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pfSense CE

Full-featured open-source firewall and router platform, based on FreeBSD — replaces commercial firewall appliances.

Target: Dedicated hardware or VM (ISO/OVA install)NetworkingFirewallOfficial homepage ↗Official docs ↗
This guide is synthesized from pfSense CE's own official documentation, linked above — always cross-check exact package/version names there before running these commands on a production server, since distro and project versions move over time.

  1. 1This is not a package install

    Unlike everything else in this catalog, pfSense replaces the entire OS on the target machine (or VM) — it's installed from an ISO, not added on top of an existing Linux install.

  2. 2Download the official installer image

    Netgate (pfSense's maintainer) publishes the current ISO/IMG for bare metal and a ready OVA for VMware, plus a Hyper-V/generic image.

    Official pfSense downloads ↗

  3. 3Install

    Boot the target machine or VM from the ISO and follow the on-screen installer — for a VM, importing the official OVA skips this step entirely.

  4. 4Initial configuration

    The console menu on first boot lets you assign WAN/LAN interfaces; the rest of the setup happens in the web UI at the LAN interface's IP (https://192.168.1.1 by default).