Netgate 2100 MAX pfSense+ Security Gateway | Firewall, VPN, Router | Lifetime TAC Lite Support | 4X 1 GbE Ports | 1x 1 GbE Combo RJ45 or SFP | Protect Your Network!

This is a real firewall. It is not simply an ON/OFF application that filters URL's or ports. I chose the 2100 over the 1100 because I wanted a real switch between my LAN's and not just VLAN's, and online reports stated the 2100 with more RAM had significantly better performance.Installation was smooth, but it is still not ready for a typical homeowner. Please watch a dozen videos and familiarize yourself with this firewall before attempting the install. That said, I simply cloned my existing TP-Link's MAC address and plugged into my ISP's MODEM and was up and running.I then installed the pfBlockerNG package, enabled DNSBL, and setup a few AD blocking feeds. I pointed the DNS Resolver to Cloudflare's public DNS over TLS sites and rebooted. While the Netgate rebooted I changed the DHCP on my TP-Link to point to the new firewall.I would say it took less than an hour from unboxing to up and running. Now my whole house is behind a real firewall. The smart TV's, the cameras, the garage door opener, the Phillips lightbulbs, the tablets, the laptops, the smartphones, the Alexis Tab, are all firewalled.Having a dedicated firewall also offloaded a ton of work from the TP-Link Wireless router. I noticed faster throughput across the wireless network and I suspect it is because the AP is no longer working as a firewall.This is a great product.

AWESOME router. It is very powerful. If you don't know pfSense, it's a steep learning curve but, once you 'get it' you can do anything with this router.This is not a SOHO router, you can't just plug it in and go. You HAVE to configure it. But, it does EVERYTHING that an enterprise router does.If you're clueless, download the CE version of pfSense, load it onto a junk PC and learn. If you're familiar with networking, this is a GREAT router.

This router is for people looking to maintain privacy and have good security at the perimeter. Without writing a book, it has everything I'm looking for in a small business router. It runs the pfSense firewall extremely well and has been rock solid. Since pfSense is open source, purchasing a Netgate is also supporting the pfSense open source project. I don't want to fiddle with having to install pfSense on anything. pfSense is alreay installed on Netgate and all you have to do is configure pfSense as you would with any firewall worth deploying and trusting. Bottom line, I'm happy with my purchase.

Item was never able to connect to internet despite lab setting and direct connection to modem. Would always freeze when connection to WAN. Slow.Requires frequent factory reset as GUI and USB console both freeze constantly.

I have been running this appliance for about 3 months now and do not have any of the additional packages installed. It has been used as a residential network firewall with an IPSEC tunnel built back to my company firewall for me to be able to work from home as the Network Administrator.I noticed that my DDNS service started throwing PHP errors so I started digging into what all was actually going on. It turns out that the storage on this device is almost completely filled to the point where I can't even install 11K in patches. I have consoled in and removed some of the files, done a factory reset, and done everything reasonable to get this thing working, but the sad truth is that installing FreeBSD on an 8Gb drive may sound like a good idea, but in reality it sux! the 32G upgrade should come as standard equipment because if yo want to install any packages, updates, patches, etc. you are going to run out of hard drive space. You really are better off building your own appliance and installing PFSense yourself..***UPDATE***I wanted to update this review by stating that after learning that all packages have to be uninstalled before applying upgrades to the system, I have had this product running for almost 2 years with no.more issues what so ever. I am not running any of the additional packages, but do still have it set up for IPSEC connectivity to work. Fortunately, the Palo appliances I am connected to are more than capable of providing the capabilities and protections I intended with this appliance.

I had previously run pfSense on a generic small form factor “router” PC. But after 4 years it kicked the bucket. Looked to do the same again, but this Netgate appliance was priced equally to better. Really great value for the money.I am so glad I got it. Setup time was like 5 mins for my picky network layout, DNS, etc. Super easy to install.The build quality is amazing. No flimsy power cord, seemingly adequate ventilation, and almost no heat coming off it.Hardware performance is great, and it’s more future proof than my previous setup.And I already loved pfSense. Robust and I’m much more comfortable with a small BSD footprint exposed to the internet than typical Linux-based solutions or others with worse track records. Already knew great update cadence.

Fast and works well.

The website and spec sheet of this device says it can handle up to 1gbit connections, but it can't. I tested it on a 500/500 connection and it maxed the CPU usage and caused severe latency on other devices of the network. If you have a good connection, and a large network, I would suggest staying away from this box and either get the next tier up, or just invest in a system to run pfsense on bare metal