ftpsesame helps the FTP protocol get through your pf firewall. It does this by passively analysing FTP control connections and adding rules into a pf anchor when an FTP data connection is about to commence. You might want to try ftpsesame instead of ftp-proxy(8) from the OpenBSD base system for the following reasons: - it runs on "transparent" (no IP address) bridges - you need packetfilter performance on all data connections - you have to handle lots of simultaneous sessions - you do not want to redirect any traffic to the firewall itself: for IP accounting or other reasons In general, ftpsesame is a good choice to run on a firewall in front of multiple FTP servers, where no NAT is involved. ftp-proxy(8) is usually the best choice when users behind NAT need to access FTP servers on the Internet. In other situations it depends, sometimes they are useful together.