What is the difference between IPFW and PF firewalls in FreeBsd? Which to choose?

Question

FreeBSD

Which one to choose for simple tasks? Which is more popular, simple and used by the majority?

Answer 1

pf is easier.
Personally, I worked with ipfw, the same is not difficult there when the tasks are typical.
In pf, you can easily do channel balancing.
On ipfw, balancing is more difficult, but you can do it the way you need it, while in pf you can use only one built-in option.
ipfw is a more low level tool.

Answer 2

ipfw costs initially, and most do not like unnecessary gestures. ipfw has netgraph. All docks on FreeBSD are calculated on ipfw. ipfw has dummynet.
In general, the difference is about the same as between tcsh and / bin / sh - both shells, you can write on both, but the first is by default only in FreeBSD and nowhere else, and the second is everywhere and you need to know it, because the start scripts anyway On him...

Answer 3

Read the manuals for both. Whichever one seems easier or clearer - use that one. For simple scenarios, there is no difference. And when complex ones come, you usually already understand what you specifically need, and what kind of firewall is better to implement it :-)

Answer 4

I have historically used pf for servers and ipfw for high load routers. pf seems to be slimmer or something when there is a simple config, there are a couple of services, lan, van, and a managed admin segment.

Answer 5

pf - high level, easier for most tasks.
ipfw - more finely tuned.
You can compare how pf is a programming language, and ipfw is an assembler.
That is, ipfw will work faster, better - but a lot of effort.