How do I support netgate?
-
In the end, I decided to buy my own hardware for pfsense as I wanted something with serious, serious grunt that will be future proofed for many years to come (for no real reason other than I just wanted to - its for my home environment).
However, in doing that, I recognise netgate don't get a cent out of me for that.
I purchased support for 2 incidents which I've subsequently used (and which I found them literally fantastic - really good people who stuck at my issues until they were resolved).
So I guess I feel good that I've paid a chunk of money to pfsense in relation to support, but what is the best way to keep supporting them without killing my bank account? Is gold subscription enough?
Is there something else netgate would like me to do?
-
Hi,
Thank you for supporting us! We are happy you were satisfied with our support :) Gold subscription is a way to support the pfSense project and get a few goodies in return.
Thank you!
-
I understand your take on the "breaking the bank"!
There are other avenues you can take as they (Netgate) are incident based only and not contractual (Unlimited Support) like Cisco. In single install locations the cost might be considered high but if you are deploying in 10+ locations the per incident can be very beneficial.
I have also used upwork at times for support on pfsense deployments when the scope of my requirements was outside of my comfort zone. That being said. I had a open vpn setup that I was struggling with and have to say that the paid support from pfSense (Netgate) was far superior to what I have received from others. I wasted time and money trying to have others assist. The difficulty is many will say yes I can do that and then you find they sort of know it but not like support from pfsense.
I really suggest that you deploy 2 units. Production and test unit so you can learn more about it. Once you get the hang of things you can rely on pfsense support for more complex configurations and critical issues.
Another suggestion is I did a screen recording of the process so I could redo the process again if I needed.
-
There are other avenues you can take as they (Netgate) are incident based only and not contractual (Unlimited Support) like Cisco.
Wait a day or two and check our support offering ;)
-
Ivor. You tease! ;D
-
best way to keep supporting them without killing my bank account? Is gold subscription enough?
There are two Million active pfSense installations out there and if each of them spend $5 each year the Project will
be supported for a long time and you don´t ruin your bank account! -
Too bad many will not. Why not have a premium forum or make it premium access $10 a year to post requests and or get fast response! I would not think twice to pay $10 or $20 a year for that if it meant I would not have to wait a week or so sometimes for a response! I understand as is with me that time is money. I am sure at $20 a year pfsense would have a massive amount of users who would pay $20 a year for that kind of access to an active supportive forum!
-
Too bad many will not. Why not have a premium forum or make it premium access $10 a year to post requests and or get fast response! I would not think twice to pay $10 or $20 a year for that if it meant I would not have to wait a week or so sometimes for a response! I understand as is with me that time is money. I am sure at $20 a year pfsense would have a massive amount of users who would pay $20 a year for that kind of access to an active supportive forum!
That's what Gold and HTML version of the pfSense book are for (book is available for purchase without Gold subscription). We are working on expanding Gold features.
-
I bought a T-shirt and Polo. Pretty cheap all things considered.