Rubicon Netgate-4200 User manual

Security Gateway Manual
Netgate-4200
© Copyright 2024 Rubicon Communications LLC
Jan 08, 2024

CONTENTS
1 Out of the Box 2
2 How-To Guides 24
3 References 55
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Security Gateway Manual Netgate-4200
This Quick Start Guide covers the first time connection procedures for the Netgate® 4200 Desktop Firewall Appliance
and will provide the information needed to keep the appliance up and running.
Tip: Before getting started, a good practice is to download the PDF version of the Product Manual and the PDF
version of the pfSense Documentation in case Internet access is not available during setup.
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CHAPTER
ONE
OUT OF THE BOX
1.1 Getting Started
The basic firewall configuration begins with connecting the Netgate® appliance to the Internet. The Netgate appliance
should be unplugged at this time.
Connect one end of an Ethernet cable to the WAN port (shown in the Input and Output Ports section) of the Netgate
appliance. The other end of the same cable should be inserted into a LAN port on the ISP CPE device, such as a cable
or fiber modem. If the CPE device provided by the ISP has multiple LAN ports, any LAN port should work in most
circumstances.
Next, connect one end of a second Ethernet cable to the LAN port (shown in the Input and Output Ports section) of
the Netgate appliance. Connect the other end to the computer.
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Security Gateway Manual Netgate-4200
1.1.1 What next?
To connect to the GUI and configure the firewall in a browser, continue on to Initial Configuration.
To connect to the console and make adjustments before connecting to the GUI, see Connecting to the USB Console
Port.
Warning: The default IP Address on the LAN subnet on the Netgate firewall is 192.168.1.1/24. The same
subnet cannot be used on both WAN and LAN, so if the default IP address on the ISP-supplied modem is also
192.168.1.1/24,disconnect the WAN interface until the LAN interface on the firewall has been renumbered
to a different subnet (like 192.168.2.1/24) to avoid an IP Address conflict.
To change an interface IP address, choose option 2 from the Console Menu and walk through the steps to change
it, or from the GUI, go through the Setup Wizard (opens at first boot, also found at System > Setup Wizard) and
change the IP address on Step 5. Complete the Wizard and save the changes.
1.2 Initial Configuration
Plug the power cable into the power port (shown in the Input and Output Ports section) to turn on the Netgate®
Firewall. Allow 4 or 5 minutes to boot up completely.
Warning: If the CPE on WAN (e.g. Fiber or Cable Modem) has a default IP Address of 192.168.1.1,
disconnect the Ethernet cable from the 1port on the Netgate 4200 Security Gateway before proceeding.
Change the default LAN IP Address of the device during a later step in the configuration to avoid having conflicting
subnets on the WAN and LAN.
1.2.1 Connecting to the Web Interface (GUI)
1. From the computer, log into the web interface
Open a web browser (Google Chrome in this example) and enter 192.168.1.1 in the address bar. Press
Enter.
Fig. 1: Enter the default LAN IP address in the browser
2. A warning message may appear. If this message or similar message is encountered, it is safe to proceed. Click
the Advanced Button and then click Proceed to 192.168.1.1 (unsafe) to continue.
3. At the Sign In page, enter the default pfSense®Plus username and password and click Next.
• Default Username: admin
• Default Password: pfsense
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Security Gateway Manual Netgate-4200
Fig. 2: Example certificate warning message
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Security Gateway Manual Netgate-4200
1.2.2 The Setup Wizard
This section steps through each page of the Setup Wizard to perform the initial configuration of the firewall. The
wizard collects information one page at a time but it does not make any changes to the firewall until the wizard is
completed.
Tip: The wizard can be safely stopped at any time for those who wish to perform the configuration manually or
restore an existing backup (Backup and Restore).
To stop the wizard, navigate away from the wizard pages by clicking the logo in the upper left of the page or by
choosing an entry from one of the menus.
