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    Do you use community edition over the free pfsense+ for home & home lab users? if so why?

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    • nullcureN
      nullcure LAYER 8
      last edited by

      Just a curious question.

      NollipfSenseN johnpozJ the otherT 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • NollipfSenseN
        NollipfSense @nullcure
        last edited by

        @nullcure In my case, I use the community edition beta to help with testing and use the plus for home/office/lab.

        pfSense+ 23.09 Lenovo Thinkcentre M93P SFF Quadcore i7 dual Raid-ZFS 128GB-SSD 32GB-RAM PCI-Intel i350-t4 NIC, -Intel QAT 8950.
        pfSense+ 23.09 VM-Proxmox, Dell Precision Xeon-W2155 Nvme 500GB-ZFS 128GB-RAM PCIe-Intel i350-t4, Intel QAT-8950, P-cloud.

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        • johnpozJ
          johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @nullcure
          last edited by johnpoz

          @nullcure unless you had some specific need of something only available in the + version, I would just run CE.. I have seen some threads where there have been loss of the license, etc. Not saying that is something you would run into.. But unless there really is something specific that is only in the + version that you want/need not sure why you just wouldn't run CE.

          I run + on my netgate appliance - just because well that is the default, etc. But my two test vms that are running 2.6 and 2.7 are just CE installs. I don't see any reason to run them on +, etc.

          An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
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          nullcureN S 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • bingo600B
            bingo600
            last edited by

            I'm running PLUS at home
            Not that i need any features (well the boot environment is great).

            But I run CE on the work boxes.
            I can't switch to PLUS, since installing PLUS on a NON Netgate box is cumbersome, and you have to rely on CE + Upgrade (I have hung 24h in CE to PLUS Upgrade).
            Until Netgate finishes the "WhiteBox" licensing system, and allows direct (or TAC assisted) download of the PLUS image for "WhiteBoxes", i'm not changing.

            /Bingo

            If you find my answer useful - Please give the post a šŸ‘ - "thumbs up"

            pfSense+ 23.05.1 (ZFS)

            QOTOM-Q355G4 Quad Lan.
            CPUĀ  : Core i5 5250U, Ram : 8GB Kingston DDR3LV 1600
            LANĀ  : 4 x Intel 211, DiskĀ  : 240G SAMSUNG MZ7L3240HCHQ SSD

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            • nullcureN
              nullcure LAYER 8 @johnpoz
              last edited by nullcure

              @johnpoz said in Do you use community edition over the free pfsense+ for home & home lab users? if so why?:

              @nullcure unless you had some specific need of something only available in the + version, I would just run CE.. I have seen some threads where there have been loss of the license, etc. Not saying that is something you would run into.. But unless there really is something specific that is only in the + version that you want/need not sure why you just wouldn't run CE.

              I run + on my netgate appliance - just because well that is the default, etc. But my two test vms that are running 2.6 and 2.7 are just CE installs. I don't see any reason to run them on +, etc.

              ----- I'm a newbie well I mean in one of my NOC positions i was accessing pfsense software on client networks at an MSP. One of my co workers said they run pfsense at their home.

              I took interest.

              Anyway as a newbie I was just wondering where CE ongoing developt and support stood as compared to the PLUS version. if CE is up to date and fully maintained then perhaps I would've kept CE.

              As for loss of license. All you do is go back to netgate store and order another free license. They are one time use for activation anyway so they are disposable.

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              • S
                SteveITS Galactic Empire @johnpoz
                last edited by

                @johnpoz said in Do you use community edition over the free pfsense+ for home & home lab users? if so why?:

                seen some threads where there have been loss of the license

                Notably, if one changes hardware, particularly NICs, the detected NDI will change and the Plus license no longer applies. As noted home/lab users can just get another free license at that point. But, I'd venture many "home" users setting up pfSense are likely to tinker with hardware...

                Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
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                • the otherT
                  the other @nullcure
                  last edited by

                  @nullcure
                  I run pfsense CE in my home network. Since I just wanted "to give it a try" a few years ago, I run it on an APU2...so I never bothered trying to upgrade to a plus version (having read as well about some problems).

                  I plan on upgrading my network in the coming two years (changing to 2,5 GBit/s LAN), so my actual plan has a netgate device...with a plus version running.

                  What I miss under CE is the snapshot ability. Everything else is more than enough for my personal networking needs.

                  the other

                  pure amateur home user, no business or professional background
                  please excuse poor english skills and typpoz :)

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