pfSense Firewall/VPN/Router
Netgate | 2.3.4Linux/Unix, Other FreeBSD pfSense 2.3.4/FreeBSD 10.12 - 64-bit Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
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Wide array of hardware with flexible software
What do you like best about the product?
The pfSense software is widely-known and very flexible. There are considerable resources on the Internet, from books to videos. Good technical support from Netgate.
What do you dislike about the product?
I'm used to configuring routers and firewalls for my advanced home network. pfSense had a learning curve for me. It would be nice if there were a more intuitive visual interface where it's more obvious that firewall rules and DHCP servers are based on interfaces, and aliases are definitions that go into the rules and such.
Also, it should be much easier to analyze and reduce bufferbloat and other common connection nonidealities.
Also, it should be much easier to analyze and reduce bufferbloat and other common connection nonidealities.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
The Netgage 1541 provides more than enough throughput for my 1.6 Gbps Internet connection. It provides support for the isolated wireless networks in my house, and has two 10 Gbase-T connections for connecting to my primary switch.
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Satisfaction
What do you like best about the product?
My general confidence in its high security level (on the condition that its configuration is errorfre)
What do you dislike about the product?
1. Sometimes I experience uncertainty in how to interpretate and/or configure and understanding consequences of firewall configuration commands.
a. One example of my experience: I did create firewall commands for an OPT interface (on SG-1100, as well as on SG-2100), in order to setup Netgear WiFi Routers R6020 to the OPT Interface as their WAN. However, when I looked at Netgear router logs, there used to be an abundancy of log entries indicating DOS Attack. Therefore, I assume that I didn't manage to secure the OPT interface against incoming traffic from the Internet.
b. Another example that I do not understand: Log entries in pfSense (System, General) containing text "now monitoring attacks", quite a lot of entries.
2. Use of PHP in pfSense which, to my knowledge, is not a completely reliable web language, and often is subject to security vulnerabilities.
a. One example of my experience: I did create firewall commands for an OPT interface (on SG-1100, as well as on SG-2100), in order to setup Netgear WiFi Routers R6020 to the OPT Interface as their WAN. However, when I looked at Netgear router logs, there used to be an abundancy of log entries indicating DOS Attack. Therefore, I assume that I didn't manage to secure the OPT interface against incoming traffic from the Internet.
b. Another example that I do not understand: Log entries in pfSense (System, General) containing text "now monitoring attacks", quite a lot of entries.
2. Use of PHP in pfSense which, to my knowledge, is not a completely reliable web language, and often is subject to security vulnerabilities.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Secure Electronic communication from my home (Stationary computers, Laptops, Smart phones, WiFi AP and router (since a few days, no longer including Netgear WiFi routers having OPT as its WAN interface)
Ten years of experience in using pfssense, more than forty firewalls administered.
What do you like best about the product?
The software is flexible, working well in KVM-type VMs that I mainly use. With a little practice you can do anything with it.
What do you dislike about the product?
There are required features that have been lost for years and never implemented, such as a centralized administration console for sets of firewalls.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Routing, centralized VPN, firewall.
A solid performing firewall platform, ideal for budget conscious applications
What do you like best about the product?
Low cost (in many cases free) firewall solution which can be run on no-brand hardware.
Very stable.
Advanced features such as load balancing, traffic shaping, multi-WAN support, hardware encryption support for VPN, etc. The capabilities of pfSense is comparible to very expensive enterprise grade systems that most SME's would be unable to afford.
Incredibly flexible configuration allow policy based routing and incredibly granular control over how traffic is handled.
Paid support available if required, making it ideal for budget commercial applications.
Dedicated hardware is available if a turn-key solution is desired. However, the branded hardware is expensive for what it is, but comes with suppport, etc.
Very stable.
Advanced features such as load balancing, traffic shaping, multi-WAN support, hardware encryption support for VPN, etc. The capabilities of pfSense is comparible to very expensive enterprise grade systems that most SME's would be unable to afford.
Incredibly flexible configuration allow policy based routing and incredibly granular control over how traffic is handled.
Paid support available if required, making it ideal for budget commercial applications.
Dedicated hardware is available if a turn-key solution is desired. However, the branded hardware is expensive for what it is, but comes with suppport, etc.
What do you dislike about the product?
The move from pfSense CE to Plus has made the platform feel a little less "open" (although still based on open source software).
Now, the only install images available are old and need to be upgraded to from CE to Plus,to get the latest release.
Some of the advanced features, if customised, can produce unexpected behavior. For example, I'm using traffic shaping and multi-WAN and have unresolved issues with incorrect shaping being applied during WAN fail-over scenarios.
Branded appliances are a little expensive for their technical specs.
Now, the only install images available are old and need to be upgraded to from CE to Plus,to get the latest release.
Some of the advanced features, if customised, can produce unexpected behavior. For example, I'm using traffic shaping and multi-WAN and have unresolved issues with incorrect shaping being applied during WAN fail-over scenarios.
