First off, thanks in advance to anyone who helps and replies. Now, here we go...

I've used FreeBSD in the past at my workplace for servers and the such. I work on the IT / Networking end of the company and thus I've never actually been involved in configuring and the such, however, I have administered on a basic level. I want to create a router / firewall at my home using FreeBSD and PF. The reason I chose this setup was due to the stability and configurability I have experienced at work with our FreeBSD servers, and the good reviews on PF I have read on the internet compared to IPTables in Linux, and IPFW, etc.

Like I said above, I've never actually configured or played around with partitioning, PF, or other more in depth aspects of FreeBSD, just basic administration (i.e., updates, loading services, killing services). So I ask for some assistance, and before you yell at me I will be searching AO and reading through the FreeBSD docs for help.

* This box will only operate as a router and firewall...nothing else*

My setup :

WAN ----> Cable Modem ---> FreeBSD Router/Firewall ------> Switch -----> Private LAN

1 - I was wondering what a stable, secure, efficient partition scheme would be for the router/firewall. This will be on a 40GB drive.

2 - Can anyone recommend some appropriate reading for securing/hardening a FreeBSD box, setting up PF rules, etc. that would pertain to a router/firewall.

I will be reviewing the threads on this site to setup some IDS and other various security measures as well on the box. Any recommendations??


Thanks again for any help.


--Toxic.Influx