Do people using pfsense all work in IT?
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packages (too many beta packages), timely bug fixes and updates compared to the big boys.
Re: Package versions, that's mostly the fault of the various maintainers just never updating the status. Most all of them are probably at least "stable" but that field is mostly ignored.
We fix bugs very fast in most situations. We may not have very frequent releases, but the bug fixes are public in the source repos and they can be applied as needed in many cases. And there are always snapshots if one needs certain fixes/features before an official release.
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While it is the best of the cheap or free options out there, it fails on useful logging
What kind of logging are you missing ? Considering that not only does pf allow very detailed logging, you can use tcpdump on pflog or the physical interface(s) either from CLI or webGUI, and you can export netflow data.
valnar, when you have a moment, please elaborate on what you meant by "useful logging" and pfsense limitations vs other platforms.
TIA.
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It's not the logging per se, but the user interface for it, hence "useful logging". If you are familiar with the Checkpoint and Cisco ASDM GUI's, you'd know what I mean - especially for troubleshooting problems.
Geez, sorry if I offended anyone. ;)
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It's not the logging per se, but the user interface for it, hence "useful logging". If you are familiar with the Checkpoint and Cisco ASDM GUI's, you'd know what I mean - especially for troubleshooting problems.
Geez, sorry if I offended anyone.  ;)
No offence whatsoever taken :-) I was just trying to understand where you were coming from, because "logging" might mean different things to different people.
Anyway, as I wrote above, while the webGUI doesn't expose too all available functionality to the user, a knowledgeable networking professional can always drop to the CLI and do all sorts of troubleshooting.
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It's not the logging per se, but the user interface for it, hence "useful logging". If you are familiar with the Checkpoint and Cisco ASDM GUI's, you'd know what I mean - especially for troubleshooting problems.
Geez, sorry if I offended anyone.  ;)
Well it's not really offensive per se, it's just extremely vague and unhelpful. If you can explain what "useful" means specifically, to you, it would help more than a vague complaint.
Also try 2.1, the firewall log filtering was expanded quite a lot.
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Did the network admin gig then moved to SysAdmin/Engineering/Development.
Have used pfsense to hold up 2,000+ students in the past. Some small hosting companies and test/dev environments frequently. Been using at home since 0.6.x or 0.5.x I think….Spring/Summer 2005...Helped Scott setup the forums originally way back when.
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:D
Hello, another IT admin here.Started using monowall at home, and quickly found about pfsense.
After a few months, I started to deploy pfsense at most my clients. At the time, sure mainly I was the only using it for vpn in to the office. Nowdays everyone connects trough the internet, and firewalls like pfsense aid a lot in keeping cost down, or better being able to get a massive pc for the firewall.
At the most important locations, I do have an HP DL380G5 with pfsense. It does make a diference. The best about pfsense, is that you build up as you need. so no matter if you are a beginner in networking, or have quite the experience, pfsense is a great tool to learn and use.
I would like to take advantage of this topis and thank everyone on the pfsense team.
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Yep, another IT guy here.
Been using pfSense at home after getting sick & tired of the consumer level garbage, using DD-WRT to get better functionality, and still needing to reboot the device every week or so. Tried Untangle, the gui was nice, but it made me feel like a donkey with Untangle riding me, dangling a carrot on a stick in front of me to purchase stuff. ClearOS was neat, but felt bloated. Stumbled across pfSense after the 2.0 stable release, and it was love at first install at home (virtualized under ESXi 5).
And we literally swapped out our Fortigate 80C last night at work (11 hours ago now) in favor of running pfSense 2.1 in a VM, everyone's been telling me today "the internet works so good now!"
Admittedly, if I wasn't in I.T. I'd probably still be limping along with yet another wrt54g flashed with dd-wrt …..
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I'd love to stamp a bit "LIKE" on your post…
Another IT guy - but primarily application focused (not networking). At home, I've played around with multiple router firmwares (dd-wrt, tomato, openwrt) and *NIX based firewall/router distros. Prior to switching to pfSense, I spent a couple years using IPCop, but also looked at ipFire, ClearOS, Untangle, etc.
In my opinion, nothing comes close to pfSense because of the following:
1.) It's completely open - no pressure to buy a bunch of crap
2.) It's a rock solid, no-nonsense firewall distro (no NAS, Media junk, etc.)