Branded appliances are a little expensive for their technical specs.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Providing a secure, multi-WAN firewall for my SME. I have 3 x WAN connections (2 high speed land-lines plus a 4G backup) and pfSense has the capabilities to dynamically load balance across on connections, or fail-over. Which LAN devices use which WAN connections can be fully customised via policy-based routing, allowing me to offload certain traffic to certain WAN connections to maximise the benefit of multi-WAN.
Easy to managment
What do you like best about the product?
Many of the opensourse tools e.g. surica, opevnpn etc.
What do you dislike about the product?
Its interface should be more user-friendly. And there should be no application control.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
In our company it helps us to network with our partners as well as our branches.
Rock solid network firewall platform
What do you like best about the product?
pfSense Plus has truly transformed my network experience. Its intuitive interface simplifies setup, making it accessible to all levels of users, even my coworker, which usually does not have much experience with firewalls can manage it.
What do you dislike about the product?
In a virtualized environment the performance is not the best unfortunately.
Although we use high performance network cards on our hypervisor, it usually achieves about 2.5 Gigabits per seconds. Our regular setups do not reach those speeds, so this issue is not really important to us.
Although we use high performance network cards on our hypervisor, it usually achieves about 2.5 Gigabits per seconds. Our regular setups do not reach those speeds, so this issue is not really important to us.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
We use pfSense to access our internal services through a wireguard vpn.
Also we filter our dns requests using pfBlocker which has the benefit of blocking ads and unwanted hostnames.
Also we filter our dns requests using pfBlocker which has the benefit of blocking ads and unwanted hostnames.
Fantastic when deployed in a virtualized environment
What do you like best about the product?
pfSense is easy and fast to deploy on a variety of platforms, depending on the use case. As an enterprise service provider, we assist our customers with the deployment and hosting of systems in our cloud environment as well as on-prem datacenters. These are typically customers who for reasons of their own are not willing to trust a public cloud with their data. Having the ability to choose a hardware solution or virtualized installation of the pfSense software grants lots of freedom in design and deployment.
The web-based interface is intuitive and responsive. It's certainly competitive with other offerings.
We have engaged with support on a one-off as well as TAC subscription basis and find Netgate / pfSense support to be first rate. We appreciate having a trusted partner.
The web-based interface is intuitive and responsive. It's certainly competitive with other offerings.
We have engaged with support on a one-off as well as TAC subscription basis and find Netgate / pfSense support to be first rate. We appreciate having a trusted partner.
What do you dislike about the product?
pfSense update management can sometimes be a bit ungainly. We'd really appreciate the ability to enable automated updates, especially to patch security threats. Or perhaps even a notification that would be sent to the pfSense admin when a new update is available.
Oftentimes the only time a user realizes there is an update is when they log into the web interface, and many of our users can go weeks or months between log-ins. A push or email notification would be helpful in this regard.
Lower-end pfSense appliances from Netgate have shown themselves to be a bit flaky. They will lock up on updates, or sometimes lock up for no reason at all. When this happens, we've noted that even a reboot of the system doesn't bring it back online and it must be accessed via emulated serial console (over USB) in order to manually walk it through a startup sequence. This is extremely problematic at remote / unstaffed locations.
Oftentimes the only time a user realizes there is an update is when they log into the web interface, and many of our users can go weeks or months between log-ins. A push or email notification would be helpful in this regard.
Lower-end pfSense appliances from Netgate have shown themselves to be a bit flaky. They will lock up on updates, or sometimes lock up for no reason at all. When this happens, we've noted that even a reboot of the system doesn't bring it back online and it must be accessed via emulated serial console (over USB) in order to manually walk it through a startup sequence. This is extremely problematic at remote / unstaffed locations.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
pfSense is great at the customer edge. IPSEC tunnels are quick and easy and perform especially well in our virtualized environments. In addition, the built-in OpenVPN with the client config builder is a great timesaver.
We're also experimenting with multi-tenancy options that allow a single installation to reach across multiple VLAN'd networks, providing unique internal subnets and routing for each.
We're also experimenting with multi-tenancy options that allow a single installation to reach across multiple VLAN'd networks, providing unique internal subnets and routing for each.
Got tech support like you were a fortune 500 !
What do you like best about the product?
Their products are affordable for remote workers/SME who want to cover their network security needs. If you have a problem with an update, you open a ticket and their support team will quickly contact you the same day to help you solve the problem. They are knowledgeable and friendly people you can trust.
What do you dislike about the product?
Technical support is in English only. For some people this can be overwhelming.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It is an easy-to-deploy firewall that reduces attacks on your network and the resulting loss of productivity.
Full option Firewall
What do you like best about the product?
the GUI is user friendly and contain descriptions to help pfsense administrator
What do you dislike about the product?
I have a Netgate 6100 but I feel like the system work a bit slowly
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
it improved the security in my network, I can manage very easyly user authorisation and authentication now and remote VPN connection.
Every product that I have use from Negate has been an excellent upgrade.
What do you like best about the product?
I like the customer service from the Tac team and I also like the function and features of the devices.
What do you dislike about the product?
There is not much to dislike about Pfsense except for some once in a while upgrade bugs.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It is making it so smaller businesses can have a business class firewall at an affordable price.
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