Submitted by pfSense is a open source firewall derived from the m0n0wall operating system platform with radically different goals such as using OpenBSD’s ported Packet Filter, FreeBSD 6.1 ALTQ (HFSC) for excellent packet queueing and finally an integrated package management system for extending the environment with new features. pfSense version 1.0 was released today.
pfSense 1.0 Released
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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PFSense took a truly revolutionary embedded firewall BSD distro (m0n0wall) and rebuilt it for non-embedded systems + added in support for more features. Some of the really cool features of pfsense over m0n0wall are things like Common Address Redundancy Protocol (CARP) for failover and better firewalling using OpenBSD’s pf.
This is a great project if you want a simple to use firewall / router or captive portal that “just works”. It saved me once when I was in a pinch.
simple to use enterprise feature opensource firewall out there IMHO. get it, use it, love it.
I didn’t know a firewall distro finally decided to use OpenBSD’s excellent Packet Filter. This is great news.
I’m using pfSense on a spare PC since 1.0-RC2 and I’m quite happy with it. I have quite an unusual setup at home, a mix of public and private IPs with DSL and a WAP. After an hour of fiddling with pfSense, I was able to do exactly what I want. It’s also quite fast on a relatively old PC (K6-2 333, 128MB RAM). Might be tempting to get an embedded board instead to save some electricity.
On the downside, documentation for the additional features is pretty scarce and the interface isn’t cleans as m0n0. Nevertheless, once you make it work, it works. Let’s hope the 1.0 release will gather enough interest and newcomers for fixing these small shortcomings.
So far, pfSense is the best router/firewall OS I have tried. Of course, the average home user will be satisfied by the generic SoHo router, but it’s quite nice for those advanced users experimenting with funky configurations.
Very very good. Now to get L2TP/IPSEC working so that the native Mac/Windows can work and get better security than from PPTP and get IPSEC working with NAT-T/Traversal. Almost perfect.
Basically, we want everything a PIX and a VPN3005 does in a single box, and this is the closest thing out there to that and its FREE, BSD licensed, based on PF, and its FREE.
Awesome work. Best I’ve seen in a long time.
I am trying to setup a “magic” shaper for my poor quality ADSL connection, using Linux, and it hasn’t been much fun so far! I think I’ll have a look at this…
“I am trying to setup a “magic” shaper for my poor quality ADSL connection, using Linux, and it hasn’t been much fun so far! I think I’ll have a look at this…”
Run pfSense’s traffic shaper wizard, and you’ll be delighted