pfSense vs. Vyatta

I recently installed pfsense at work to replace an aging smoothwall 2.0 firewall/transparent proxy. I like the use of FreeBSD as the underlying engine of pfSense. The add-on packages are relatively easy to install, except snort IDS has a few problems that are supposedly fixed in an upcoming version 1.2.3. You have the ability to enable SSH on the firewall, so you can use a command line to configure the firewall or just use the web interface.

I ran across another firewall/transparent proxy/IDS called Vyatta. I am currently testing out the features. At first glance, its seems to have a few more features than pfSense. You have the ability to use a web interface or a series of command line scripts that interact with the 2.6.x Linux kernel.

I am still do not have a determination of which I like better or which performs better on a given set of hardware restrictions.

Sugar CRM Installation Warning

If you come across the following error during a SugarCRM installation

"Errors have been detected during compatibility check. In order for your SugarCRM Installation to function properly, please take the proper steps to address the issues listed below and either press the recheck button, or try installing again.

Component	Status
Writable Modules Sub-Directories and Files	Warning: Not Writable
Please fix the following module directories and the files under them before proceeding: /modules/ModuleBuilder/tpls" And you know that you have made everything "Writable" then you need to check for to hidden files that may not have been changed to writable. Under the /modules/ModuleBuilder/tpls/ look for the following files: .tmp_studioRelationship.tpl .tmp_studioRelationshipsExt.tpl These files have to be writable also or the installation will never proceed. I have seen posts on the SugarCRM forums that state these must be run as the user the webserver runs as but this is not the case. Just chmod 777 on these two files and all wil be good.

Creating a Service on Windows XP or Windows Server 2003

To create a custom service on Windows:

1. Start>Run>CMD (get to a command prompt or CLI for short)
2. sc is the command to create the service

example service creation format

sc \\server create "MSSQL$ACT7" binPath= "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL$ACT7\Binn\sqlservr.exe -sACT7" DisplayName= "MSSQL$ACT7" depend= "SQLAgent$ACT7"

This will create a custom SQL Server example for an ACT database.

Updating FreeBSD

To update FreeBSD you need to run a few commands to update a running server

1. freebsd-update fetch
2. freebsd-update install

To upgrade FreeBSD to the latest version: (currently 7.1)

1. freebsd-update -r 7.1-RELEASE upgrade
   

To figure out what version of FreeBSD you are using do this

uname -a

FreeBSD freebsd.example.com 7.0-RELEASE FreeBSD 7.0-RELEASE #0: Sun Feb 24 19:59:52 UTC 2008 root@logan.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC i386