Which version would you recommend?

[maxchock]

Hi all,

I'm setting up a pfsense box for my cyber cafe. My requirement is quite simple, I'm thinking to use version 2.0b instead of version 1.2.x. As the concern of the stability issue, therefore i would like to ask you guys to give me your opinion.

The function I need for the pfsense box as follow:
1. As a Multi wan load balancer which also do failover.
2. As a transparent proxy server.
3. Traffic shaping.
4. use Captive portal and radius server to authenticate user login and allow different bandwidth limit for different user group. e.g VIP customer may enjoy higher bandwidth  than normal customer.

for the function i need above, which version do you guys think is sufficient for me?

Thanks & regards.
Max.

[Guest]

The comment about 2.0 being beta and not appropriate for production use isn't there for grins.  2.0 is coming along great, but its not ready for use in a production environment yet.

[maxchock]

Thanks for your reply.

So as my requirement listed above, can 1.2.x version full fill my need? I did went through the feature's list on pfsense website but i'm a newbie there is alot of terms which i'm don't understand well. Hope you can help me on this.

Thanks & regards,
Max Chock.

[leoalfa09]

Hi!!
With versions 1.2.x of pfsense you can do all the tings that you want, but you can have troubles implemeting transparent proxy and trafic shaping in the same pfsense box, i recomend you to use proxy and captive portal in one box and trafic shaping in other box or virtualize
god luck…

[Guest]

You cannot use the traffic shaper with multi-WAN, nor does the squid package work with multi-WAN.  Both of these are resolved in 2.0 when it is released.

[maxchock]

Ok, thanks for reply. I'm 90% to give up for 2.0Beta. and 1.2.3 is not the way to go.. any other alternative solution?

Thanks.

[jaime]

you can still try V2.0 but as we all are stating 2.0 isn't ready for true production environments BUT its can be used but we STRONGLY suggest using 1.2.x, if your ok with taking it into a production environment and testing it and are willing to accept that there may be bugs and potential down time and want to use 2.0 we won't stp you, we just are trying to let you know if you do use 2.0 in a production environment just be ready for things to break and down time to happen with it.

now if your looking for an actual firewall appliance perhaps something called endian may fit your needs, but again thats the same basic situation, if you are using a custom machine you run the risk of incompatibilities being there…and the actual appliance will run you from about $150+ depending on what you need...if you need other options there might be other linux based firewalls out there you might be able to try.