What do you think of the NEW pfSense 2.3 update?

[Bittenfleax]

Very exciting for us pfSense users! The new 2.3 update is out with some very nice (aesthetically and performance) updates. Main being the webGUI utilizing Bootstrap and some performance updates. 

 

Bare in mind a lot of packages have been removed, for example I used Sarg along with Squid. Even though there was no need to use Sarg in my home environment, it was still cool. But it has been removed a long with a lot of other things. (Don't worry, Squid/Lightsquid are still available). See below for all available packages at the moment. I got these directly from mine so they will probably different in the future as of now (14/04/2016).

 

Spoiler

Packages

Name	Version	Description
arping	1.2.2_1	Broadcasts a who-has ARP packet on the network and prints answers. Package Dependencies:   arping-2.15_1
AutoConfigBackup	1.43_1	Automatically backs up your pfSense configuration. All contents are encrypted before being sent to the server. Requires Gold Subscription from pfSense Portal.
Avahi	1.11_1	Avahi is a system which facilitates service discovery on a local network via the mDNS/DNS-SD protocol suite. This enables you to plug your laptop or computer into a network and instantly be able to view other people who you can chat with, find printers to print to or find files being shared. In addition it supports some nifty things that have never been seen elsewhere like correct mDNS reflection across LAN segments. Compatible technology is found in Apple MacOS X (branded %e2%80%8bBonjour and sometimes Zeroconf). Package Dependencies:   avahi-app-0.6.31_5
Backup	0.4_1	Tool to Backup and Restore files and directories.
blinkled	0.4.7_1	Allows you to use LEDs for monitoring network activity on supported platforms (ALIX, WRAP, Soekris, etc.) Package Dependencies:   blinkled-0.1
Cron	0.3.6_2	The cron utility is used to manage commands on a schedule.
darkstat	3.1.2_1	darkstat is a network statistics gatherer. It's a packet sniffer that runs as a background process on a cable/DSL router, gathers all sorts of statistics about network usage, and serves them over HTTP. Package Dependencies:   darkstat-3.0.719
freeradius2	1.7.3_1	A free implementation of the RADIUS protocol. Support: MySQL, PostgreSQL, LDAP, Kerberos. FreeRADIUS and FreeRADIUS2 settings are not compatible so don't use them together or try to update. On pfSense docs there is a how-to which could help you on porting users. Package Dependencies:   bash-4.3.42_1    freeradius2-2.2.9
FTP_Client_Proxy	0.3_2	Basic FTP Client Proxy using ftp-proxy from FreeBSD.
gwled	0.2.4_1	Allows you to use LEDs for monitoring gateway status on supported platforms (ALIX, WRAP, Soekris, etc.)
haproxy	0.44	The Reliable, High Performance TCP/HTTP(S) Load Balancer. This package implements the TCP, HTTP and HTTPS balancing features from haproxy. Supports ACLs for smart backend switching. Package Dependencies:   haproxy-1.6.3_1
haproxy-devel	0.45	The Reliable, High Performance TCP/HTTP(S) Load Balancer. This package implements the TCP, HTTP and HTTPS balancing features from haproxy. Supports ACLs for smart backend switching. Package Dependencies:   haproxy-devel-1.7.d1_1
iftop	0.17_2	Realtime interface monitor (console/shell only). Package Dependencies:   iftop-1.0.p4
iperf	2.0.5.5_1	Iperf is a tool for testing network throughput, loss, and jitter. Package Dependencies:   iperf-2.0.5
LADVD	1.2.1_2	Send and decode link layer advertisements. Support for LLDP (Link Layer Discovery Protocol), CDP (Cisco Discovery Protocol), EDP (Extreme Discovery Protocol) and NDP (Nortel Discovery Protocol). Package Dependencies:   ladvd-1.1.0
Lightsquid	3.0.3_1	LightSquid is a high performance web proxy reporting tool. Includes proxy realtime statistics (SQStat). Requires Squid3 package. Package Dependencies:   lightsquid-1.8_4    lighttpd-1.4.38
mailreport	3.0_1	Allows you to setup periodic e-mail reports containing command output, and log file contents
mtr-nox11	0.85.6_1	Enhanced traceroute replacement. mtr combines the functionality of the traceroute and ping programs in a single network diagnostic tool. Package Dependencies:   mtr-nox11-0.86
nmap	1.4.4_1	NMap is a utility for network exploration or security auditing. It supports ping scanning (determine which hosts are up), many port scanning techniques (determine what services the hosts are offering), version detection (determine what application/service is running on a port), and TCP/IP fingerprinting (remote host OS or device identification). It also offers flexible target and port specification, decoy/stealth scanning, SunRPC scanning, and more. Package Dependencies:   nmap-7.01
Notes	0.2.9_2	Track things you want to note for this system.
Open-VM-Tools	1280544.13_2	VMware Tools is a suite of utilities that enhances the performance of the virtual machine's guest operating system and improves management of the virtual machine. Package Dependencies:   open-vm-tools-nox11-1280544_12,1
