Overview
OPNsense is the fastest growing open-source security platform with an Open Source Initiative (OSI) approved 2-clause or simplified BSD license. Its feature set is extensive and ranges from router/firewall to inline intrusion detection and prevention.
It is the only open-source product that comes with the highly valued Proofpoint® ET Pro ruleset at no cost in the form of the ET Pro Telemetry edition.
The project is defined by its innovation through modularisation and hardening, simple and reliable firmware upgrades, multi-language support, hardened security, fast adoption of upstream software updates as well as a large and friendly community.
Optionally instances can be upgraded with the Business Edition using a separate licence available from shop.opnsense.com, volume options are also available.
Highlights
- Fully featured stateful Inspection Firewall with advanced routing features, including various dynamic protocols such as OSPF and BGP (pluggable)
- Various proven VPN technologies, such as OpenVP, IPsec and Wireguard which helps to secure your cloud infrastructure
- Inline Intrusion Detection and Prevention including high quality rulesets from Proofpoint (ET Open, ET Pro [Telemetry], depending on license)
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Pricing
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Dimension | Cost/hour |
---|---|
m4.large Recommended | $0.12 |
t3.micro AWS Free Tier | $0.04 |
t2.micro AWS Free Tier | $0.04 |
c3.8xlarge | $0.32 |
m6id.metal | $0.32 |
m3.medium | $0.08 |
c3.large | $0.08 |
r5.metal | $0.32 |
c4.8xlarge | $0.32 |
c4.large | $0.08 |
Vendor refund policy
Hourly users can stop using the service at any time without additional costs, cancellation within 48 hours warrants a full refund
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Delivery details
64-bit (x86) Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
An AMI is a virtual image that provides the information required to launch an instance. Amazon EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) instances are virtual servers on which you can run your applications and workloads, offering varying combinations of CPU, memory, storage, and networking resources. You can launch as many instances from as many different AMIs as you need.
Version release notes
Additional details
Usage instructions
After deployment, ssh and https are enabled by default. To access the instance using https use a recent webbrowser.
The default username for your instance is : ec2-user (both ssh and https)
We advise to setup an initial password in the "User data" which can be found in the "Advanced Details" of Step 3 during installation, make sure to select "as text" for the input method. The format for this data is as follows: password=mypasssword
When omitting a password, one will be automatically generated, which will be visible in the "System Log" (Get System Log option of the instance). Please note that EC2 images often need some time to flush the content of the system log, when presented empty, wait for a minute and try again. A random root password will also be generated and visible from the same log.
SSH access uses the key provided during installation, the ec2-user should be used as username (e.g. ssh -i my_delivered_ssh_aws_key ec2-user@my-host-at-ec2).
Resources
Vendor resources
Support
Vendor support
Commercial support at hourly rates
AWS infrastructure support
AWS Support is a one-on-one, fast-response support channel that is staffed 24x7x365 with experienced and technical support engineers. The service helps customers of all sizes and technical abilities to successfully utilize the products and features provided by Amazon Web Services.
Standard contract
Customer reviews
Network isolation improves security with ease of use in home lab
What is our primary use case?
My main use case for OPNsense is that it is my home firewall for my home lab.
A quick specific example of how I use OPNsense in my home lab is that I use VLANs, so I have different networks or sub-networks inside my home network, and the VLAN inside of OPNsense allows me to keep them isolated.
I have added some firewall rules to allow different devices to talk to different subnets regarding how I'm using OPNsense in my home lab.
What is most valuable?
The best features OPNsense offers include the VLANs that work spotlessly, and I feel very secure in my network because of it. It was relatively easy to set up, though I think a better wizard would help out.
One of the things I appreciated about the VLANs is that I can have a Wi-Fi VLAN and feel secure that the server network or the VM network that I have on a different VLAN are isolated, and they cannot talk to one another, which adds a great level of security.
OPNsense has positively impacted my organization and home lab through its security features, though it's hard to quantify as I don't pay enough attention to the logs to see what it's stopping from an outside perspective. It's actually sitting behind my modem from my ISP and I'm not in bridge mode.
OPNsense definitely gives me peace of mind and helps my workflow because of the network isolation. I can have multiple subnets without having to worry about one affecting the other.
What needs improvement?
OPNsense could be improved with a better wizard, as when I first installed it, it seemed difficult to know where to go. I had to watch a couple of YouTube videos on it, so having better videos sponsored by OPNsense might be helpful.
It would be beneficial if they could create some videos on how to set it up themselves.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using OPNsense for about two years now.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
OPNsense is stable for me.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
OPNsense's scalability in my experience is very scalable, and I've been able to generate multiple VLANs without seeming to have any degradation.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I had not previously used a different solution for my firewall; this was the first one I tried.
What was our ROI?
Unfortunately, I have not seen a return on investment with OPNsense; I don't keep track of that, beyond the sense of saying that for a very little investment, I was able to increase the security of my network.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing is that since OPNsense is free, the licensing and setup was easy, and honestly, it's great for the price.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Before choosing OPNsense, I did evaluate other options, specifically I looked at pfSense first.
What other advice do I have?
The advice I would give to others looking into using OPNsense is to absolutely go play with it. For little cost, if you have an extra machine around that you can test it out on, test it out. I'm running it on a low-end mini PC with multiple network interfaces and it works great.
I would say that OPNsense is one of those technologies, a firewall that if you're not playing with, you should, just to keep your skills up and to secure your home network.
On a scale of 1-10, I rate OPNsense an 8.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Offers seamless deployment and feature-rich experience with deep packet inspection
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
What needs improvement?
For how long have I used the solution?
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
How are customer service and support?
How would you rate customer service and support?
Neutral
How was the initial setup?
What was our ROI?
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
What other advice do I have?
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Enhancing network security with reliable firewall functionality and GeoIP features
What is our primary use case?
I use OPNsense primarily for network security. It involves basic firewall operations and GeoIP location functionalities. I've got multiple versions running, some on hardware purchased and some on VPSs.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable features include the basic firewall functionality and the GeoIP location services. OPNsense is very stable, easy to upgrade, and maintain. I can work efficiently, knowing it does what it needs to do.
What needs improvement?
OPNsense should improve its performance in handling large volumes of voice traffic. It needs more support for Vigoroute and extensive VPN technologies. Enhancing its performance for significant amounts of data traffic would make it closer to a perfect solution.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been working with OPNsense for about five years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate OPNsense's stability as very high. I would give it a nine out of ten. The only challenge faced was its inadequacy to manage large voice traffic effectively, even with dedicated hardware. It couldn't keep up with the packet per second for voice load, requiring a revert in our setup.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
OPNsense struggles to handle large volumes of voice traffic, indicating scalability issues in that specific use case.
How are customer service and support?
I haven't used technical support. I rely on forums and manage the setup independently.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
The only other similar product I can compare is FortiGate . Overall, I find OPNsense more user-friendly.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I consider the pricing of OPNsense to be high when compared with other market products. However, as a free firewall product, it is one of the best available currently.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I only evaluated FortiGate alongside OPNsense, as they are the two offerings from my company.
What other advice do I have?
For small to medium businesses, I recommend OPNsense. I'd rate it eight point five out of ten.