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pfSense 2.x Cookbook - Second Edition

By : David Zientara

5 (1)

pfSense 2.x Cookbook

5 (1)

By: David Zientara

Overview of this book

pfSense is an open source distribution of the FreeBSD-based firewall that provides a platform for ?exible and powerful routing and firewalling. The versatility of pfSense presents us with a wide array of configuration options, which makes determining requirements a little more difficult and a lot more important compared to other offerings. pfSense 2.x Cookbook – Second Edition starts by providing you with an understanding of how to complete the basic steps needed to render a pfSense firewall operational. It starts by showing you how to set up different forms of NAT entries and firewall rules and use aliases and scheduling in firewall rules. Moving on, you will learn how to implement a captive portal set up in different ways (no authentication, user manager authentication, and RADIUS authentication), as well as NTP and SNMP configuration. You will then learn how to set up a VPN tunnel with pfSense. The book then focuses on setting up traffic shaping with pfSense, using either the built-in traffic shaping wizard, custom ?oating rules, or Snort. Toward the end, you will set up multiple WAN interfaces, load balancing and failover groups, and a CARP failover group. You will also learn how to bridge interfaces, add static routing entries, and use dynamic routing protocols via third-party packages.

Preface

Preface

Who this book is for

What this book covers

To get the most out of this book

Sections

Get in touch

Free Chapter

Initial Configuration

Initial Configuration

Introduction

Applying basic settings to General Setup

Identifying and assigning interfaces

Configuring a WAN interface

Configuring a LAN interface

Configuring optional interfaces from the console

Enabling SSH access

Generating authorized RSA keys

Configuring SSH RSA key authentication

Accessing the SSH

Configuring VLANs

Assigning interfaces from the console

Configuring a WAN interface from the console

Configuring a LAN interface from the console

Configuring optional interfaces from the console

Configuring VLANs from the console

Essential Services

Essential Services

Introduction

Configuring the DHCP server

Configuring the DHCP6 server

Configuring static DHCP mappings

Configuring the DHCP relay

Specifying alternate DNS servers

Configuring the DNS resolver

Configuring a stand-alone DHCP/DNS server

Configuring dynamic DNS

Adding a wireless access point

Firewall and NAT

Firewall and NAT

Introduction

Creating and using aliases

Creating a firewall rule

Setting a firewall rule schedule

Creating a floating rule

Creating a NAT port forwarding entry

Creating an outbound NAT entry

Creating a 1:1 NAT entry

Creating an NPt entry

Enabling UPnP and NAT-PnP

Additional Services

Additional Services

Introduction

Creating a captive portal without authentication

Creating a captive portal with voucher authentication

Creating a captive portal with User Manager authentication

Creating a captive portal with RADIUS authentication

Configuring NTP

Configuring SNMP

Virtual Private Networking

Virtual Private Networking

Introduction

Configuring the IPsec OpenVPN server – peer-to-peer

Configuring the IPsec VPN service – client/server

Connecting to the IPsec VPN service

Configuring the OpenVPN service

Connecting to the OpenVPN service

Configuring the L2TP VPN service

Traffic Shaping

Traffic Shaping

Introduction

Configuring traffic shaping using the traffic-shaping wizard

Configuring traffic shaping using floating rules

Configuring traffic shaping using Snort

Redundancy, Load Balancing, and Failover

Redundancy, Load Balancing, and Failover

Introduction

Adding multiple WAN interfaces

Configuring server load balancing

Configuring a CARP failover group

Routing and Bridging

Routing and Bridging

Introduction

Bridging interfaces

Adding a static route

Configuring RIP using routed

Configuring BGP using FRR

Configuring OSPF using FRR

Services and Maintenance

Services and Maintenance

Introduction

Enabling Wake-on-LAN

Configuring PPPoE

Configuring external logging with a syslog server

Using ping

Using traceroute

Using netstat

Using pfTop

Using tcpdump

Using tcpflow

Backing Up and Restoring pfSense

Backing Up and Restoring pfSense

Introduction

Backing up pfSense

Restoring pfSense

Updating pfSense

Determining Hardware Requirements

Determining Hardware Requirements

Determining our deployment scenario

Determining our throughput requirements

Determining our interface requirements

Choosing a standard or embedded image

Choosing a form factor

Summary

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Applying basic settings to General Setup

This recipe describes how to configure core pfSense settings from the web GUI.

Getting ready

All that is required for this recipe is a fresh install of pfSense and access to the web GUI.

On a new install, the default login credentials are Username: admin and Password: pfsense

How to do it...

In the web GUI, navigate to System | General Setup.
In the first section of the page (System), enter a Hostname. This name can be used to access the firewall instead of the IP address:

In the next field, enter the Domain:

The next field is DNS Servers. By default, pfSense will act as the primary DNS server; however, you can specify alternate DNS servers here. The Add DNS Server button causes an additional edit box to appear, into which you can enter another DNS server; you can add as many alternate DNS servers as is necessary:

Check the Allow DNS server list to be overridden by DHCP/PPP on WAN checkbox (it should be checked by default). This ensures that any DNS requests that cannot be processed internally will be passed on to the external DNS servers, as specified by your ISP:

In the Localization section, specify a Timezone and leave Timeservers at the default value of 0.pfsense.pool.ntp.org. Specify the appropriate Language (the default is English):

In the webConfigurator section, I’d recommend the default Theme of pfSense. You can set Top Navigation to either Scrolls with page (appropriate for all screen sizes) or Fixed (designed for large screens only). You may also set the number of Dashboard Columns (the default is 2):

When done, click on the Save button.

See also

The Configuring the DNS Forwarder recipe in Chapter 2, Essential Services.

CONTINUE READING

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