Transparent Squid Web Proxy Server Using PFSense

Proxy servers act as an intermediary for clients on a network requesting resources from
another server. The most common type of proxy is a web proxy.
Proxy servers can be very useful for improving the speed of an internet connection by
caching, logging internet usage, or filtering the traffic. The proxy server will store local copies
of HTML pages, images, and other files in its cache.
Caching proxy servers can greatly improve the internet performance of corporate networks
or internet cafe's where many users may be requesting similar pages.
When a client requests a web page the proxy checks to see if has any of the files stored in
cache, if it does it serves them to the client without having to download them from the web
server.
This reduces latency and saves internet bandwidth. Transparent proxys route the clients
traffic through the proxy server automatically, unlike traditional proxys which require
configuration changes on the client systems

Allow internet access to all user while blocking any direct access to cloud core router using
web proxy server called squid that is part of pfsense
Hardware Requirements for PFSense Firewall Implementation
Processor: single core or dual core to decrease power consumption example Intel Atom.
Ram: Minimum 215mb for small office increase depending on the number of connections.
PSU: Low wattage requirements use generic PSU to lessen power consumption
HDD: 2gb minimum requirement recommended 4gb.
Downloading PFSense
Download PFSense at pfsense.org always make sure to choose Latest Stable
Version to ensure that you are downloading the proper software.

In selecting the type of image to download you should know if the system that you will
run pfsense on is either 64bit or 32bit capable. If your system runs on a 64bit select AMD64
architecture and Netgate ADI for 32bit capable system.

Do not worry too much on which mirror to download as long as it is a Stable Version
then Just click Download. After Downloading you will now decide whether to use USB
memstick or CD image (ISO) in installing the PFSense to the system. The chosen method that
I found more convenient is through the use of USB memstick. In order to turn a flash drive into
a bootable device that will be used to install PFSense first format the flash drive to File System
type FAT32.

After formatting the flash drive to FAT32 download rufus a utility that helps create a
bootable flash drive from rufus.ie download the latest updated version.

After downloading rufus extract the pfSense-CE-memstick-2.4.4-RELEASE-p3-

amd64.img file to get the Disk Image file of pfsense.
 Now open rufus application and make sure that the flash drive that you desire is
already connected. Select the flash drive that will be used in Devices. In Boot Selection choose
Disk and ISO image then press Select.

After pressing select choose the file that you have extracted from pfSense-CE-
memstick-2.4.4-RELEASE-p3-amd64.img.

Click Open then we click start leave all of the configuration to defeault and click start
And then wait for rufus to get ready and after wards you have a bootable device that installs
pfsense..

Implementing Transparent Squid in PFSense

The first thing you'll need to do is install the squid package in pfSense. This can be done
from the package manager found under the system menu.
Locate the Squid package and click the + symbol next to it to begin the installation. The
installation process normally takes a few minutes to complete.
Configuration

After the installation is completed you will have a new menu option under 'Services' called 'Proxy
Server'. Click on the new menu option to bring of the configuration page.

Here you will need to set the proxy interface which is typically LAN. Next check to box 'Allow
users on the interface'. Then check the box 'Enable transparent proxy'. Now scroll down to the
bottom and hit save. This will start the squid service using the settings you have defined.

At this point you have a fully functional transparent proxy server running on pfSense. You do not
need to make any changes to the computers on your network for them to use the proxy. Any
clients requesting web pages on port 80 will be automatically redirected through the proxy. The
users on your network won't even know their traffic is going through a proxy!

The traffic management tab has some settings that are useful if you want to place bandwidth
usage restrictions on the proxy.
Using these settings you can configure a maximum download or upload size which will restrict
transfers over a certain size limit.
You can also set the proxy to throttle binary files, cd images, or any other file type that you
specify. Per host throttling sets the maximum amount of bandwidth an individual host can use.