Introduction
My first firewall and start to my homelab. In here I have configured my LAN and WAN rules, have an active ad blocker (PFBlocker) , an IDS/IPS (Suricata) , and made VLAN for my U6+ WIFI.
Story
I started by purchasing a Protectli Vault appliance to install PFSense. To set it up, I created a bootable flash drive using Rufus and installed PFSense onto the device. This gave me a solid foundation for my firewall and network management.
On my first boot up I went through a wizard for general configurations such as DNS, DHCP, LAN IP address. After a few more customization this is how my Dashboard looked like.
One common issue everyone faces is ADs. Fortunately, PFSense offers a package manager that includes an ad-blocking solution. With PFBlocker, I was able to block ads, online threats, and spammers using curated DNS lists and IP address filtering. This powerful add-on enhances network security and improves the browsing experience by reducing unwanted traffic.
In any network, protecting against cyber threats is just as important as blocking unwanted traffic. That’s where an Intrusion Detection and Prevention System (IDS/IPS) comes in. With Suricata running I can actively detect suspicious activity, and block potential threats.
Network segmentation is key to security and efficiency, especially in a homelab environment. To achieve this, I set up a VLAN for my Ubiquiti AP, allowing me to separate wireless traffic from the rest of my network. By configuring VLANs in PFSense and my UniFi controller, I was able to create a dedicated network.
