SG-1100 Security Gateway Appliance with pfSense Plus Software

Works great as a home firewall but there is a steep learning curve to understand how to configure this. Lots of free info online but expect to spend some considerable time learning this firewall or you might end up with an unsecure configuration leaving yourself vulnerable.

It is a good product for the starter and does do what it is intended but keep in mind this does not supply WIFI you would need to pick up another device. If your using on a simple lab or home network will work fine but anything more it may bog down due to the CPU if doing to much traffic through it. Otherwise GREAT for what paid well worth it

Over a decade ago, I set up pfSense on a Soekris Net5501 by using an image on an SD card and connecting by a serial cable to configure everything. The hardware is getting old and I wanted a reliable replacement firewall. Buying this from Netgate was a serious mistake. I had configured my old firewall 100% on my own and it ran well for over a decade. When I made updates, there was no problem. When I got tied up with deaths in the family, moving, building a new house, and so on, for a number of years, that old pfSense firewall just kept chugging along, working perfectly. I felt, after that long, it was time to update, but I didn't want to mess with putting an image on an SD card and dealing with a serial cable. I don't have the time I did in the past, so I ordered a simple box, running the same software, that was backwards compatible. Supposedly I could load the configuration from my old firewall directly into the new one and that would be it. Well, no. I had issues with DNS from the start, but it didn't look like firewall issues. It looked more like flakey ISP issues. I had to go to the forums and, after FOUR days exchanging messages and spending hours each day, I finally got the new configuration tweaked so we didn't keep losing connectivity repeatedly. During this time, I wrote a letter to Netgate - to Sales, since they promise "zero to ping" tech support, but they don't have that contact email anywhere on the website. Hell, unless you pay for tech support, you have only the forum. A month later? Not one single reply on that email. (I was hoping Sales would at least say, "We gotta make sure this guy doesn't complain to others and badmouth us," and send me to tech support, but they ignored it.) So now, while the whole country is on lockdown, I'm finding it takes 1/3 of a second for a ping to this device on a network that was working perfectly until I replaced the old pfSense firewall with the Netgate one running a new version of pfSense. I don't know what's wrong with this system, but it keeps malfunctioning and creating issues that slow down connections when an old version of the same software, on old hardware, worked perfectly. And help? No. They don't give it. Not even zero to ping. They don't care. Time to go back to the old hardware. It worked. I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and go through the old fashioned upgrade process because I sure as hell can't count on Netgate's equipment to work properly.

Works well with my home network setup! It has 2 USB ports, but unfortunately doesn't support USB share. Blocks lots of ad traffic (from iPhone etc.).

Let me say this upfront: If you're clueless about networking, DO NOT BUY THIS! This is not a beginner's router. It is a very powerful router and the configuration can be very complex. If you have half a clue about networking, read on- I've been running pfSense for years on old PCs and love it. But the old PCs get flaky when power gets removed (they don't always come back up). This little bugger does EVERYTHING the PC version does and it recovers from power losses correctly! If you have never used pfSense, it's a steep learning curve but it is POWERFUL! It does things that only high-end professional routers can do. I'm running multiple site-to-site VPNs, Road-warrior VPNs, port forwarding to dedicated servers, DMZs, and pretty complex firewalls to keep everyone out of where they're not supposed to be. You can't do this with a consumer grade SOHO router.

I recently got a business level fiber connection for my home so I could move my web hosting here and save the insane fees I was paying for hosting me out in a datacenter. I needed a rock solid firewall /router solution to allow me precise control over ingress ports and to set up a separate VLAN to keep home and business traffic completely isolated. This little NetGate fits the bill perfectly - My connection is only 100 Mib/sec so I did not need the higher end units - this one should serve well up to 500 Gib/sec I think... if you have faster connections get the next model up for throughput/processing etc..

I bought this about 2 or more years ago. It works magnificently. You have to be careful where you place it or it doesn’t work. One of the best things I have bought for my computer.

