[blueswitch]

so this is a FBSD box , im not totally familiar with it, this is in my office that the aid before me setup. It's FBSD 4.3 and used as a firewall, all the sudden it crashed yesterday I guess when I was away and now it boots it gets to

/boot.config: -h
BTX loader 1.00

then just hangs...don't know what the problem is, BIOS see's the hardware....Knoppix will boot...but I'm wondering the the HDD got corrupted maybe....any suggestions?

also if I have to rebuild this...what distro/package do you suggest for a firewall?

[splat]

hmm. that sounds like data on the hd got corrupted. the hd itself might not be harmed, but it looks like the boot loader can no longer find the config file it needs to boot. I'm not that adept in the booting of freebsd or freebsd's boot loader, but I think you can probably save your data and your config files and such if you can find a boot disk and then mount the drive manually.

a better place to ask for help might be www.bsdforums.com

good luck

[blueswitch]

yeah I was thinking it was corrupt data.....didn;t know if there was anyway to get to a recovery console of some sort....might just be best to rebuild it.

[splat]

if it is solely a firewall box, i'd probably just grab a more current version of freebsd and redo it. Maybe use the boot cd to browse the drive to make sure nothing is important and to check the drive. It might just need a simple fsck.

http://www.freebsddiary.org/fsck.php

at any rate, that error definitely has something to do with the boot loader.

[uOpt]

Check that the drive geometry in the BIOS didn't change (LBA etc.).

[MRD]

If you are looking for a nice firewall, take a look at ipcop. It's a self contained distro (linux based, not bsd, but same idea... I think it's based on linux from scratch). It's very small and stripped, and highly tested for security, so it's very secure (this is superior to running a full distro and adding firewall software, as every package you add is a potential security hole... the less software, the fewer potential exploits). It functions as a router as well as a firewall. It's also a DNS cache and caching proxy (running squid). You can add cool stuff onto it like copfilter if you want, which will remove all ads from anything travelling over http port 80 (basically all webpages), scan all http/viruses/mail for viruses/trojans/etc., spam filter your email (any client), and do a lot of other neat stuff. (Any addon, as it adds code, reduces security slightly... again, the less code, the better for a secure firewall.) It also allows you to run a vpn client to connect to your network from anywhere.

Basic ipcop will run comfortably on a 386-SX 16. You need 2 network cards at least (and a wireless access point if you want wireless) + a switch. This is for a green/red zone setup (green = wired internal net / trusted, red = internet / untrusted). Add another if you want the wireless to be on a blue subnet (more secure) and a 4th card if you want an orange subnet (mail/web servers).

It's free software and you can download it at www.ipcop.org. Installation takes about 10 mins and it can be configured/administered through a web interface.

[blueswitch]

MRD that looks interesting, although I haven't ruled it out I'm learning more towards using a full distro in case there's a need to use it as a multifunction box for list servs or anything. Anyone use Ubuntu server? I have used it as a desktop on a few machines and have liked it a lot especially it's ability to recognize hardware pretty accurate.

[splat]

i'd stick with BSD on the server, but if you really want to go Linux i'd choose debian or slackware.

[MRD]

I'm learning more towards using a full distro

Just remember that by doing that your security level plummets. The more code you introduce, the more potential holes you introduce. Ideally, your firewall should always be a dedicated machine, and the machine that has direct access to the outside world shouldn't ever do anything you care about (other than act as a firewall ofc).

I guess it's a question of how important security is though. Personally, I like a dedicated firewall. Then again, tons of people just plug their windows 98 machine into their cable modems.

[splat]

modularity makes it easier to fix things, but parts are more expensive.