IPFW IPFW Primer Document Draft

Jim B. · Jan 14, 2025

Hello All,

I have been working on an "IPFW Primer" document for a while.

The latest version of the IPFW Primer (2025-01-13T17:49-05:00) is at

https://www.jimby.name/fbsd/ipfw/ipfw-primer-latest.pdf

Online version:

IPFW Primer

Primer on Using IPFW on FreeBSD

www.jimby.name

This is essentially complete for the content I had in mind unless you can point to a glaring hole I missed that needs to be addressed.

BTW, I was able to get indexing working with the FDP Toolkit. Check out the new index at the end of the PDF. (The toolkit doesn't provide an index for the HTML version.)

I am considering this the "RC1" version, and would like your help with technical reviews.

If you can send me any comments and corrections via this thread or via email before the end of the January, that will be a big help.

My target date for turnover to the FDP is February 7th, 2025.

Best Regards,

Jim B.
jpb@jimby.name

gotnull · Jan 14, 2025

The work done is impressive.
At first I thought that would be something quick to read, but it's not, it's 238 pages PDF.
Didn't read it entirely yet but so far explanations are clear and there are plenty of details.
IPFW gets a bit of the love finally.
One regret could be the use of Qemu instead of Bhyve but it's peanut at this point, really.
Good job mate and thank you.

Jim B. · Jan 14, 2025

gotnull said:
The work done is impressive.
At first I thought that would be something quick to read, but it's not, it's 238 pages PDF.
Didn't read it entirely yet but so far explanations are clear and there are plenty of details.
IPFW gets a bit of the love finally.
One regret could be the use of Qemu instead of Bhyve but it's peanut at this point, really.
Good job mate and thank you.

Thanks for your note. I realize Qemu may not be everyone's first choice, but it has always come through for me. One really nice feature is that, just like real hardware, it supports virtual consoles. When you click into the console window (and Qemu grabs the mouse), you can type Alt-2, Alt-3, etc. to access the other virtual consoles. Nifty.