pfSense: The Definitive Guide [Paperback]

Christopher M. Buechler (Author), Jim Pingle (Author), Michael W. Lucas (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2009

Written by pfSense co-founder Chris Buechler and pfSense consultant Jim Pingle, this Definitive Guide to pfSense covers installation and basic configuration through advanced networking and firewalling with the popular open source firewall and router distribution. This book is designed to be a friendly step-by-step guide to common networking and security tasks, plus a thorough reference of pfSense's capabilities. The book covers hardware and system planning, installation and upgrades, backups, firewalling fundamentals, port forwarding and Network Address Translation, bridging, Virtual LANs (VLAN), Multi-WAN, Virtual Private Networks (VPN) using IPsec, PPTP, and OpenVPN, traffic shaping, load balancing, wireless networking and captive portal setups, redundant firewalls and High Availability, system monitoring, logging, traffic analysis, sniffing, packet capturing, troubleshooting, and software package and third-party software installations and upgrades.

Product Details

• Paperback: 516 pages
• Publisher: Reed Media Services; 1st edition (November 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979034280
• ISBN-13: 978-0979034282
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #63,597 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #80 in Books > Computers & Technology > Networking > Network Security

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So that's what it's all about..., November 9, 2009

By 

Michael J. Wise - See all my reviews
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This review is from: pfSense: The Definitive Guide (Paperback)

I've been using pfSense for two years in a business environment and have been eagerly awaiting the release of this book. As with many open-source projects, my knowledge of pfSense has come primarily from first-hand experience and gleaning from other users experiences in forums. While this has certain advantages, it can't compare to a formal, organized breakdown of the product by people in the know and this guide delivers. I have had time to peruse the content and read in depth into several issues for which I could not find answers elsewhere. The discussion of various aspects of the platform goes beyond the simple setup model of other IT guides and actually discusses underlying dynamics, issues and their sources, and best practices beyond the vanilla setup. The writing is reasonable, even, and understandable. If you are using pfSense, this is an indispensable resource. I wish that I had access to this years ago as it would have saved numerous hours of development time.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have reference for pfSense!, November 9, 2009

By 

S. Christian (Carrollton, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: pfSense: The Definitive Guide (Paperback)

The timing of the release of this book comes at an excellent time. I have only been experimenting with pfSense for my home firewall for a few days now. I wanted something more powerful then the consumer solutions were able to offer and with pfSense and some old spare hardware, I have found my answer. I can now get many of the same features I expect from the enterprise grade firewall and router hardware I use at work, now at home for a tiny fraction of the price. I have spent the last 7 hours since receiving the book reading and going through the configuration steps on my firewall. Without this book to help guide me through the process, it would have taken much longer to get where I am now. I now have a decent understanding on how pfSense works and how to configure most of what I need. In a few more days, I should have finished reading the book and gone through the rest of the setup and configuration process and be up to speed with pfSense. I plan to roll pfSense out as a solution to several specialized needs at work and also for several tech savvy friends and co-workers that want something more then Linksys or Dlink can provide.

The book walks you through the process and explains what everything means and how it relates to the overall system. If you are currently using or thinking about using pfSense as a router/firewall solution, you need to check this book out. This book is going to save many hours of frustration and searching for the answers online. Two thumbs up! This is the must have reference for pfSense users!

-- Ubergeek / Systems Administrator

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Goldmine of Information, November 16, 2009

By 

O. Hansen (WA, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: pfSense: The Definitive Guide (Paperback)

As one of the other reviewers stated, this book goes to the trouble of explaining why certain things work the way they do and what your options are when something isn't quite how you expected it. I have only read the setup chapter and browsed through some of the other chapters to see what is there. I have been using pfSense for over a year at work and am a huge fan of the system as it has remained a rock-solid application. I am very excited to use the book to help me improve the network as we implement VLANs and more.

For experienced administrators, I would recommend trying out pfSense and then buying this book when you see how many options are available to you. For new users, this is a great starting point and will walk you through the initial setup phase and choosing hardware so I recommend picking this up before you start. There is plenty of information for all in this book and it's a great way to help support the further development of the project!

*Update* 2/10/2011
I have read through the entire book now and it is all very helpful. I even started reading portions that I have no use for at the moment but knowing they are there helps me plan for the future. I am eagerly awaiting the release of pfSense 2.0 and even if some things have changed by then this book will still prove useful because it teaches you the fundamentals and is not afraid to go into the "why".

*Update* 1/11/2012
I now have been using 2.0 for a few months and although things have changed the book is still very helpful. Things may be in slightly different places but the concepts remain the same.