Plesk Firewall VS APF and BFD

[hp_solomon]

Plesk Firewall versus APF and BFD

If you have a plesk firewall installed, is it okay to install APF and BFD for added security?

Nice firewall apf:
http://www.rfxnetworks.com/apf.php

and Brute force protection scrittie:
http://www.rfxnetworks.com/bfd.php

Please advice.

Thanks.

 

[faris]

You can't really have two firewalls.

You need to disable the Plesk one before installing and running APF.

I'm sure there are better ways but just removing the module in the admin panel (servers > Modules > Manage Modules or something like that if I remember correctly) will do the trick.

Faris.

 

[hp_solomon]

which is better?

Plesk Firewall or (APF and BFD)

Why?

 

[faris]

APF is much more comprehensive and flexible, but you don't get a GUI interface.

But once you have set it up adding ips to block or allow is just a matter of modifying a text file and restarting apf.

If possible you should test it and see how you get on with it. You can download microsoft's virtual PC for free, create a VPS with your version of linux on it, install the demo (1 domain) version of plesk in it and play with it until you are happy that you can do what you want with no difficulty.

Faris.

 

[panaman]

you should check out configserver.com

it does the same stuff as apf and bfd plus more and its free too..

i have configserver on one of my boxes and apf/bfd on another... prolly going to put configserver on the other one too

 

[greyman56]

I used to use APF but found it had troubles with dual NICs and some other limits I cannot remember right now.

I switched to shorewall and never looked back. Once we got the base config sorted out, it is the most powerful I have seen. Fairly easy file to edit for configuration of rules and away you go. A CLI rule checker and restart. Has ooops mode where you can put your IP in and even if the firewall stops all incoming connections it will allow all in from you.

I used it on straight CentOS 4.x boxes (no control panel) and it was fantastic and improved the overall box performance once we removed APF.

 

[sieb@]

The Plesk firewall is just IPTables rules, but you also have to have IPTables installed in order to use APF. I never removed/disabled the Plesk firewall before installing APF/BFD and both run at the same time without any problems. But, I configure all my port rules with APF and left the default rules for Plesk firewall, which is just "allow all."

 

[Amin Taheri]

I have used APF and BFD for many years, back on RH9 and currently on RHEL with out problems.

Its pretty powerfull and easy to configure - like others said, it has no GUI so if you need one of those, it may not be right for you.

I like its auto blocking feature, but that can also get you in trouble if some one spoofs an IP and you end up blocking everyone through apnic