your home router SUCKS!! (use pfSense instead)

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About this video

He argues a typical home router is slow, insecure and boring, and demonstrates replacing its routing and firewall role with free, open-source pfSense. He covers hardware options he shows, including Protectli and Netgate appliances and running pfSense as a VM, plus using a managed VLAN-capable switch and repurposing the old router as a wireless access point or putting it in bridge mode. He installs pfSense from a USB image written with Rufus, runs the setup wizard, changes the default LAN address and admin password, and reviews DHCP and leases. He then demonstrates a port forward to a test web server, Cloudflare Dynamic DNS, and routing selected hosts through Private Internet Access: importing the provider certificate, configuring OpenVPN, creating an interface, hybrid outbound NAT, an alias for chosen hosts, policy-routing firewall rules with a block rule if the VPN is down, a gateway monitor IP, and the Service Watchdog package. He also points to packages such as Nmap, pfBlockerNG, Snort and Suricata, deferring the NordVPN walkthrough to an extended version.

Key takeaways

pfSense is free open-source router and firewall software that runs on an appliance or a VM
Put an ISP router in bridge mode if possible, and reuse it only as an access point
Change the default LAN subnet and admin password during the setup wizard
Port forwarding and Dynamic DNS are configured under Firewall NAT and Services respectively
Policy routing with an alias can send only selected hosts out through a VPN, with a block rule as a kill switch

Episode details: published September 10, 2021 · 45:31 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are NetworkChuck’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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