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    CISCO VS PFSENSE

    General pfSense Questions
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    • B
      beigggi
      last edited by

      hello every one

      Do I want to know why we are better than cisco?

      tell me:
      I bought HP DL 60 G9 with Xeon 2603 v4, 16GB Ram 1 SSD HDD 6 GIG LAN PORT
      and installed PFsense the last one. and also I can Upgrade it whenever I want. I can add RAM I can add the second CPU and also upgrade my CPU I can add 10GB LAN port or fiber port on it
      I have everything I want like Network Firewall, WAF, DNS, AND ETC
      it was about 1000$

      with this scale, if I wanted to buy Cisco to protect my data how much should I pay? tons of dollars and I had the yearly license which it costs me a lot.

      why do some people say that Cisco is much better than your solutions?
      PLEASE SHARE YOUR IDEAS

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      • JKnottJ
        JKnott
        last edited by

        Cisco gear is designed for far more than just a firewall.  The main focus is on routing lots of traffic, as efficiently as possible.  So, they will have hardware designed for the task, instead of just using a typical desktop computer.

        PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
        i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
        UniFi AC-Lite access point

        I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

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        • johnpozJ
          johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
          last edited by

          What yearly license for cisco are you talking about?  You mean your smartnet contract that gives you access to updates and support?  That is not really a license to use it..  You can buy a cisco router it will route until the hardware dies..  There is no "license" due every year for it to route..

          I can tell you that from experience dealing with new customers and their ancient hardware and no support from cisco ;)

          Cisco does alot of what they do on specific hardware designed to do exactly that route/switch.. So sure it cost more, etc.

          But lets compare apples to apples - I am with you there are many scenarios where I would use pfsense vs cisco - and hoping that is the case across the board.  The whole offering of 24/7 real support from pfsense/netgate is them gaining foothold in the enterprise where larger companies want that safety net were they can call the maker and say fix it, what is wrong, etc. etc.

          I have made some small gains in my company, and have replaced a juniper firewall with pfsense.. I as hoping to be a few more end of last year - but there are multiple units that hope to replace with pfsense here soon.. I have not made ground into getting major stuff replaced - but for sure all the branch offices if have my way will be replaced with netgate appliances.. Sure at a cost saving to boot, which better/easier use and more features..

          What specific cisco device are you wanting to compare your DL 60 G9 with?

          An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
          If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
          Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
          SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.7.2, 24.11

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          • JKnottJ
            JKnott
            last edited by

            What yearly license for cisco are you talking about?  You mean your smartnet contract that gives you access to updates and support?  That is not really a license to use it..  You can buy a cisco router it will route until the hardware dies..  There is no "license" due every year for it to route..

            Quite so.  I happen to have a Cisco 2600 series router, which I bought used, back when I was studying for my CCNA.  Works fine, but no updates.  The company I work for sometimes sells customers refurb Cisco gear.  Again, no licence that I'm aware of.

            PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
            i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
            UniFi AC-Lite access point

            I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • dotdashD
              dotdash
              last edited by

              The license he is referring to may be the 'feature set' on the hardware.
              Not sure on newer units, but the old firewalls were user limited by a license key. The feature set controlled how many VPNs you could have, if you could do failover, etc.

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              • johnpozJ
                johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                last edited by

                Ok - but that doesn't renew every year… You buy 50 concurrent vpn users, you don't have to pay for it again next year..

                If anything he has to be talking about sort of subscription license like URL filtering or IPS rules, etc.  But again those sorts of licenses are to get updated rules, etc.  Like how you need a subscription to get latest and greatest snort rules, or the block lists you can use with pfblockerng, etc.

                An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.7.2, 24.11

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                • JKnottJ
                  JKnott
                  last edited by

                  @dotdash:

                  The license he is referring to may be the 'feature set' on the hardware.
                  Not sure on newer units, but the old firewalls were user limited by a license key. The feature set controlled how many VPNs you could have, if you could do failover, etc.

                  Yep, when you added certain features, you had to install the licence key.  However, I'm not aware of any time limit on them, once installed.  My router has a such a licence (I've forgotten what for) but it still works.

                  PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
                  i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
                  UniFi AC-Lite access point

                  I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • B
                    beigggi
                    last edited by

                    so am I right?
                    its way better than Cisco
                    and it can be Used as an Enterprise Firewalling.
                    Yes?

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                    • johnpozJ
                      johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                      last edited by

                      Way better than what cisco box?  i would compare pfsense to say the ISR line…

                      While I love pfsense to death, it can not compete with say a 12000 series router... Nor is it meant too..

                      But yes I would say that pfsense for sure is a better deal than a ISR from cisco... But you could not compare it to say a Firepower 9000 firewall, etc..

                      An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                      If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                      Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                      SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.7.2, 24.11

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