Book Image

Learn pfSense 2.4

By : David Zientara
Book Image

Learn pfSense 2.4

By: David Zientara

Overview of this book

As computer networks become ubiquitous, it has become increasingly important to both secure and optimize our networks. pfSense, an open-source router/firewall, provides an easy, cost-effective way of achieving this – and this book explains how to install and configure pfSense in such a way that even a networking beginner can successfully deploy and use pfSense. This book begins by covering networking fundamentals, deployment scenarios, and hardware sizing guidelines, as well as how to install pfSense. The book then covers configuration of basic services such as DHCP, DNS, and captive portal and VLAN configuration. Careful consideration is given to the core firewall functionality of pfSense, and how to set up firewall rules and traffic shaping. Finally, the book covers the basics of VPNs, multi-WAN setups, routing and bridging, and how to perform diagnostics and troubleshooting on a network.
Table of Contents (14 chapters)

The pfSense community

There will be times when you encounter a problem that cannot be solved by referencing this book or by troubleshooting the problem yourself. Although this book provides a detailed procedure for troubleshooting in Chapter 11, Diagnostics and Troubleshooting, it is often expedient to refer the problem to those who are more knowledgeable about pfSense than you are. In such cases, you can turn to the online pfSense community.

The official pfSense forums have recently moved to Netgate's website, which has reorganized the forums and added several more (including many devoted to pfSense international support). Anyone can read the forums, but in order to post on the forums, you must register, which requires you to provide a name and email address. Participation in the official forums can be an effective way of resolving problems and increasing your knowledge of pfSense.

The forums can be found at https://forum.netgate.com.

Reddit has its own pfSense forum, and members of the pfSense development team often participate in this forum. Although Reddit isn't everyone's cup of tea, it is a good place to find out the latest pfSense news, ask questions, and (hopefully) get answers.

The Reddit pfSense forum can be found at https://www.reddit.com/r/PFSENSE/.

Also worth mentioning is the Spiceworks pfSense forum. Spiceworks is a professional network for the IT community. Although the company has its headquarters in Austin, Texas, it has an international presence as well. Their pfSense forum also has polls and how-to guides.

The Spiceworks pfSense forum can be found at https://community.spiceworks.com/networking/pfsense.

Finally, for those who find it easier to watch videos, there are many useful how-to video guides available online. An online search for the pfSense topic in which you need assistance will often turn up multiple videos, of varying degrees of complexity and clarity. YouTube is the most obvious place to look for such videos, although other video sites, such as Vimeo, also have pfSense-related content.