Starting pfsense for New Users

xiaofan

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I am thinking of getting this https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Switch-Gigabit-802-3at-USW-Lite-8-PoE as the Netgear tagging is causing me much angst. If I have this particular switch, will things work "seamlessly"? Or there's configuration to be done still? Thanks

Of course there will be configuration to be done. But you can follow the videos more closely for Firewall and VLAN settings from Page 1 Post #5 as the combination (pfSense + Unifi Switch + Unifi AP) is a popular combination and Tom Lawrence talked about them several times.

After watching the two vidoes on Firewall and VLAN in Post #5, you may want to watch the following two updated videos as well for typical home network VLAN and FIrewall settings.



There are many vidoes from him on this topic as well.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=pfsense+vlan+lawrence+system+unifi+switch
 
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bert64

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I am thinking of getting this https://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Switch-Gigabit-802-3at-USW-Lite-8-PoE as the Netgear tagging is causing me much angst. If I have this particular switch, will things work "seamlessly"? Or there's configuration to be done still? Thanks
It will be managed from the same interface, and it will default to the correct tagging for your downstream devices (access points, other switches etc) on its own.. Your netgear switch has no visibility of how your access points are configured, so you have to match the configuration yourself.
 

firesong

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That's why people pay for the Unifi system - because it's all centrally managed by the controller and a lot of background tasks are automatically done without the user having to know things. ;) Many people don't care for the complexities nor want to learn too much.

Being a popular ecosystem, there are also a lot of resources online for that.

If you want to mix and match, you really need to understand what you are doing. Forum users can help to point each other along, but there still needs to be some level of understanding in order to get things done. As bert pointed out, if you switched out the management vlan to something other than the default VLAN1, it'll have caused problems. I did point out that for home use, there is no necessity to switch out the management vlan at all - it would be perfectly adequate to leave it on 1 along with the basic access VLAN..

For a business/corporate setup, that is an absolute must, so his suggestion to switch to an access port for adoption of the AP before moving it to the tagged port makes sense in a corporate environment.
 
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brtan

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Thanks all for the kind advice.... I am serious about setting up a proper home lab / networking ...
 

yosemi

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I just got 2.5G pfSense router 11th pentium celeron 5105 version fanless. this thing run super hot even without anything running...any advice to bring temp down ?
 

TanKianW

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I just got 2.5G pfSense router 11th pentium celeron 5105 version fanless. this thing run super hot even without anything running...any advice to bring temp down ?

kG4pPmo.jpg
 

linxiaobei

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I just got 2.5G pfSense router 11th pentium celeron 5105 version fanless. this thing run super hot even without anything running...any advice to bring temp down ?
which one did you get? care to share the link?
 

TanKianW

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yosemi

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brtan

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Hi all, I got a Unifi Gen2 Plus Key Cloud and a Unifi switch. I assume the connection looks something like this:

ISP modem -> Protectli Pfsense - > Unifi Gen2 Plus -> Unifi Switch - > Unifi AP

Is this correct ? Thanks
 

firesong

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Hi all, I got a Unifi Gen2 Plus Key Cloud and a Unifi switch. I assume the connection looks something like this:

ISP modem -> Protectli Pfsense - > Unifi Gen2 Plus -> Unifi Switch - > Unifi AP

Is this correct ? Thanks
Treat the Cloud key as a computer - it's a server that runs the management OS. So it plugs into the switch.

From your pfSense firewall, it goes direct into the switch. All other devices, APs, servers, etc, are plugged into the switch.

For home networks and users with tighter budgets, the Cloud Key is not a must - they can fire up the Controller via a Docker container and run it on any existing server hardware they have, like a tiny low powered Raspberry Pi or their NAS.
https://hub.docker.com/r/linuxserver/unifi-controller
For business networks, don't cut costs that way. After all, it's a business expense, so just buy the key. ;)
 

Mach3.2

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I feel it's worth running the controller on a computer or server if you have one running 24/7 anyway. If not you don't really need the controller running 24/7 for a normal home setup, just start the software on your windows computer if you need to configure some settings and shut it off once you're done.
 

brtan

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Hi network gurus,

I am at my wits' end - I got all Unifi devices and pfsense and yet it's not working. Please advise.

I have set up : pfsense ( WAN, LAN, VLAN 10 - 40) -> Unifi Switch on PORT 1
According to Lawrence's video ( ) , I am supposed to see the drop down of all the VLANs and LAN but I am not. I am seeing only the following on the port on switch ( USW-Lite-8-PoE ) :

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xOK7tSwd7qSV3Gr8Hjd6E6Lt1oyOE3xE5H0StQhq4UQ/edit?usp=sharing
( Page 1 and 2 )
 

toyota

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Hi network gurus,

I am at my wits' end - I got all Unifi devices and pfsense and yet it's not working. Please advise.

I have set up : pfsense ( WAN, LAN, VLAN 10 - 40) -> Unifi Switch on PORT 1
According to Lawrence's video ( ) , I am supposed to see the drop down of all the VLANs and LAN but I am not. I am seeing only the following on the port on switch ( USW-Lite-8-PoE ) :

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xOK7tSwd7qSV3Gr8Hjd6E6Lt1oyOE3xE5H0StQhq4UQ/edit?usp=sharing
( Page 1 and 2


think you have to set up the vlan profile in the switch also.

I set up vlan in pfsense and also used the same vlan numbers to set up vlan in the unifi switch.
 

brtan

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Hi,

Can I confirm that if I enter the VLAN information here :







It will appear under the switch profiles?
 

Mach3.2

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Hi,

Can I confirm that if I enter the VLAN information here :







It will appear under the switch profiles?

Yes correct, you need to add all your VLANs here as well.

Edit: There's actually a seperate unifi thread, maybe post the Unifi stuff there. Let's keep this pfsense thread on topic.
 
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