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    New to PFsense - Transparency mode

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    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      In many ways it is very similar. However as you say because it has far more capability than most SOHO routers it must be more complex. Getting up and running is relatively easy and as long as you don't try to do everything at once adding extra features is not difficult. Just read up on it first.

      Steve

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      • H
        heirkeyso
        last edited by

        Sir,

        Thanks for the response.

        I'm sorry also if I have so many question regarding the pfsense. I just want to make I will know very before I configure it and use it.

        Do you know a website that can help to get started in pfsense? Or any documentation or video to follow? Basically I want to pfsense serve as a server for the internet that can block a websites.

        Precious

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        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          No problem.  :)
          To do that you should install pfSense as your network router.
          Install the Squid web proxy package and get that working.
          Install either the Squidguard or Dansguardian package to filter web content.

          By far the best source of pfSense information is the official book. A new book is due out shortly that will cover 2.0.x and 2.1 in more detail.
          There is a lot of pages in the docs wiki that cover installation and Squid etc.
          There's a lot of good step-by-step guiges at this site: http://pfsensesetup.com/ I don't believe that is related in any way to the dev team or any official source. Seems mostly correct though.  :)

          Steve

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          • H
            heirkeyso
            last edited by

            Sir,

            I'm confuse with the squid web proxy and squidguard? Is it 2 different package to install?

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            • H
              heirkeyso
              last edited by

              Sir,

              Just to add to my previous post.

              What is the difference of the squid web proxy and squidguard? What is the purpose of each?

              What is the title of the book and the author?

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              • stephenw10S
                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                last edited by

                Squid is a web proxy server: http://www.squid-cache.org
                Squidguard is an addon for Squid to allow URL filtering: http://www.squidguard.org
                Dansguardian is an alternative to Squidguard that has more flexibility and options: http://dansguardian.org

                The book is called 'pfSense: The Definitive Guide' it's written by the project developers and is available from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0979034280?ie=UTF8&tag=pfsense-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0979034280

                Steve

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                • H
                  heirkeyso
                  last edited by

                  Sir,

                  Should I install the squid and squidguard? Which better to use between the squidguard and dansguardian?

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                  • H
                    heirkeyso
                    last edited by

                    Sir,

                    Please see below if my understanding is correct about the squid, squidguard and dansguardian

                    Squid

                    • its a proxy server that help to cache a website for a certain network
                    • help or improves internet browsing speed for the clients using the caching capability of squid

                    Squidguard

                    • its a add-on of squid
                    • use for blocking a website base on url only
                    • you can configure here for the exception on blocking a website or user who will you allow for the certain website

                    Dansguardian

                    • its a different or separate package from squid
                    • it can block a website using content filtering meaning it will check the whole website if will access it or block it.

                    These are my question
                    -> Is the statement above correct? Do I miss something? Kindly correct me or add if there is wrong about it and missing.
                    -> Is it a good practice(as a pfsense user) or is it a common practice to install the squid, squidguard and dansguardian?
                    -> What is squid3? Is it the same with squid?

                    Thank you in advance

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                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      Dansguardian still requires a proxy to operate so it is also in addition to Squid. The advantage of Dansguardian (as far as I know!) is that you have things like keywords and phrase matching. This means that even a new website that is not on blacklists can be blocked.

                      There are two Squid packages 2.x and 3.x. Squid3 offers more features but is considered less stable, well tested, than older Squid 2 series.

                      I am not an expert in these things. I have run Dansguardian in the past but not with pfSense. There are a number of threads here on the forum and many, many other web pages discussing Dansguardian vs Squidguard. For example: http://www.theninjageek.co.za/blog/2013/07/02/pfsense-squid3-and-dansguardian-a-better-alternative-to-squidguard/

                      Steve

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                      • K
                        kejianshi
                        last edited by

                        If you use dansguardian, stick with squid and not squid3 unless it has a feature you absolutely need.

                        The combo of dansguardian + squid3 was sort of painful for me.

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                        • H
                          heirkeyso
                          last edited by

                          Sir,

                          Are you suggesting to install dansguardian and squid? And these two are the best combination for control the accessing the websites?

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                          • K
                            kejianshi
                            last edited by

                            No - What I'm suggesting is that IF you install dansguardian, squid might be less trouble than squid3.  Thats all I'm saying.
                            dansguardian does work OK to limit access to porn and things like that.  It doesn't help limit anything in HTTPS though.
                            Also, really smart kids will figure out that they can search images and see the images without actually going to a porn site.

                            NOTHING works 100%

                            At best you can make it annoying to browse porn.  Very difficult to stop it completely.

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                            • H
                              heirkeyso
                              last edited by

                              Sir,
                              Now i.understand what are you trying to say. Which.is better? Squidguard or dansguardian?

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                              • K
                                kejianshi
                                last edited by

                                I don't know - I've never ran squidguard.  I'm sure lots of people have opinions on that issue.
                                You can ALSO control access to certain sites by using either OpenDNS or DynDNS.
                                Both of those will allow you to open an account and set up blocking preferences.

                                Then you can have pfsense get its DNS from OpenDNS or DynDNS and you can have everything on your network get its DNS fro pfsense DNS forwarder.  This work very well also either by its self or in combination with either dansguardian of squidguard.

                                Where are you located?  I'd pick DNS service closest to you if you do that.

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                                • H
                                  heirkeyso
                                  last edited by

                                  I'm from philippines

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                                  • K
                                    kejianshi
                                    last edited by

                                    I REALLY miss that place  :-[ 
                                    Gotta get there again soon.

                                    Anyway - I'd use OpenDNS - They have 2 servers near(ish) to you.
                                    DynDNS only has 1 sort of close.

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                                    • H
                                      heirkeyso
                                      last edited by

                                      Sir,

                                      I'm trying to configure the pfsense for web proxy cache and content filtering using squid 3 and dansguardian. Base on my web search one of the instruction is to configure in the firewall to redirect all the http request or port 80 to 8080. When I following there instruction I'm getting an error of SSL error and I cannot access the pfsense webconfiguration.

                                      Below is the link what I follow for the configuration.
                                      http://www.theninjageek.co.za/blog/2013/07/02/pfsense-squid3-and-dansguardian-a-better-alternative-to-squidguard/

                                      Kindly assist me with this.

                                      Thank you

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                                      • K
                                        kejianshi
                                        last edited by

                                        You can direct all of port 80 in and that will work, but not port 443.  OK?

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                                        • stephenw10S
                                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                          last edited by

                                          If you put in a firewall rule that redirects all traffic on port 80 that may include traffic for the webgui. Either change the port the webgui listens on or add a rule above the squid rule to allow traffic to the webgui without redirection.

                                          Steve

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                                          • H
                                            heirkeyso
                                            last edited by

                                            I'm confuse. Is it necessary or mandatory to redirect the port? What us the purpose of doing it?

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