3.) It has tons of add on packages already available (my favorite - Dansguardian)
4.) The UI and base functionality can be easily modified
5.) The community is active and helpful -
Not in IT here I farm but do the IT role for friends and family maintain ~25 boxes mainly windows. I was driven to Pfsense for dual wan as a replacement to a xincom box to balance cable modem and dsl as sometimes even with both we dont have decent internet.
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Another IT person here. I work for a medium size non profit and do some network, some sysadmin. I started looking for alternatives to cheap little Linksys routers at our branch offices that kept having random issues. I tried IPCop as I was familiar with it but then found pfSense. After swapping in pfSense I liked it so much we got rid of the Sonicwall at the head office and eventually replaced everything with pfSense at around 30 locations. With OpenVPN it runs like a champ!
I also use pfSense at home and recommend it to others as well. I learned a lot from "the book" and just trying things out in VM.
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Just a retired IBM pEng (Hardware Failure Analysis)Â here, now living in Jasper National Park (Canada), I operate an 80 rental cabin resort which now offers wifi over its 10.1 acres of river front property.
Thanks to pfSense in part.
I never studied IT per say, but my old job required I kept my friends close and enemies closer… lol.
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I work in an IT related position (in Marketing) .. so do I count?
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I work in an IT related position (in Marketing) .. so do I count?
I don't know - can marketing people count? ;)
I play in IT - it can hardly be called work, does that count also?
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I play in IT - it can hardly be called work, does that count also?
Doesn't get better than that. You get my vote. :)
Steve
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I'm a system's designer and consultant that does a lot of programming. I've been building computers since I was 8 years old. Now that I think back, I'm not sure why my dad let an 8 year old handle $3k of computer parts. Anyway, my college job was actually as IT for my University. We were the second tier support and coordinated many projects that involved the admins. We had access to the entire system, from VLANs to servers. The kind of work we did required such access, primarily for debugging reasons. We got so much food from happy teachers after we fixed their computers.
I now spend most of my time in front of a computer, but I still find myself coordinating admins. I'm not in a management position, I just tend to mesh well with other tech people. They seem to like how I mostly understand and appreciate how and why they do things, so they tend to play well with me. I only ask for permissions that I need, and can explain why I need them and provide alternative ways of accomplishing the same job with pros and cons. I also tend to be good at identifying something that may affect an admin, and ask for their blessing even if I already have access. Admins like that.
I have an educational and hobby interest in network and server design and security. That was something like 5 classes alone with 3-4 credits per class. But nearly all of my post-graduation professional experience is in system design, programming, customer data interfaces, and SQL.
Not really IT.
Computers are so much fun.
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I'm an economist by education and profession. Started with 'puters a long time ago, and managed to destroy every operating system within hours after installing them. Of course windows (I don't recall the version, it came on two 1.44 floppies ;D ), OS/2, and a zillion Linux-versions (those were the days, early nineties, 'Linux will be king in 3 years' or so the talking heads in the computer magazines were writing back then). FreeBSD I met early 2000's, the first I didn't crash within hours, so my eternal love goes to FreeBSD, and therefor also to pfSense.
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I'm sad to say I work in IT also :P Been in the field for about 16+ years… Started as a Network/Windows Admin for a small company then was recruited by an evil empire (a large MSO) 12+ years ago. Since then I've worked on high end network equipment, window servers, pbx, acd systems. I have gone thru many changes here but it keeps it interesting... These days I work mostly on Telephony/CTI Application servers... Miss working on networks but its fun when I prove the network team wrong because their config is messed up (I hate one-way audio calls)
Stephen
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Started as PC-assembling helper in early 90's to pay some bills at university, I am a Mechanical Engineering, M.Sc.
I am an IT enthusiast and tech-fanatic, now I pay my bills working as VP Maintenance for a major EU Airline.
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Fun thread. -^_^-
I'm in IT and am a systems and network administrator. I've been doing it for about 2 years now and was a helpdesk person before that. All in all I think I'm much less a "network admin" for my title than others on here are, as I've only been doing things for corporations for about 4 years now and before that I stocked shelves at walmart. lol
So really, even though I am a network admin for about 450 employees(several trucking companies) I'm more just that tinkerer at heart. :D I started programming and stuff when I was about 14 and computers were simply a huge passion. I actually really didn't want to go into IT as a profession because I felt like I would be too restricted and I also didn't tend to focus on single areas and thus, was very much so a jack of all trades type. It hasn't been until the last 2.5 years that I have pursued Network administration. VERY hard and fun and frustrating. I like that I have been able to do this, but I'd actually rather be a makeup artist or design makeup. <3 In particular, I'm a nail polish fanatic. lol
