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    My Best pfSense Configuration?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • L Offline
      lurkingbf
      last edited by

      Hi, all.

      I've been using pfSense in my home setup for about a year. It's fantastic. I currently subscribe to both Private Internet Access and Unblock-US, as these two services compliment one another nicely in enabling my Internet subscription services.

      I'm currently making configuration changes in the pfSense webGUI on an as-needed basis depending on what I'm doing. This means I am continually (at least once per day usually) logging in to activate/deactivate the OpenVPN connection, and to change up the DNS entries in System==>General Setup. I would like to stop this noob behaviour, and implement something more set-it-and-forget-it. Here is what I would like to accomplish:

      1. I would like all the computers and wireless devices (tablets and phones) in the house to be on the PIA VPN full-time and use the PIA DNS servers;

      2. I would like all the content streaming devices (Apple TV's) to use my ISP IP address (no VPN) and use the Unblock-US DNS servers.

      The streaming devices need to be able to communicate with the computers (iTunes and such) and, obviously, the Internet on WAN.

      I suspect I need to educate myself on the configuration of VLAN's, but I wanted first to seek input from those in the know.

      My hardware is: pfSense box with three physical GB interfaces; Cisco SG300-10 GB managed switch; Netgear 5-port GB switch and wireless access point.

      Thanks for any feedback.

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      • L Offline
        lurkingbf
        last edited by

        I believe I figured this out by trial and error. Here is the solution I've found:

        1. Turn on the OpenVPN client and leave it on (PIA DNS entries are in System==>General Setup);

        2. Assign the Apple TV's with DHCP static IP's, and then enter the Unblock-US DNS servers on the same static mapping page;

        3. Create an alias that contains all of the Apple TVs;

        4. Create a firewall LAN rule at the top of the list: Action=Pass, Source=Apple TVs Alias, Destination=any, Advanced Features–Gateway=WAN-DHCP.

        Tested on several devices, and seems to work perfectly! Not sure if it's the best solution, but so far seems OK.

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