Nervous, Excited, and Proud — My pfSense Configuration Journey
My pf Sense Configuration Journey .🖉
When my lecturer told us we would be setting up a firewall using pfSense, I honestly had no idea what I was getting into. This is the story of how I went from zero experience to successfully logging into a pfSense dashboard and everything that went wrong (and right) along the way.
Starting Fresh: VMware for the First Time
The first thing I had to do was set up a virtual machine environment. I had heard about VMware before, but I had never actually used it. My go-to had always been VirtualBox so even before I touched pfSense, I was already stepping into unfamiliar territory.
Installing VMware was a new experience on its own. The interface looked different from what I was used to, and I had to take some time to get comfortable with how it worked. It was a small hurdle, but it reminded me that in this module, almost everything would be new.
Installing pfSense: More Steps Than I Expected
Once VMware was ready, it was time to install pfSense. I expected it to be straightforward and I was wrong.
The installation process had quite a number of steps. After booting from the ISO, I had to:
- Accept the license agreement and start the installer
- Choose the partition scheme - I selected GPT (GUID Partition Table), which I had to read about briefly before proceeding
- Set the hostname and basic configuration during the setup screens
- Complete the installation and allow the system to reboot
Each step felt important, and I made sure not to rush through them. One wrong move and I would have had to start over.
Booting Up and Configuring the Network Interfaces
After the installation, pfSense booted into a text-based console menu. This is where things got really interesting.
The first task was assigning my WAN and LAN interfaces. I selected Option 1 from the menu to assign the interfaces and matching them to the correct network adapters I had configured in VMware.
Next, I selected Option 2 to set the IP addresses. I configured the LAN IP address carefully, as this would be the address I use to access the pfSense web interface from my browser. I also made note of the subnet mask and left the WAN settings as they were for the time being.
It sounds simple when I write it out like this, but in the moment, I was second guessing every input. Terms like WAN, LAN, subnet, and gateway which I had only read about were now things I had to actively apply.
The Feelings Behind It All
I want to be honest about how I felt throughout this whole process because it was not just a technical experience, it was an emotional one too.
When my lecturer first introduced this task, I felt a mix of excitement and nervousness at the same time. Excited because this is exactly the kind of thing I imagined doing when I chose to study networking. Configuring firewalls, setting up virtual machines, managing network interfaces this felt real. This felt like what networking professionals actually do.
But I was also nervous. What if I made a mistake and broke the configuration? What if I could not figure out which interface was WAN and which was LAN? Every step had me double-checking and triple-checking before pressing Enter.
And when that pfSense login page finally loaded in my browser? I felt genuinely proud. Not just relieved proud. I am a networking student, and I had just set up and accessed my own virtual firewall. That meant something to me.
I think that is the beauty of hands-on tasks like this. The challenge is what makes the achievement feel real. If it had been easy, I would not have felt that same satisfaction. The struggle is part of the learning, and I am glad I pushed through it.
The Moment It All Came Together
After the IP configuration was done, I opened a browser and typed the LAN IP address I had just set and there it was:
the pfSense login page.
It was such a small thing, but seeing that login screen felt like a big win. I logged in using the default credentials and was greeted by the pfSense dashboard. The interface was clean, professional, and honestly a little overwhelming at first glance there were so many menus and options.
But I had done it. I had set up a virtual environment, installed pfSense from scratch, configured the network interfaces, and successfully accessed the web GUI.
Challenges Along the Way
No learning journey is complete without a few unexpected problems, and mine had two memorable ones.
- The disappearing mouse
When I first clicked inside the VMware window to interact with pfSense, my mouse cursor suddenly disappeared. I panicked for a moment, not knowing what happened. It turns out VMware "captures" your mouse inside the VM, meaning your cursor is locked inside the virtual machine. I did not know this at the time and it genuinely confused me. The fix was simple pressing Ctrl + Alt releases the mouse back to your normal desktop but it was a stressful few minutes before I figured that out!
- The empty respoonse error
After successfully logging into pfSense the first time, I ran into another problem later. My WiFi connection was dropping in and out, so I opened Win + R → ncpa.cpl (Network Connections) and disabled some network adapters to troubleshoot it. What I did not realise at the time was that I had accidentally disabled the VMware Network Adapters (VMnet1 and VMnet8) the very adapters pfSense uses to communicate. When I tried to access 192.168.100.1 again, all I got was a blank error page saying "This page isn't working ERR_EMPTY_RESPONSE."
After some thinking, I traced the problem back to ncpa.cpl, went back in, right-clicked the VMware adapters, and re-enabled them. The pfSense login page loaded again straight away. It was a frustrating moment, but it actually taught me something important network adapters and their connections matter, and disabling the wrong one can affect everything that depends on it.
Reflection
This task pushed me out of my comfort zone in multiple ways a new virtualisation tool, a new operating system, and a completely new type of software in pfSense. It was difficult, especially the interface assignment and IP configuration steps, but working through each step carefully made it manageable.
My lecturer mentioned that our next task will be configuring the firewall rules within pfSense. That is going to be the focus of my next blog post, so stay tuned I have a feeling it will be even more challenging (and hopefully just as rewarding).
Thanks for reading! If you are also going through a similar module or learning networking for the first time, I hope this gave you some comfort that it is okay to find it difficult. We are all learning.
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