Tutorial pfsense

pfSense Tutorial BSDCan 2008
From zero to hero with pfSense May 13, 2008 Chris Buechler Scott Ullrich

History of pfSense
Started as a work project 13 years ago when we needed a internal firewall Originally Linux, switched to FreeBSD 2.2 Evolution of this path shrunk the firewall down to a Soekris size Moatware was started Met Chris Buechler during this time Sell a number of products Sales guy moves to Florida Moatware fails Chris and myself debate starting over fresh pfSense is forked from m0n0wall roughly 4 years ago Still going strong today

pfSense Overview
Customized FreeBSD distribution tailored for use as a firewall and router. pfSense has many base features and can be extended with the package system including one touch installations of popular 3rd party packages such as SpamD (spam filter) and Squid (web caching). Includes many features found in commercial products such as Cisco PIX, Sonicwall, Watchguard, etc. Many support avenues available, mailing lists, forum and commercial support. Has the best price on the planet.... Free!

pfSense Platforms
Live CD Full Install Embedded Developers

pfSense Stable Versions

1.0 - October 4, 2006 * 1.0.1 - October 20, 2006 * 1.2 - RELENG_1_2 - February 25, 2008 Downloaded more than 500,000 times to date

* Not branched in CVS

pfSense Development Versions
Current Development Versions 1.3-ALPHA - RELENG_1 2.0-ALPHA-ALPHA-ALPHA - HEAD Snapshots are built every two hours available at http://snapshots.pfsense.org Bonus for attendees - 1.3 snapshots available

Minimum Hardware Requirements
CPU - 100 MHz (500+ MHz for best experience) RAM - 128 MB (256 MB or more is encouraged)

Platform Specific
Live CD CD-ROM drive (currently USB CD-ROM devices are not supported) USB flash drive or floppy drive to store configuration Full Installation CD-ROM for initial installation 1 GB hard drive Embedded 128 MB CF serial port for console null modem cable

Popular hardware
NICs - Intel Pro/100 and