pfSense

G'day :D

As I wrote here:

https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=86254.15

If you would want, at least in my humble opinion, greatly add value to the GUI, I'd recommend mass maintenance tools. For your convenience I'd like to quote what I wrote in the above referenced thread:

[quote]
Even more, Gonzo, if you are planning to do some work on the GUI, I'd love to see some more mass maintenance tools. For example: select 30 firewall rules and click one button 'disable' instead of having to click 30 times. Similar: copy 30 rules to a new interface instead of doing that manually. Or, even nicer (and now we dive into SAP software territory which I seem to know a little about ;D ): a firewall rules template:

1. Define a set of firewall rules in a template, for example, for LAN's;
2. Add all LAN's to the template-group 'LAN';
3. Assign the firewall template 'LAN' to the firewall-group 'LAN';
4. Click 'apply'.
5. Go home to WIFE, and don't forget to stop on the way to buy her flowers :P
[/quote]

Now, conceptually (I'm not a programmer, although I can read a little ABAP), 'behind the screen' this boils down to:

1. User configures firewall rules for LAN in 'LAN-firewall-template' screen (can be the same screen as the current firewall rules screen);
2. These rules are 'downloaded' somewhere by program logic1;
3. Programlogic2 looks in the table 'firewall group LAN' for other LAN's in there;
4. Programlogic3 takes the config file downloaded by logic1 (step2), copies it to a new file, and does a search and replace for $LAN > LAN2, LAN3, and so on (I know I am not typing this right :)).
5. Programlogic4 'uploads' the newly generated config files to the appropriate part of the system where the firewall can use it.

I think this adds GREAT user value to the GUI, my suspicion is many users will want to kiss you :-)

If you have 10 interfaces, this is the difference between a day of work - and errors - or letting the system do it for you in 30 seconds (...).

Bye :D