1.0 Release Caveats/Errata

No software is perfect. We understand this and openly admit where we have problems. This page is to inform the public about what major / minor problems that are known about and these things we will just have to "live with" for 1.0.

Hardware

• FreeBSD 6.1's USB stack can be less than stellar somtimes. FreeBSD 6.2 should be better. We really do not recommend using USB nics but your mileage may vary. If you see a message similar too "kernel: ural0: at uhub4 port 3 (addr 3) disconnected" your NIC/platform is affected.
• Under extreme load, slower platforms (1 GHz and below) userland (webGUI, SSH, etc.) stops working. This rarely occurs on modern hardware.
• We have various reports that some WRAP systems with an underpowered power supply will cause various instability issues which do not surface on some other platforms. If unsure, replace. Random reboots without panics, etc is a good sign of this.
• When building a pfSense firewall from old computer parts, make sure that the power supply is reliable and the memory passes a memory check by memtest86∞.
• FreeBSD can be picky with respect to CD-ROM/DVD drives. If you have issues we advise seeking an alternative drive.

Memory

• pfSense requires at least 128 MB of RAM. Do not even attempt to use it on anything less.
• pfSense requires at least a 128 MB Compact Flash for the embedded platforms. Larger flash sizes can be used but pfSense will not use the space over the 128 MB limit.

Logging

• Syslogd sometimes will go to 100% CPU utilization. Simply click save in the system logging settings tab.

Load Balancer

• Do not use the same Monitor IP address for different WAN connections on the load balancer configuration screen as this will prevent failover from occurring.
• The outbound load balancer currently only provides a combination of round robin balancing _and_ failover. At this point in time WAN failover (without balancing) is not supported.

Console

• Sometimes the shell can get somewhat troublesome. When this happens, exit out of the shell and issue a 0 to logout (tcsetgroup failed messages)

Packages

• When installing packages please take note of the package status as listed in the screen. Not all packages are currently production ready.
• The Snort package requires a LOT of memory, only install this when the sytem has 1 GB ram or over.

Performance

• The performance to be expected without the traffic shaper for various systems on the 1.0 release are as follows. These quoted speeds are worst case speeds. On slower hardware, the webGUI and SSH will not be responsive when under high load.
• WRAP (266mhz) with SIS network cards, roughly 20Mbits.
• Soekris 4801 with SIS network cards, roughly 20Mbits.
• Dual Pentium 3 733Mhz with Intel Dual Port 1000MT, roughly 200Mbits.

Configuration

• When running pfSense from the LiveCD it is strongly encouraged to save the configuration file on a USB memory stick (16MB and up will do fine). We strongly advise against using floppies unless absolutely necessary. The console menu has an option to move the configuration file to another location.
• As with any system, make routine configuration backups. If something goes wrong it may be difficult to access the configuration file on the system.

VPN

• PPTP Support is less than stellar. We suggest IPSEC or OpenVPN instead.