Netgate pfSense Plus Firewall/VPN/Router
Netgate | 24.03.0Linux/Unix, FreeBSD 14 - 64-bit Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
External reviews
External reviews are not included in the AWS star rating for the product.
Fully featured smart router firewall
What do you like best about the product?
pfsense converts your old PC into a fully-featured smart router firewall with the addition of a few network cards. The best thing is you can do this by yourself and plenty of support is freely available over the internet.
What do you dislike about the product?
Being an open-source product the possibility of bugs and errors may be higher than closed source products. In order to tolerate this, updates and new versions are frequently released.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
pfsense gives its users very good reporting capabilities. Real-time reporting such as network bandwidth can be found very useful when it comes to keeping a lid on network resource usage. Various reporting packages are also available to be added to the pfsense installation as per your requirement.
Recommendations to others considering the product:
Pfsense can be proposed as a total solution that satisfies routing and firewall requirements in network administration.
- Leave a Comment |
- Mark review as helpful
Best software based network firewall
What do you like best about the product?
pfSense is a software based networking firewall, where the source code is freely available. Hence they given the freedom to modify the source code and customize it according to our requirements.
What do you dislike about the product?
pfSense only provides the software for the firewall and only specifies the required hardware. So this may raise a question whether they would be able provide comprehensive support in case of hardware problem results an software error.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Lot of network based service can be found bundled together in pfsense. This is the main reason for its popularity in network community. Even if you do not find some service on the default version, it can download and installed later.
Recommendations to others considering the product:
This highly recommended for Network Administrators for efficient network resource management.
pfSense
What do you like best about the product?
I like that it is based on free software, it has built-in features of switches, routers, firewall, dhcp server, proxy, it is easy to install, easy to configure, it supports protocols such as tunnels vpn ip sec, and it can be installed on site and in the cloud .
It allows load balancing and redundancy in WAN links.
It allows load balancing and redundancy in WAN links.
What do you dislike about the product?
Linux at the hardware level is manual, in many cases if the installation is done on a computer, the network cards will probably have to be installed manually
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Network infrastructure management on a single computer, everything is centralized, dhcp server, vpn tunnels with clients, built-in diagnostic tools, proxy, content filtering, it is also free of licensing, I really recommend it fully
Recommendations to others considering the product:
It is the best option, quality and low cost, all the tools integrated in the same system
Works well with AWS networking
I used the pfSense Netgate firewall/VPN/Router to help study for the AWS Advanced Network Specialty exam. Simple to set up, I used it to build VPNs w/BGP between two VPCs and a remote network using pfSense on two sides and a VGW in the middle. The latest version supports VTI interfaces so you can use route-based VPN instead of policy-based VPN. Without VTI interfaces you can set up a VPN but BGP doesn't work as expected. I had no problems setting up VTI interfaces in the VPN configuration, installing OpenBGPD, and routing traffic using CloudHub VPN and BGP to connect the two VPCs and my remote network together.
In my opinion, the pfSense firewall was easy to set up and the interface is fairly intuitive if you're familiar with networking and security. I've used the community edition for a while and the AWS version has the same look-and-feel. There's also a number of open source options that can be added to extend the functionality of the product.
I think the only downside is the pricing. I wish the t2.nano and t2.micro were both priced the same. The t2.nano is great for a trial run. However, if you install any options you'll probably want something larger than a t2.nano and that will create a significant price increase. Then again, Netgate's pricing seems to be much lower than comparable products in AWS marketplace so it looks like it cost less to run than other products with similar functionality.
I would recommend Netgate pfSense if you are looking for a low-cost stateful firewall that is built using open source software and can do VPN and routing too.
1 person found this helpful
Great option of perimeter firewall
What do you like best about the product?
The pfSense is an Open Source project that is being supported by Netgate and offers great perimeter security for small businesses that do not have the money for an ASA, FortiGate or other similar device. The application of traffic policies is very easy to do and personalization of these is very useful with the tools available to the system. It is great the system of packages that extend the functions, for example the package for IDS / IPS Snort is great, the OpenVPN for VPN is very easy to use and so other options that can be incorporated for free.
