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)

Configuring DNS

You may never have the occasion to set up your own DNS server, but there are compelling reasons to do so. Having your own DNS server can reduce administrative overhead and improve the speed of DNS queries, especially as your network grows. Moreover, the ease with which a DNS server can be set up with pfSense makes it that much more appealing.

It should be noted that pfSense has two separate services for DNS. Prior to version 2.2, DNS services were configurable via Services | DNS Forwarder, which invokes the dnsmasq daemon. For version 2.2 and later, Unbound is the default DNS resolver, and it is configurable by navigating to Services | DNS Resolver. New installs of version 2.2 or greater have DNS Resolver enabled by default, while upgrades from earlier versions will have DNS Forwarder enabled by default. You can still use DNS Forwarder on newer versions, but if...