LiveCD's?

Yes, AFAICR you can run it off the USB stick and connect to the web
GUI, but you should install to a disk for day-to-day operation. As I
recall, after booting the installer it gives you a choice of whether to
install the system or start a live environment.

Petter

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