What do you dislike about the product?
In the last version the support to the unofficial packages was removed, this decision is very annoying because there are many very good packages that are not included in the pfSense library. Another point not so remarkable is the traffic monitoring options that pfSense has, however it fulfills its function for non-demanding users.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
The main advantage of pfSense is the cost, which is 0 and thanks to this, contracts were obtained with external clients that did not have enough funds for a commercial perimeter firewall. The function of VPN with OpenVPN and the application of Snort are the best features that have significantly improved the performance and productivity of our customers' networks.
Recommendations to others considering the product:
Consider the pfSense in case your network needs port security and minimal protection from the outside. If an active and more granular management of the threats and the traffic that passes through it is required, think about accumulating more resources to acquire another superior product.
Great for Site-to-Site
Very easy to use.
The UI is Intuitive.
Site-toSite VPN is very stable.
You can upgrade to a newer version from the UI.
Strongly recommended!
Very easy to install out of the gate and a robust routing platform.
What do you like best about the product?
Can't believe how easy it is to set up out of the box. Fire up the server, install the platform and then you assign a LAN/WAN interface... DONE!
What do you dislike about the product?
I would like to see more analytics or an easier way to get to client based data from the dashboard.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
I am looking for a secure, but easy and highly configurable platform that just plain WORKS. This seems to fit the bill.
Pfsense a worth while firewall
What do you like best about the product?
The best things of this product is how modular it can be and the community support it offers.
pfsense has a range of modules/plugins that can be added in order to shape pfsense to your needs, there is a wide selection and you are sure to find something to do the job. If for any reason you are unable to find a module to do what needs to be done, more than likely a question has been asked on the subject and an answer is easily found, if not you can pose a question on the forums and you will be met with a very patient community.
One of the main benefits is the capability for multiple WANs, allowing you to route traffic how you see fit or even load balance.
You can add squid guard and block/allow websites on a whitelist/blacklist.
Aliasing allows you to add multiple IP's/networks/hosts under a single alias and make firewall rules based on this, so rather than creating 250 firewall rules for 250 nodes, simply alias all 250 and make a single rule for that alias.
There are pages devoted to graphs so you can monitor your network traffic, your physical NICs and the server itself.
There are a ton of features and all the basic/advanced networking needs are met.
pfsense has a range of modules/plugins that can be added in order to shape pfsense to your needs, there is a wide selection and you are sure to find something to do the job. If for any reason you are unable to find a module to do what needs to be done, more than likely a question has been asked on the subject and an answer is easily found, if not you can pose a question on the forums and you will be met with a very patient community.
One of the main benefits is the capability for multiple WANs, allowing you to route traffic how you see fit or even load balance.
You can add squid guard and block/allow websites on a whitelist/blacklist.
Aliasing allows you to add multiple IP's/networks/hosts under a single alias and make firewall rules based on this, so rather than creating 250 firewall rules for 250 nodes, simply alias all 250 and make a single rule for that alias.
There are pages devoted to graphs so you can monitor your network traffic, your physical NICs and the server itself.
There are a ton of features and all the basic/advanced networking needs are met.
What do you dislike about the product?
There is very little I have found I do not like about pfsense, although I have not tested every single possible feature, my experience has certainly been very positive. There are two things however that do spring to mind.
I was unable to achieve port forwarding for a VPN. The VPN was PPTP (admittedly I never tried any other methods) on a Windows server. Despite countless hours searching and reading the results and numerous attempts of changing settings, I was unable to use the VPN (had worked previously with a paid firewall solution), whether this issue still stands or was entirely my fault still remains unsolved.
After approximately three years I have found pfsense to become slightly flaky. I have only experienced this with one box (the longest running). Whether this issue boils down to the physical server and/or components or whether this is due to changes over the course of time/corruption of configuration files, is again undetermined.
In reality I have not experienced any real downsides of the solution I cannot link back to me.
