pfSense No More Without Paid Version?

[RacerX330]

Netgate is f-ing stupid. They aggressively pushed everyone to Plus (Home+Lab) or whatever they called only to completely yank the rug out from under us. They are stupid idiots. IT people are enthusiasts too, and many of them use this stuff at home. Netgate has no f-ing clue who their customer is, but they will be reminded soon. I'm done with them. Their description of the problem and choice of solution completely defies logic and sense. They could have easily implemented a better licensing auth system instead of f-ing over everyone they pushed into Home+Lab. Screw them.

 

[RacerX330]

I prefer tested and guaranteed to work hardware. Netgate appliances I need are under $1000. Switches are much more expensive. Servers are much more expensive than switches. Netgate hardware is actually second cheapest part of the networks after APs. I have nothing to complain about. The home appliance going EoL will be switched to CE if needed and life goes on the same way.

Their hardware is s**t. It's old and too expensive. I can build a router out of a 5 year OptiPlex SFF that will run laps around their hardware, for 1/5 of the cost. Maybe in some cases 1/10th.

 

[RacerX330]

Well, as I said, *Sense is dead for me. One is not trustworthy, one is assholish for questions on things they don't think you need.

I have found several candidates, but they all fail on a single item. No support for Cloudflare DDNS.
I suppose I could run ddclient on a device and that's likely what I'll end up doing.

This is so true. Ask the wrong questions on their forum and they'll s**t on you. The WHOLE POINT of "community support" is to, ya know, support the community. I personally, NEVER got anything useful from their forum, unless it was because they f**ked up a upgrade, which was a constant problem.

 

[RacerX330]

Oh and I almost forgot! If you were a Home+Lab user (that they pushed everyone to) and you don't want to pay? Netgate says f**k you! You can't even downgrade without wiping the entire box and starting over. They are f**king clowns.

 

[RacerX330]

Nothing.
I just have a thing for companies that don't know what they are doing from day to day.
I'm not the one who pushed 'Upgrade for free today".
Plus, given this, how long for CE?

Naaah, not beholden to any particular hardware/software. @dave14305 has a good idea for my simple needs I think.

Another fantastic point! You will be able to clock the life of CE with an egg timer. It's as good as dead. Who would trust a company that does this?

 

[ddaenen1]

Well, you can rant all you want. 23.09 just came out and i am going to update my box because i am a daredevil

Seriously, there is a lot of sentiment going on right now. I don't want to be part of it. I am on plus right now and prepared to roll back to CE if needed. As mentioned earlier, emotion is rarely a good guide.

 

[L&LD]

If I'm not mistaken, you can't roll back to CE.

 

[ddaenen1]

If I'm not mistaken, you can't roll back to CE.

You are correct. Let me rephrase that: will remove plus and reinstall CE. From what i read, there should not be any issue using a 23.05 config on 2.7 CE.

 

[Christos]

If I'm not mistaken, you can't roll back to CE.

But you can easily go from CE to the paid version.

 

[Tech9]

So much drama for $129. Not even enough to take your family out for dinner.

 

[L&LD]

Miss the point much?

 

[RacerX330]

So much drama for $129. Not even enough to take your family out for dinner.

It's not about the money, it's about their tone deafness. They claim to be a company that care about open source, while their actions signal something completely different. Let's be clear, they only offered up the $129 option after Home+Lab users revolted.

 

[Tech9]

Feel free to use alternatives. Some options were mentioned in this thread. No guarantees they'll stay free forever.

 

[Christos]

Two things I just heard:

1. Opnsense will move to BSD 14 as soon as their next big release.
2. Negate put Kea DHCP only to the paid version, leaving CE version with the ISC dhcp that is EOL.

 

[Tech9]

And what exactly difference will both make in your home network experience or life in general?

 

[dave14305]

Two things I just heard:

1. Opnsense will move to BSD 14 as soon as their next big release.
2. Negate put Kea DHCP only to the paid version, leaving CE version with the ISC dhcp that is EOL.

Kea is coming as opt-in.

Netgate Releases RC of pfSense CE Software Version 2.7.1

Discover the latest release of pfSense CE software version 2.7.1 from Netgate. Get insights into the major changes and features, including the upgraded OpenSSL and Kea DHCP, and learn how you can contribute to testing and improving this release. Upgrade now and enhance your secure networking...

www.netgate.com

I’ll be trying CE soon since OPNsense/FreeBSD 13.x doesn’t support my intel i225v NICs at 2.5 Gbps.

But I’m configuring Kea and BIND9 on my Debian router tonight.

 

[dave14305]

What are you going to do next @GHammer?

 

[GHammer]

What are you going to do next @GHammer?

Last of the great procrastinators...
I'm dinking with a debian router.
Have to wrap my head around dual stack firewalling and getting traffic through for three servers.

 

[ddaenen1]

So much drama for $129. Not even enough to take your family out for dinner.

I am truly not bothered about the 129 USD, if it stays with that. But then again, in business terms, 129 USD means nothing but for other this may be alot of money.

As mentioned before, i am very happy with pfSense and have no plans on moving unless i am forced.

2. Negate put Kea DHCP only to the paid version, leaving CE version with the ISC dhcp that is EOL.

Netgate is clear that Kea is not fully functional yet on 23.09 but it will be in the future. Until then, ISC DHCP will be just fine.

 

[Tech9]

If $129 is a lot of money for someone they definitely don't need pfSense. Home AIO router for one time $100 is good enough.

I understand the anger when something free is taken away, but there will be less free things going further. The life is changing.