Before starting into the installation, it is important to conceptualize the end goal before beginning the configurations. This is great from a security standpoint but not from a usability standpoint. The default behavior for many firewalls is to block everything, good or bad. The Lab Setup pfSense is often frustrating for users new to firewalls.
To support the extra software packages on the pfSense firewall, it is recommended that the following hardware be provided to pfSense:
If strong security is desired for a pfSense firewall then do not install additional FreeBSD packages, or ensure to properly maintain these packages by always keeping them up to date.
In addition to the packages available in the pfSense package system, thousands of additional FreeBSD packages are available. Serious Home User Hardware Suggestions (and Enterprises) In the event that a home user would like to enable many of the extra features and functions of pfSense such as Snort, Anti-Virus scanning, DNS blacklisting, web content filtering, etc the recommended hardware becomes a little more involved.
The distribution is free to install on one’s own equipment or the company behind pfSense, NetGate, sells pre-configured firewall appliances.
Projects like, and pfSense all provide enterprise level security at commodity prices! PfSense is a FreeBSD based open source firewall solution. Thankfully, there are dedicated projects in the open source community that are making great strides in the home user security solutions arena. Investing even a hundred dollars into a dedicated firewall is often beyond the scope of most home networks. Home user’s though are at a monetary disadvantage. Many organizations spends hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars trying to install the latest and greatest security solutions to protect their infrastructure and data. Almost daily, a new zero day, security breach, or ransomware occurs leaving many people wondering if it is possible to secure their systems. The Internet is a scary place these days.