How To Install PfSense And What Are Its Features?

Pfsense is a BSD-based software firewall. The product generally has many useful features such as msn or program banning, web content filtering, user restriction, and VPN. Now let’s look at the answer to the question of what is PfSense.

What is Pfsense?

Pfsense is an open-source firewall/router, FreeBSD software distribution. FreeBSD consists of the open-source codes of the Research Unix of AT&T, which is considered to be the ancestor of UNIX. It has a Web interface for configuration. You can easily install it on any computer or server.

We can prevent our external and internal networks from accessing the internet securely and prevent websites that we see as harmful, log and create user-based network rules.

Pfsense Main Technical Features;

• The web-based management interface to support
• Proxy Server
• Password reset, factory reset, Network Interface settings, Backup, Restart, and user password reset with SSH Console.
• You can safely take your Network Address Translation (Nat) Local users to the internet on their own and create rules.
• Port forwarding can change the port numbers of RDP connections from outside.
• For example, you can create a rule for the default 3389 RDP port as follows. Forward the connections that will come to port 3454 to port 3389 of the Terminal Server inside.
• Support for PPPoE, PPTP, Static, DHCP protocols for External Network. (We will install PFSENSE
• Firewall in PPPOE mode here)
• IPSEC Vpn Connection.
• Traffic Management (Graphical internet band management.
• Static Route
• DHCP Server
• Captive Porta
• Software Update (PFSense update)
• SNMP Agent (Simple Network Management Protocol)

Let’s Install Pfsense Now;

Pfsense installation will be done on Virtual hyper-v.
Firewalls have at least two Ethernet cards. We add two switches.
For external (Wan) for our private internal network (Lan).

Let’s do the step-by-step setup process below.

1-) After a while we start the installation process, the following screen appears. We make the necessary settings on this screen. (Keyboard layout etc.)

2-) Here we select the Easy installation option and continue.

3-) We select Standard Usage on the screen that appears and proceed.

4-) Now We Start Installation.

5-) After this installation, it asks us to reboot the system.

6-) On this screen, information about the installation is given to us. We can also make our interface settings from here or later via the Web interface. Since I have DHCP on my system, it automatically got an IP address on the LAN interface. By accessing this address from a computer on the same network, we can make all the configuration settings. In addition, we can make the necessary IP configuration by selecting the other option.

7-) Web interface access screen welcomes us. In this screen, you can enter the username and password as Username = “admin” and Password = “pfsense” by default.

8 -) This is our management screen, we have the opportunity to change the settings we want, change the language, etc.

You can download Pfsense from here.

I hope it has been a useful article.