{"id":11723,"date":"2020-12-19T13:36:15","date_gmt":"2020-12-19T20:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sanuja.com\/blog\/?p=11723"},"modified":"2021-01-09T13:36:46","modified_gmt":"2021-01-09T20:36:46","slug":"introduction-to-pfsense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanuja.com\/blog\/introduction-to-pfsense","title":{"rendered":"Introduction to pfSense"},"content":{"rendered":"

This will be an introduction or getting started guide to pfSense. The pfSense is an open-source firewall and router software application written based on Linux FreeBSD<\/a>. It can be installed on a physical or a virtual machine (VM) environment. It has all the powerful features of Cisco, IBM of other proprietary firewall appliance developers. Additional features can be added by installing third-party packages (add-ons, plugins) to the pfSense. It is one of the most compressive industrial and enterprise grades open-source firewalls. You may install this application in your home environment for advanced firewall and routing configurations.<\/p>\n

This guide will not try to repeat what has been already published by Netgate Docs. This guide will add additional information and value to official documentation. Please follow the external links for additional information.<\/p>\n


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Warning!<\/strong><\/p>I do not take responsibility for bricked or damaged network and information technology infrastructure as a result of using this guide. It is recommended to test final configuration prior to deployment.<\/div><\/p>\n

Hardware Recommendation<\/h1>\n

You may install pfSense on either on a dedicated hardware or on a virtual machine (VM). If you are installing on a dedicated hardware, please make sure you at least meet the minimum requirements<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Best Hardware Choices<\/h3>\n

I would recommend using a processor that supports advanced Encryption Standard instruction set such as Intel AES-NI. This will increase the performance of VPN (virtual private networks).<\/p>\n

For network card (NIC), I would recommend Intel Gigabit network cards because it supports FreeBSD allowing offloading network processing to the Intel card. You should have at least two available gigabit or higher network ports. For long term projects, I recommend having at least two ports that supports fiber optic 10GBASE-LX4, 10GBASE-ER or 10GBASE-SR.<\/p>\n

Only a 4 GB of hard drive (HD) is more than enough to install pfSense and few third-party packages for routing and firewall. If you are planning to install several packages to increase the capabilities of the system, you should have a larger hard drive. For firewall packet capture and data logging (local), you also need more hard drive space. You may save the data logging on a network drive but it may degrade the performance. Old school hard drives are very cheap and for pfSense, using a solid-state drive (SSD) have very little impact on performance. I would recommend using a hard drive with at least 120 GB of space.<\/p>\n

Depending on where this will be deployed, the power consumption should be taking into consideration. Remember the system will be running 24\/7 as a network appliance. Operating a dedicated over the counter firewall typically draw very little power (so are routers, switches, etc). I would highly recommend using a system that consume very little power. For example, using a gaming machine to install pfSense stand-alone (not as a VM) is very inefficient. Alternatively, you may purchase a low power consuming Firewall Micro Appliance from eBay or Amazon. This however may limit your hardware capabilities and completely eliminate the hardware scalability.<\/p>\n

You may use any 5-10 years old systems. You should be able to run pfSense with no major hardware limitations as long as you follow above recommendations. I would warn you against installing a firewall as a VM in the same system as all other applications such as network attached storage (NAS), Microsoft AD-DS, etc. I prefer stand-alone firewall applications because this would make troubleshooting issues easier.<\/p>\n

Installing pfSense<\/h1>\n

You may also follow the instructions in the YouTube video. The step-by-step written instructions posted here have more detail. The video does not cover web GUI.<\/p>\n