Mastering pfSense

Install and configure a pfSense router/firewall, and become a pfSense expert in the process.

About This Book

• You can always do more to secure your software – so extend and customize your pfSense firewall
• Build a high availability security system that's fault-tolerant – and capable of blocking potential threats
• Put the principles of better security into practice by implementing examples provided in the text

Who This Book Is For

This book is for those with at least an intermediate understanding of networking. Prior knowledge of pfSense would be helpful but is not required.
Those who have the resources to set up a pfSense firewall, either in a real or virtual environment, will especially benefit, as they will be able to follow along with the examples in the book.

What You Will Learn

• Configure pfSense services such as DHCP, Dynamic DNS, captive portal, DNS, NTP and SNMP
• Set up a managed switch to work with VLANs
• Use pfSense to allow, block and deny traffic, and to implement Network Address Translation (NAT)
• Make use of the traffic shaper to lower and raise the priority of certain types of traffic
• Set up and connect to a VPN tunnel with pfSense
• Incorporate redundancy and high availability by utilizing load balancing and the Common Address Redundancy Protocol (CARP)
• Explore diagnostic tools in pfSense to solve network problems

In Detail

pfSense has the same reliability and stability as even the most popular commercial firewall offerings on the market – but, like the very best open-source software, it doesn't limit you.
You're in control – you can exploit and customize pfSense around your security needs.
Mastering pfSense - Second Edition, covers features that have long been part of pfSense such as captive portal, VLANs, traffic shaping, VPNs, load balancing, Common Address Redundancy Protocol (CARP), multi-WAN, and routing. It also covers features that have been added with the release of 2.4, such as support for ZFS partitions and OpenVPN 2.4. This book takes into account the fact that, in order to support increased cryptographic loads, pfSense version 2.5 will require a CPU that supports AES-NI.
The second edition of this book places more of an emphasis on the practical side of utilizing pfSense than the previous edition, and, as a result, more examples are provided which show in step-by-step fashion how to implement many features.

Style and approach

Practical guide to learn the advanced functionalities of pfSense with minimum fuss.