I was unable to achieve port forwarding for a VPN. The VPN was PPTP (admittedly I never tried any other methods) on a Windows server. Despite countless hours searching and reading the results and numerous attempts of changing settings, I was unable to use the VPN (had worked previously with a paid firewall solution), whether this issue still stands or was entirely my fault still remains unsolved.
After approximately three years I have found pfsense to become slightly flaky. I have only experienced this with one box (the longest running). Whether this issue boils down to the physical server and/or components or whether this is due to changes over the course of time/corruption of configuration files, is again undetermined.
In reality I have not experienced any real downsides of the solution I cannot link back to me.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
The product has personally helped to act as a firewall protecting and controlling both internal and external traffic on the network.
It has allowed me multiple WAN connections. With aliasing I can quickly group servers, computers, security equipment etc. Using the aliasing I have been able to dedicate WAN connections for specific purposes ensuring the bandwidth is distributed as necessary with a single firewall rule.
Modules like bandwidthd help me check the hosts consuming the most traffic, squid to help me monitor traffic and squid guard to help me block or allow traffic, make this a great solution.
After moving from one paid licensed solution to another I have found pfsense to not only be free, but completely wipe the floor with anything paid for previously.
My experience with this product is extremely positive and I would definitely recommend it as a great solution.
It has allowed me multiple WAN connections. With aliasing I can quickly group servers, computers, security equipment etc. Using the aliasing I have been able to dedicate WAN connections for specific purposes ensuring the bandwidth is distributed as necessary with a single firewall rule.
Modules like bandwidthd help me check the hosts consuming the most traffic, squid to help me monitor traffic and squid guard to help me block or allow traffic, make this a great solution.
After moving from one paid licensed solution to another I have found pfsense to not only be free, but completely wipe the floor with anything paid for previously.
My experience with this product is extremely positive and I would definitely recommend it as a great solution.
Recommendations to others considering the product:
It's got a great fully fledged gui and it's linux for shell users. Install it, try it, any problems the docs or community will come through.
pfSense is the my favorite firewall distribution
What do you like best about the product?
It's absolutely free and it's in my opinion better then many of the enterprise class firewalls I've been in contact with. It's easy to manage, easy to update to newer versions, and best of all it's easy to extend. For example you can extend it with IDS/IPS (Snort), reverse proxies, various tunnel services, network landing sites etc.
What do you dislike about the product?
I shouldn't say everything about pfSense is a walk in park, there have been hick-ups along the way. For example, not to long ago (3-4 years ago) there was a problem with Snort rules not being saved or overwritten with every update of the database. Also it's IPv6-support was a bit late (but on the other hand, so was a lot of other firewall vendors as well). Some services you'll have to tweak manually by editing files, but for most of the time (99.9%) you won't have to do this.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
pfSense it my goto firewall solution when either friends or customers is in the need of a firewall/router solution. Since it can run of old or cheap hardware (beware of the throughput though) it saves both myself and my customers money. And besides, it's great for security.
Recommendations to others considering the product:
A tip of advice, if you are to run pfSense on a flash drive, don't forget to enable a RAM-disk for the logs or you'll end up with a dead flash drive within weeks. Trust me, it happen to me. Go to System -> Advanced -> Miscellaneous and scroll down to RAM Disk Settings and the "Use RAM disks". Then pfSense will use your RAM for /var and /tmp. This prevents the system from constantly writing writing log files to the flash drive, which can me many thousand entries per second, which will wear out the drive very fast.
pfSense
What do you like best about the product?
What I like the best is how versatile it is and it performs as well as other name brand routing platforms. It is easy to customize for my client's needs.
What do you dislike about the product?
I am completely satisfied with pfSense and it has met all my expectations. I have not experienced an issue with pfSense.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Making custom routers for my diverse clients. The benefit of pfSense is that it is quality software for a fraction of the cost of the competitors.
Recommendations to others considering the product:
Make the switch to pfSense and use reliable hardware. It is worth it. I have had less problems with pfSense than any other product I have used.
showing 211 - 220