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Netgate® is pleased to announce that a CloudFormation template is now available for pfSense® Plus on the AWS Marketplace, making it faster and easier to deploy secure, production-ready networking infrastructure in AWS.
“CloudFormation templates use automation to simplify provisioning on AWS. They provide a consistent way to deploy instances, ensure you are accessing the latest version across regions, and save time.”
- Justin Cockrell, Netgate Cloud Solutions Architect
What Is AWS CloudFormation and Why It Matters
Using AWS CloudFormation templates to deploy pfSense Plus streamlines infrastructure provisioning by turning complex networking configurations into repeatable, version-controlled templates.
This infrastructure-as-code approach helps teams deploy consistent environments, reduce manual configuration errors, and scale infrastructure more efficiently. When combined with pfSense Plus’ advanced firewalling, routing, VPN, and NAT capabilities, CloudFormation enables the deployment of production-ready networking in minutes while maintaining automation and operational consistency.
CloudFormation templates provide several advantages:
- Automated creation of VPC networking components
- Correct subnet, routing table, and ENI configuration
- Fewer manual steps in the AWS console
These capabilities reduce common errors encountered when manually deploying firewall or router instances in AWS. The result is faster and more reliable deployments.
Why CloudFormation Changes the pfSense Plus Experience on AWS
AWS CloudFormation is the native infrastructure-as-code service for Amazon Web Services. Deploying pfSense Plus through CloudFormation provides a workflow that many AWS users already rely on for managing infrastructure.
Deploying pfSense Plus in AWS requires coordinating several networking components, including:
- Multiple interfaces (WAN, LAN, and optional DMZ)
- Route table updates
- Elastic IP association
- Source/destination check configuration
- Security group alignment with firewall policies
Netgate’s CloudFormation template encodes these requirements into a repeatable deployment process. This helps prevent issues such as incorrect routing, asymmetric traffic paths, or unintended security exposure.
Value for Customers: Faster, Safer Cloud Networking
Organizations running pfSense Plus on AWS often deploy multiple instances across environments or regions. CloudFormation templates make this significantly easier by allowing teams to:
- Deploy the same pfSense Plus architecture in any AWS region
- Reuse templates across multiple AWS accounts
- Create development, testing, and production environments that behave consistently
If an instance needs to be replaced or redeployed, CloudFormation provides a predictable recovery process. The networking configuration defined in the template is recreated automatically, ensuring the replacement instance matches the original deployment.
Value for VARs and MSPs: Scale, Repeatability, and Operational Efficiency
These advantages are particularly valuable for enterprises, resellers, managed service providers, and other organizations responsible for operating infrastructure across multiple customers or environments.
Using CloudFormation allows teams to standardize pfSense Plus deployments while reducing operational overhead and configuration errors.
CloudFormation also aligns with common security and operational best practices:
- pfSense Plus deployments are documented as infrastructure-as-code
- Changes can be version-controlled and tracked
- Configuration updates can be reviewed and approved before deployment
This approach supports consistent service delivery for organizations operating pfSense Plus infrastructure at scale.
Cost Transparency and Operational Simplicity
Deploying pfSense Plus using CloudFormation does not introduce additional licensing costs.
Customers continue to pay only for:
- Their selected AWS infrastructure (EC2, networking, and storage resources)
- The pfSense Plus software subscription through AWS Marketplace
CloudFormation simply improves how pfSense Plus is deployed and managed. It does not change the licensing model, while helping reduce the operational time spent on setup and reconfiguration.
Conclusion
Deploying pfSense Plus through a CloudFormation template ensures instances are launched with the correct networking configuration and architecture from the start.
By automating deployment and standardizing configuration, CloudFormation enables faster setup, repeatable infrastructure, and reduced operational risk when running pfSense Plus in AWS.
Learn More:
Do you want a proof-of-concept (POC) trial of pfSense Plus on AWS? Contact us!
Do you need multi-instance management for pfSense Plus? Check out Netgate Nexus for multi-instance management (MIM) for your monitoring and management needs.