Where is the documentation?
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If you take those questions and post them in a new thread, I bet they will all be answered with either a new reply or a link to an existing thread that outlines it.
All the things you have asked about have been answered many times over, so I'm sure you will get a relevant reply quickly.
I've looked.. Anything existing that I've found deals with prior versions, isn't solved, or is part of a larger total installation (where Squid is being used only because it's required by additional items like Diladele).
Further, I -have- posted looking for help and haven't gotten what I've requested. That isn't to say that I have gotten decent comments and such, but no one has been able to actually answer my questions.
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So now all you're going to do is whine?
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So now all you're going to do is whine?
I think he's trying to volunteer to help update the docs.
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So now all you're going to do is whine?
I'm not whining at all. I'm pointing out that there's a massive gap between the documentation and the product. I'd be happy to try and help close that, even if it were just a little bit, if anyone at all out there could point me to some legitimate, accurate documentation for 2.1.5.
But, if you prefer to take it as whining, maybe you'd like to fix the docs instead?
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legitimate, accurate documentation for 2.1.5.
You know there's a book right?
It is not uncommon to charge a pretty penny for a fantastic book on an open source project. Exim is one such example. Yes, online docs exist. The book is better. pfSense is another, though the printed version will probably be cheaper than a Gold subscription. (Zero affiliation other than being a gold member, btw.)
What you're proposing is a catch22 - point me at the legitimate, accurate documentation for 2.1.5 so I can help create legitimate, accurate documentation for 2.1.5. If the documentation existed to your liking, you would have nothing to do.
I'm not whining at all.
"Further, I -have- posted looking for help and haven't gotten what I've requested."
"But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!"
But, if you prefer to take it as whining, maybe you'd like to fix the docs instead?
I don't find them as deficient as you do. Captive Portal is not hard to configure, for example. The tone of this entire thread has left me with zero desire to help you. Maybe the threads you say you started asking all these unanswered questions had the same effect on others. Considering your litany of questions, it seems $99 for the book would be well worth the money.
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To be fair the book is not really an option for someone experimenting with various router/firewall projects. The fact that Chris has said he is releasing the introduction and installation chapters for free should significantly address this.
Steve
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"But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!"
What?
Your "assistance" is exactly the sort of help I've been getting all through here. You haven't read the whole post (or you didn't bother to take the time to understand it) and you're just throwing out the same knee-jerk reaction you give to everyone know that "whines" that the docs are poor.
On line docs are good and the book is better. I'm all for that. Where's the on line docs? They're essentially non-existent for 2.1.5. The fact that everyone keeps referring to the book as "the" source for docs reconfirms this.
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To be fair the book is not really an option for someone experimenting with various router/firewall projects. The fact that Chris has said he is releasing the introduction and installation chapters for free should significantly address this.
Steve
Steve,
This is very true. I want to understand this project before I commit to it all around. The fact that I can't accurately set up my instance of pfSense to test the things that are important to me pushes this project way down to the bottom of the list of contenders. And, the fact that I'm -still- here trying to get help should demonstrate that I really do want to try it.
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See if any of this answers some of your questions.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrLC48qoJygdQOmgzmYVKBg/videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czU56xmJAmE
http://pfsensesetup.com/web-filtering-with-squidguard-part-one/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6BDVzTcAnw
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Traffic_Shaping_Guide
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUnJs5XP1y0
http://pfsensesetup.com/qos-management-using-the-traffic-shaper-wizard/
http://blogs.technet.com/b/nexthop/archive/2014/04/07/configuring-pfsense-as-a-reverse-proxy-for-lync-web-services.aspx
http://pfsensesetup.com/reverse-proxy-services-with-varnish-part-one/
https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=82914.0
http://www.astiostech.com/blog/?p=100
Not complete list - I'm sure there is more.
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Where's the on line docs? They're essentially non-existent for 2.1.5. The fact that everyone keeps referring to the book as "the" source for docs reconfirms this.
It is, after all, called "The Definitive Guide."
You have, today, the documentation you have, not the documentation you want. That is not going to change today. Certain deficiencies have been acknowledged by those in the best position to correct them. I don't know what else you want. Post a thread, ask your question. Don't use 2.1.5 in your searches, use 2.1.
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kejianshi
Thank you for posting some links. I don't understand why there were links to POODLE discussions… ???
As far as answering questions, yes... The answer is: There are no good docs available for 2.1.5 that a new user has access to for testing purposes. I don't watch videos for help with installations, and all of the other "docs" were outdated and/or don't actually take you through the process of package installation (this is the single biggest issue I have with Squid and SquidGuard).
