It was 2017 when I backed the firewalla project on kickstarter. Back then, there was only firewalla red and it cost less than SGD$150, for a tiny device with plenty of functions.
Sadly, firewalla red broke down after using it for almost two years and it was laggy too over the course of its life. I’m guessing it might have something to do with my internet speed as firewalla red only supports internet speed of less than 100 Mb. Probably overworked firewalla red too much resulting in its collapse?
That aside, I decided to try out pfsense as a transparent firewall since I had a spare desktop at home collecting dust. So,,, here were the steps taken:
Setup: ISP modem --> pfsense --> router --> small hub --> devices (laptop/computer/phone)
Step 1: Ensure that there are 2 NIC cards ready
a. WAN connected to modem for internet
b. LAN connecting to router --> hub --> devices connected
Step 2: Burn Pfsense image/iso into a bootable Usb and boot from the bootable Usb to proceed with the installation
Step 3: Once it has been booted up, go through the installation in order to access the web console via the IP address indicated. <link to installation step>
Step 4: In the web console, create an any-to-any rule for the WAN segment in order to retain access to the web console as the LAN segment is not up yet.
Step 5:
3) Once done, can start accessing the web console
4) Create one any any rule for WAN in order to retain access to the web console as the LAN is not up yet
a. Easier, less restrictive as never know other ports other than 80 & 443 is required
b. Can always change it in future
5) Disable outbound nat rules to use the nat provided by isp
6) Create bridging interface
a. Between WAN + LAN = OPT1
b. Set up any for OPT1
c. Set up any any for LAN too
7) Enable filtering bridge to work
a. Net.link.bridge.pfil.bridge set the value to 1
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