Note: Ignore the warning at the top of each wizard page about resetting the admin account password. One of the
steps in the Setup Wizard is to change the default password, but the new password is not applied until the end of the
wizard.
1. Click Next to start the Setup Wizard.
Fig. 3: Setup Wizard starting page
2. Click Next after reading the information on Netgate Global Support.
3. Use the following items as a guide to configure the options on the General Information page:
Hostname Any desired hostname name can be entered to identify the firewall. For the purposes of
this guide, the default hostname pfsense is used.
Domain The domain name under which the firewall operates. The default home.arpa is used for
the purposes of this tutorial.
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Security Gateway Manual Netgate-4200
DNS Servers For purposes of this setup guide, use the Google public DNS servers (8.8.8.8 and
8.8.4.4).
Note: The firewall defaults to acting as a resolver and clients will not utilize these forwarding
DNS servers. However, these servers give the firewall itself a way to ensure it has working DNS
if resolving the default way does not work properly.
Fig. 4: General Information page in the Setup Wizard
Type in the DNS Server information and Click Next.
4. Use the following information for the Time Server Information page:
Time Server Hostname Use the default time server address. The default hostname is suitable for
both IPv4 and IPv6 NTP clients.
Timezone Select a geographically named time zone for the location of the firewall.
For this guide, the Timezone will be set to America/Chicago for US Central time.
Change the Timezone and click Next.
5. Use the following information for the Configure WAN Interface page:
The WAN interface is the external (public) IP address the firewall will use to communicate with the Internet.
DHCP is the default and is the most common type of WAN interface for home fiber and cable modems.
Default settings for the other items on this page should be acceptable for normal home users.
Default settings should be acceptable. Click Next.
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Security Gateway Manual Netgate-4200
Fig. 5: Time Server Information page in the Setup Wizard
Fig. 6: Configure WAN Interface page in the Setup Wizard
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Security Gateway Manual Netgate-4200
6. Configuring LAN IP Address & Subnet Mask. The default LAN IP address of 192.168.1.1 and subnet mask
of 24 is usually sufficient.
Tip: If the CPE on WAN (e.g. Fiber or Cable Modem) has a default IP Address of 192.168.1.1, the
Ethernet cable should be disconnected from the 1port on the Netgate 4200 Security Gateway before starting.
Change the default LAN IP Address of the device during this step in the configuration to avoid having conflicting
subnets on the WAN and LAN.
7. Change the Admin Password. Enter the same new password in both fields.
8. Click Reload to save the configuration.
9. After a few seconds, a message will indicate the Setup Wizard has completed. To proceed to the pfSense®Plus
dashboard, click Finish.
Note: This step of the wizard also contains several useful links to Netgate resources and methods of obtaining
assistance with the product. Be sure to read through the items on this page before finishing the wizard.
1.2.3 Finishing Up
After completing or exiting the wizard, during the first time loading the Dashboard the firewall will display a notifi-
cation modal dialog with the Copyright and Trademark Notices.
Read and click Accept to continue to the dashboard.
If the Ethernet cable was unplugged at the beginning of this configuration, reconnect it to the 1port now.
This completes the basic configuration for the Netgate appliance.
1.3 pfSense Plus Software Overview
This page provides an overview of the pfSense®Plus dashboard and navigation. It also provides information on how to
perform frequent tasks such as backing up the pfSense®Plus software and connecting to the Netgate firewall console.
1.3.1 The Dashboard
pfSense®Plus software is highly configurable, all of which can be done through the dashboard. This orientation will
help to navigate and further configure the firewall.
Section 1 Important system information such as the model, Serial Number, and Netgate Device ID for this Netgate
firewall.
Section 2 Identifies what version of pfSense®Plus software is installed, and if an update is available.
Section 3 Describes Netgate Service and Support.
Section 4 Shows the various menu headings. Each menu heading has drop-down options for a wide range of config-
uration choices.
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