So, I guess it's settled for me... Back to an OpenSUSE build with manual installation and configuration of all of the packages. It will take me longer, but it's 100% rock solid and is something that I've been doing for almost a decade. So, I won't be learning a new system after all.
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Poodle - because poodle is an ssl3 issue and the cure is to use tls?
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I'm sorry things turned out like this for you.
I have a feeling that much of this (and no doubt similar experiences other have) is down to managing expectations. pfSense has a very wide user base. It is used by networking noobs as well as seasoned firewall professionals. It can be used in place of the cheapest SOHO router or an incredibly expensive commercial firewall product. Depending where you are coming from on that spectrum your expectations are going to vary massively. Personally I came from Smoothwall via IPCop and don't remember having much difficulty getting pfSense going or struggling to find the documentation to do so. Of course as I said earlier it's hard to remember not knowing something after you become sufficiently familiar with it. ;)I don't think anyone here would disagree that improving/updating the docs would be a good thing.
Steve
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Enjoy the linux release.
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Maybe instead of selling a book to understand how to use the product, certain features should be licensed. Software license revenue is repeating, item sales are singular. Personally, I'm unlikely to buy a book in order to use a product when there are plenty of competing products that don't require me to buy a book.
Yeah, we could, say, go the Cisco route. With the big bucks you pay for Cisco ASAs, surely they make flawless, perfectly comprehensive documentation available, right? No one would even bother writing or buying a book about a Cisco ASA, right?
Go search Amazon books for Cisco ASA. 122 books matching Cisco ASA. Into double digits recent books where the ASA is the primary topic. Oh…maybe not such a brilliant plan.
Show me one comparable solution that's free and has better documentation freely available. AFAIK, there isn't one. We have a good deal of up-to-date information available, and a whole lot more that's a bit dated but still easy to follow and correct on 2.2 today. You're paying somewhere.
I have 20 years of experience with Linux and Unix systems of all kinds. I'm not terribly interested in "reverse engineering" the processes that are used in pfSense so that I can understand how to locate configuration files, control scripts / daemons, logs, and the like. If I can't quickly find the information on line of things like how to install and configure a package like squidguard, I'll move on to the next product out there.
I don't get what's so difficult - we're extremely widely used because you don't need to "reverse engineer" or "forward engineer" all the intricacies of the underlying components. The system is largely self-documented with descriptive text on every page of the web interface. Anyone with experience with commercial-grade firewalls tends to pick things up quickly. Those who haven't dealt with anything more complex than a Linksys have a learning curve, but that'd be true regardless of what comparable-grade product you threw in front of them.
If you know enough to manually configure these things, you can surely figure out the web interface. Any question you might have has almost certainly been asked and answered before, likely several times - there are over 437,000 posts here today. Google site:forum.pfsense.org or site:pfsense.org to catch all our sites.
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Dude was an iptables troll, dare I say dick. I've been watching for the last couple days and I have seen a few questions answered with links into the doc wiki. No, they weren't current with 2.1.5 but were more than enough information to get the config correct.
Nothing could get me to migrate from pf to iptables. Nothing.
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Derelict - Not necessarily. Some people, even with a fully complete manual in hand or a set of instructions just can't get things working.
Maybe he is like that?
Let him enjoy his SUSE Firewall/UTM (If there is such a thing)
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The doc wiki does need some updating but anyone who claims it lacks categorization or lacks in size is definitely trolling.
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Special:Categories
98(!) different categories that can be used to lookup docs, and 490 different articles in total.
We are working to update much of the old stuff and add in some new things, but the book will always be the preferred reference. Some things lend themselves better to a book style, others lend themselves better to a wiki style. The two will always complement each other.
Some recent big updates:
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/VPN_Capability_OpenVPN - OpenVPN Remote Access How-To updated for 2.1.x
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Writing_Disk_Images - A complete rewrite of the instructions for writing disk images (e.g. memstick and NanoBSD)
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Low_Throughput_Troubleshooting - An entirely new article on troubleshooting slow connections
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Asymmetric_Routing_and_Firewall_Rules - A new article expanding info on dealing with asymmetric routing
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Forcing_Interface_Speed_or_Duplex_Settings - Removing cruft from 1.2.x and bringing the info current
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Filter_Log_Format_for_pfSense_2.2 - A doc detailing the precise format of the raw firewall log on 2.2And that's just a few of ones that I've created or updated in the last month, not counting all the updates by cmb plus a few community contributors.
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Dude was an iptables troll, dare I say dick.
I disagree. If you look at his other posts he made useful contributions to other threads. He expected a high level of documentation and for whatever reason he didn't find what he was looking for.
Steve