After 18 months of ownership, I can confidently say that Pfsense is a powerful tool by which to mess up on a grand scale. I'm not what you would call tech illiterate. I have a degree in application programming and can deftly use OOP and procedural languages, have built my own gaming PC, and repair and hardware mod retro consoles as a hobby. My original university major was computer networking and I gave it up for the much easier prospect of applications development, which may be hard to believe for some. Computer networking and its equipment is legitimately the only thing in my life that gives me anxiety just *thinking* about having to reconfigure it. One errant checkbox will take down your entire home network, prevent any access to the web UI, and require using the serial access port on the device to roll back a change. This isn't hyperbole -- I had this happen this afternoon. It's actually become such a predictable series of events that I leave the USB cable permanently attached to the Pfsense appliance, and tacked up an extension cable from my PC right next to it so that I can pop them together at a moment's notice just to do this in PuTTY. This would actually be my first recommendation if you're not a networking genius and buy this appliance: download PuTTY and commit these steps to memory from the Netgate docs: https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/solutions/sg-1100/connect-to-console.html (which also reminds me that this firewall will only present console options on device startup and will output nothing when successfully connected to while already running, so memorize the console options while you're at it too.) My next recommendation is to buy a small USB fan, connect it to one of the USB ports on the firewall, and point that thing right at the appliance. The advertising claims passive cooling has you covered, but it doesn't. My network is tiny with only 20 devices total (4 or 5 online at the same time, max) and it took less than two hours for me to notice the melting plastic smell. The plastic casing was legitimately hot to the touch, as in physically recoiling to avoid burning myself. I would also recommend that you familiarize yourself with Youtube channels like Lawrence Systems. You'll be getting the bulk of your information on how to do anything from them. Netgate says TAC Lite support is included with purchase, but all that does is get your Pfsense appliance online and connect one device to the internet. If you're going to be adding wifi or, god forbid, anything classy like VLANs, then they aren't going to be of much help unless you shelled out 400 extra clams. The "official" sources of free home user help like Netgate forums or the Pfsense subreddit has the distinct air of disdain for anyone that isn't writing their own routing microcode, and the largest portion of problems seem to go unsolved. When one tries what is suggested in a thread, the problem still exists and then the thread just ends where, presumably, the OP gave up and went back to their off the shelf Nighthawk. Finally, I would make my most important recommendation of all: don't buy this if you aren't a) capable of setting up enterprise networks with one hand while solving sudoku with the other, or b) willing to dump an entire day off (or weekend) into figuring out how to make a single change or addition. This firewall is not a turn-key solution and you will find yourself chewing fingernails down to bleeding while on your 20th Google results page attempting to find any guidance on how to fix your problem. After unloading all of that, I have to be fair and say that it does what it does well when left alone. Your average consumer wifi router is designed to be idiot proof by offering little to no security, which is evidenced by its plug and play nature. Pfsense trusts nothing by default and you must then go out of your way to allow traffic you want flowing through your network. After initial install complications and finally getting a working network, it gave me zero problems until the next time I decided to change something. It has gracefully recovered from multiple power outages with little more than a system log entry, and has been belting out routed packets for a year and a half. The sheer volume of packets it drops on a minute by minute basis boggles the mind, and this was all crap that was assaulting my home network for years beforehand. There have even been a few instances of pure simplicity. One instance of something that floored me was installing Tailscale. This was apparently a joint effort between Tailscale and Netgate to make a literal set it and forget it feature. It was literally one package download and install from the web UI and it was done. Complete connectivity to Jellyfin when outside the home, that I can be confident is secure. It was magnificent. Overall, I don't feel like 3 stars is harsh. It's competent but unforgiving. While I estimate it's been problem free for 90% of its time in my home, that last 10% was spent in a state of headache-inducing aggravation while attempting to solve a problem and having nowhere to turn.

Llego en tiempo, antes de lo esperado y se agradece. El precio es perfecto, no hay duda alguna. Me gustaría que ofrecieran más modelos pero este funciona bien para home lab.

Está bien. Un poco caro, por eso solo le doy 4 estrellas.

Excellent product. Money well spend.

Good firewall. Thanks.

Powerful small reliable internet security device Yes it doesn't handle more than 500 mbit, but most won't need faster than that Pros: VPN setup is easy, secure private DNS for all your connected devices, total control over your home network Cons: Limited Memory (1GB) My experience: 1st unit, kept randomly rebooting, had to send it to the manufacturer (RMA). They tested and found defective hardware. They did sent back a 'new' unit pretty quickly, however I did need to do a reimage of the new device once I got it as it was acting up right out of the box throwing all kinds of software errors. After flashing the new firmware (2.4.5) the netgate firewall is running like a dream and hasn't crashed yet, and I'm actually a happy customer and would recommend to those thinking of buying one, get the next model up if you can afford to.