pfSense 2.3 RELEASE!

[mudmanc4]

We are happy to announce the release of pfSense® software version 2.3!

The most significant changes in this release are a rewrite of the webGUI utilizing Bootstrap, and the underlying system, including the base system and kernel, being converted entirely to FreeBSD pkg. The pkg conversion enables us to update pieces of the system individually going forward, rather than the monolithic updates of the past.  The webGUI rewrite brings a new responsive look and feel to pfSense requiring a minimum of resizing or scrolling on  a wide range of devices from desktop to mobile phones.

For the highlights, check out the Features and Highlights video. Past blog posts have covered some of the changes, such as the performance improvements from tryforward, and the webGUI update.

The full list of changes is on the 2.3 New Features and Changes page.

To get to a release, we’ve closed 760 total tickets.  While the majority of these were related to the Bootstrap conversion, 137 are fixed bugs impacting 2.2.6 and earlier releases.

Source

He doesn't really wake up and realise he's doing a video until around the 2:15 mark; fyi

 

 

 

 

 

People, check it out, start a VM locally and have at it. Run the live version, just have a look at what this thing can do for you and your control over what comes in and what does not. Good stuff!

 

[djpenn3]

33 minutes ago, mudmanc4 said:

We are happy to announce the release of pfSense® software version 2.3!

The most significant changes in this release are a rewrite of the webGUI utilizing Bootstrap, and the underlying system, including the base system and kernel, being converted entirely to FreeBSD pkg. The pkg conversion enables us to update pieces of the system individually going forward, rather than the monolithic updates of the past.  The webGUI rewrite brings a new responsive look and feel to pfSense requiring a minimum of resizing or scrolling on  a wide range of devices from desktop to mobile phones.

For the highlights, check out the Features and Highlights video. Past blog posts have covered some of the changes, such as the performance improvements from tryforward, and the webGUI update.

The full list of changes is on the 2.3 New Features and Changes page.

To get to a release, we’ve closed 760 total tickets.  While the majority of these were related to the Bootstrap conversion, 137 are fixed bugs impacting 2.2.6 and earlier releases.

Source

 

People, check it out, start a VM locally and have at it. Run the live version, just have a look at what this thing can do for you and your control over what comes in and what does not. Good stuff!

 

Been running pfSense since 1.something; ran m0n0wall before that. Just upgraded from (I think) 2.2.6. So far, so good. Web GUI is vastly improved, and scales well to my phone. Very nice work by Chris Buechler and crew. I encourage folks to try pfSense. It's a real-deal firewall/router that does everything you'll likely need it to do and a whole lot more. Excellent community support.

[mudmanc4]

8 minutes ago, djpenn3 said:

Been running pfSense since 1.something; ran m0n0wall before that. Just upgraded from (I think) 2.2.6. So far, so good. Web GUI is vastly improved, and scales well to my phone. Very nice work by Chris Buechler and crew. I encourage folks to try pfSense. It's a real-deal firewall/router that does everything you'll likely need it to do and a whole lot more. Excellent community support.

pfSense is to the point of replacing Cisco equipment in rather large production sites. As you should well know.

 

Before I started with it, I relied on whatever tomato or DD-wrt had going for it, not downplaying them, just required a bit more.

 

Now I use it in three production environments myself, I'm a bit concerned though to be honest, it does it's job so well, I've come to rely on it. Top notch stuff!

 

Been running the nightly since 2.3 was at night lol

[djpenn3]

26 minutes ago, mudmanc4 said:

pfSense is to the point of replacing Cisco equipment in rather large production sites. As you should well know.

 

Before I started with it, I relied on whatever tomato or DD-wrt had going for it, not downplaying them, just required a bit more.

 

Now I use it in three production environments myself, I'm a bit concerned though to be honest, it does it's job so well, I've come to rely on it. Top notch stuff!

 

Been running the nightly since 2.3 was at night lol

I used the Linux router, way back in '99 or so. Compiled onto a floppy and booted from that in read-only mode. It was a bit fussy about NICs and had no admin UI, but it worked. m0n0wall was good, but pfSense is truly gold-standard open source software, right up there with the best Linux distros, MySQL, the various Apache server products. I used to have a side business setting up and administering firewalls, routers, IPSec VPNs, captive portals, etc. for small businesses. Needless to say, pfSense was my go-to platform for most of that. I re-branded the web UI with my own logo and colors, so clients thought I was a real wizard.

[mudmanc4]

Yea, sounds as if you are a real wizard, that's bad a$$! I know this because you were admining with telnet, yes?

Hate to be so nitpicky, and I'm certain you already know this, but freeBSD is not linux, it is a full operating system not just a kernel. (just doing my part to correct the lingo lol)

 

I tried m0n0wall before pfSense, just didn't dig it for one reason or another. Same developers though right?

[djpenn3]

I never claimed BSD was Linux - only that I used the Linux router. Totally separate project that pre-dated m0n0wall and pfSense, and is now defunct.

m0n0wall was started by the same people as pfSense, yes, and it's now officially closed. Chris Buechler is the main guy at pfSense, and a couple of other folks help with answering questions on the forum and writing and updating documentation. It was begun in order to provide a platform that was more feature-rich and would scale to server-class hardware.

 

I used, and still use, ssh for console access whenever possible. Telnet's not at all secure, and ssh has way more features. My office has a static IP, and I created rules in pfSense to let traffic through from that IP on ports 22 and 443...and others, if some special need warranted. I very seldom had anything come up that I couldn't manage through the pfSense web UI.

[nanobot]

I need to get a pfSense router setup here, so that I can replace this damn piece of garbage router that my dad bought.

 

This thing is literally the worst router ever. If it loses (or thinks it lost) internet connection, it will redirect all HTTP requests to the router configuration page.

 

Please tell me pfSense doesn't do that.

 

Thanks,

EBrown

[mudmanc4]

5 hours ago, nanobot said:

I need to get a pfSense router setup here, so that I can replace this damn piece of garbage router that my dad bought.

 

This thing is literally the worst router ever. If it loses (or thinks it lost) internet connection, it will redirect all HTTP requests to the router configuration page.

 

Please tell me pfSense doesn't do that.

 

Thanks,

EBrown

I've got boxes running several places, a few in production and quite a few in residential applications. Rarely, as in hardly ever any more does one of them complain. The more you do with them they more you'll want to do.

One of them had an uptime of around 10 months until recently when I ran the 2.3 RC version on it. The local box is still running the nightly, I should get that up to date.

[djpenn3]

7 hours ago, nanobot said:

I need to get a pfSense router setup here, so that I can replace this damn piece of garbage router that my dad bought.

 

This thing is literally the worst router ever. If it loses (or thinks it lost) internet connection, it will redirect all HTTP requests to the router configuration page.

 

Please tell me pfSense doesn't do that.

 

Thanks,

EBrown

A picture is worth a thousand words, as the saying goes. Do a Google image search on "pfsense uptime." I think you'll have your answer. Other than reboots after updates, mine is never, ever down. If I didn't update it and there weren't any power outages, it'd be up for years.

[Kelby]

This is awesome!!!! time to go upgrade my two routers!. I currently have two set up in hyper-v VM's with one of them configured as a backup. Looking foward to playing around with the new GUI!