OpenBGPD	0.11_4	OpenBGPD is a free implementation of the Border Gateway Protocol, version 4. It allows ordinary machines to be used as routers exchanging routes with other systems speaking the BGP protocol. WARNING! Installs files to the same place as Quagga OSPF. Installing both will result in a broken state, remove this package before installing Quagga OSPF. Package Dependencies:   openbgpd-5.2.20121209_2
openvpn-client-export	1.3.7_1	Allows a pre-configured OpenVPN Windows Client or Mac OS X's Viscosity configuration bundle to be exported directly from pfSense. Package Dependencies:   zip-3.0_1    p7zip-15.09    openvpn-client-export-2.3.10
pfBlockerNG	2.0.9_1	pfBlockerNG is the Next Generation of pfBlocker. Manage IPv4/v6 List Sources into 'Deny, Permit or Match' formats. Country Blocking Database by MaxMind Inc. (GeoLite Free version). De-Duplication, Suppression, and Reputation enhancements. Provision to download from diverse List formats. Advanced Integration for Proofpoint ET IQRisk IP Reputation Threat Sources. Domain Name (DNSBL) blocking via Unbound DNS Resolver. Package Dependencies:   whois-5.1.5    GeoIP-1.6.6    lighttpd-1.4.38   grepcidr-2.0    aggregate-1.6_1
Quagga_OSPF	0.6.12.1_4	OSPF routing protocol using Quagga. WARNING! Installs files to the same place as OpenBGPD. Installing both will break things. Package Dependencies:   quagga-1.0.20160315
routed	1.2.3_2	RIP v1 and v2 daemon.
RRD_Summary	1.3.1_2	RRD Summary Page, which will give a total amount of traffic passed In/Out during this and the previous month.
Service_Watchdog	1.8.2_2	Monitors for stopped services and restarts them.
Shellcmd	1.0.2_2	The shellcmd utility is used to manage commands on system startup.
siproxd	1.1.2_2	Proxy for handling NAT of multiple SIP devices to a single public IP. Package Dependencies:   siproxd-0.8.1
snort	3.2.9.1_10	Snort is an open source network intrusion prevention and detection system (IDS/IPS). Combining the benefits of signature, protocol, and anomaly-based inspection. Package Dependencies:   barnyard2-1.13    snort-2.9.8.0
softflowd	1.2.1_2	Softflowd is flow-based network traffic analyser capable of Cisco NetFlow data export. Softflowd semi-statefully tracks traffic flows recorded by listening on a network interface or by reading a packet capture file. These flows may be reported via NetFlow to a collecting host or summarised within softflowd itself. Softflowd supports Netflow versions 1, 5 and 9 and is fully IPv6-capable - it can track IPv6 flows and send export datagrams via IPv6. It also supports export to multicast groups, allowing for redundant flow collectors. Package Dependencies:   softflowd-0.9.8_2
squidGuard	1.14_1	High performance web proxy URL filter. Works with both Squid (2.7 legacy branch) and Squid3 (3.4 branch) packages. Package Dependencies:   squidguard-1.4_15
sudo	0.2.9_2	sudo allows delegation of privileges to users in the shell so commands can be run as other users, such as root. Package Dependencies:   sudo-1.8.15
suricata	3.0_5	High Performance Network IDS, IPS and Security Monitoring engine by OISF. Package Dependencies:   suricata-3.0_1    barnyard2-1.13
syslog-ng	1.1.2_2	Syslog-ng syslog server. This service is not intended to replace the default pfSense syslog server but rather acts as an independent syslog server. Package Dependencies:   syslog-ng-3.6.4
System_Patches	1.1.4_1	A package to apply and maintain custom system patches.
zabbix-agent	0.8.9_2	LTS (Long Term Support) release of Zabbix Monitoring agent. Zabbix LTS releases are supported for Zabbix customers during five (5) years i.e. 3 years of Full Support (general, critical and security issues) and 2 additional years of Limited Support (critical and security issues only). Zabbix LTS version release will result in change of the first version number. Package Dependencies:   zabbix22-agent-2.2.11
zabbix-proxy	0.8.9_2	LTS (Long Term Support) release of Zabbix Agent proxy. Zabbix LTS releases are supported for Zabbix customers during five (5) years i.e. 3 years of Full Support (general, critical and security issues) and 2 additional years of Limited Support (critical and security issues only). Zabbix LTS version release will result in change of the first version number. Package Dependencies:   zabbix22-proxy-2.2.11

Sorry for bad formatting of the spoiler/list above, I pulled it straight from the packages page.

 

Also, here are some screenshots of the new WebUI (In Night Theme):

Spoiler

[Dashboard in night theme]

 

Spoiler

[Utilization graph - looks a lot better now]

 

Overall, it has made it smother and nicer to use. Even though I lost some packages, as long as I have Squid and some other things, it should all be good!

And I like the fact you can have a Dark and Light theme as well which you can change in System > General Setup > Scroll down to Theme

 

You can find the change log HERE and the pfSense Digest if you don't want to read everything.