Configuring pfSense Firewall Rules

When to Use

• Deploying a perimeter or internal firewall to segment and protect network zones (DMZ, internal, guest, IoT)
• Creating granular access control rules to restrict traffic between VLANs and network segments
• Configuring NAT rules for port forwarding to internal services exposed to the internet
• Setting up site-to-site or remote access VPN tunnels using IPsec or OpenVPN
• Implementing traffic shaping and bandwidth management for quality-of-service requirements

Do not use as a substitute for host-based firewalls on individual systems, for SSL/TLS deep packet inspection without dedicated hardware acceleration, or as the sole security control without complementary IDS/IPS.

Prerequisites

• pfSense 2.7+ installed on dedicated hardware or virtual machine with at least two network interfaces
• Access to the pfSense WebConfigurator (default: https://192.168.1.1)
• Network topology diagram showing all interfaces, VLANs, and desired traffic flow
• DNS and DHCP configuration planned for each network zone
• Understanding of TCP/IP, NAT, and stateful firewall concepts