Would you like to learn how to perform the Pfsense multiple WAN load-balancing configuration? In this tutorial, we are going to teach you how to configure the load-balancing feature on Pfsense.

• Pfsense 2.4.4-p3

PFSense – Multiple WAN Configuration

Open a browser software, enter the IP address of your Pfsense firewall and access web interface.

In our example, the following URL was entered in the Browser:

• https://192.168.15.30

The Pfsense web interface should be presented.

Pfsense login

On the prompt screen, enter the Pfsense Default Password login information.

• Username: admin
• Password: pfsense

After a successful login, you will be sent to the Pfsense Dashboard.

Pfsense dashboard

Access the Pfsense System menu and select the Advanced option.

pfsense general menu

On the Miscellaneous tab, perform the following configuration:

Locate the load balancing area and enable the sticky connections feature.

pfsense wan loadbalancing

Locate the Gateway monitoring area and perform the following configuration:

• State Killing on Gateway Failure – Yes
• Skip rules when gateway is down – Yes

pfsense gateway load balancing

Click on the Save button and then on the Apply button.

Keep in mind that you need to reply this configuration to all LAN firewall rules.

PFSense – Wan Load-Balancing Configuration

In our example, we have 1 LAN interface and 2 WAN interfaces.

Both WAN interfaces are using DHCP IP address.

pfsense multiple wan

Access the Pfsense System menu and select the Routing option.

pfsense multiple wan routing menu

In our example, the Pfsense firewall has 2 WAN Gateways.

pfsense multiple wan routing

Access the Gateway groups tab and click on the Add button.

On the Gateway group screen, perform the following configurations:

• Group Name – Enter an identification to the WAN group
• Gateway Priority WAN1 – Tier 1
• Gateway Priority WAN2 – Tier 1
• Trigger Level – Packet Loss or High Latency
• Description – Optionally enter a description

Click on the Save button to finish the Gateway group configuration.

When you select the same TIER level to both links the load-balancing feature will be enabled.

pfsense load-balancing wan

Access the Gateways tab, locate the Default gateway area and perform the following configuration:

• Default gateway IPv4 – Select the Gateway group name created before

Click on the Save button and then on the Apply button.

pfsense wan failover

If a WAN gateway packet Loss thresholds reach 20%, the link will be considered down.

If a WAN gateway Latency thresholds reach 500ms, the link will be considered down.

Congratulations! You have finished the pfsense WAN failover configuration.

PFSense Load-balancing – Firewall Configuration

Access the Pfsense Firewall menu and select the Rules option.

Access the LAN tab and edit the default IPV4 LAN rule.

pfsense load-balancing

On the firewall rule properties, locate the Extra options area and click on the Display advanced button.

pfsense firewall rule load balancing

On the Advanced Options area, locate the Gateway configuration option and select your gateway group name.

pfsense load-balancing gateway group

Click on the Save button to apply the changes on the Pfsense configuration.

PFSense – Gateway Monitoring

Optionally, access the Dashboard and add a new widget to monitor the Pfsense gateways.

pfsense dashboard monitor gateway

The new widget will monitor the Pfsense gateway status.

pfsense monitor gateway widget

You are now able to monitor the status of all Pfsense gateways.