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)

Manual rule configuration

Thus far, we have shown how queues can be added and edited, but the queues have no effect unless a firewall rule places packets into one of these queues. We covered these rules in depth in Chapter 6, Firewall and NAT.

At one point, pfSense had a separate tab for traffic shaper rules. More recent versions have done away with this tab, and to see the traffic shaper rules, navigate to Firewall | Rules and click on the Floating tab. The traffic shaper rules will be here, and so will any other floating rules you created. You should be able to differentiate traffic shaping rules by their description, by the fact that traffic shaping rules tend to have Match designated as their action (as opposed to pass, block, or reject), and by the fact that all traffic shaping rules have a value specified for Queue.

To edit one of these rules, click on the Edit icon; to...