m0n0wall
m0n0wall was an embedded firewall distribution of FreeBSD, one of the BSD operating system descendants. It provides a small image which can be put on Compact Flash cards as well as on CD-ROMs and hard disks. It runs on a number of embedded platforms and generic PCs. The PC version can be run with just a Live CD and a floppy disk to store configuration data, or on a single Compact Flash card (with an IDE adapter). This eliminates the need for a hard drive, which reduces noise and heat levels.
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Developer | Manuel Kasper |
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OS family | FreeBSD (8.4-RELEASE) |
Working state | Discontinued / February 15, 2015[1] |
Source model | Open source |
Latest release | 1.8.1 / January 15, 2014 |
Kernel type | Monolithic kernel |
License | BSD |
Official website | m0n0 |
On February 15, 2015 Manuel Kasper announced the end of the m0n0wall project."[1][2]
Features
m0n0wall provides for a web-based configuration and uses PHP exclusively for the GUI and bootup configuration. Additionally, it adopts a single XML file for configuration parameters.
Some functions of m0n0wall are:
- Stateful packet filter firewall
- IPsec and PPTP VPNs
- Inbound and Outbound Network Address Translation
- Captive portal
- Traffic shaper
- Inbound and Outbound port filtering
- Support for 802.1q compatible VLANs
- Multiple IP addresses on LAN and WAN ports
- IPS
Hardware

m0n0wall is installed on embedded hardware designed and manufactured by some companies.
Derivatives
- Similar hardware requirements
- t1n1wall : 2015 fork of m0n0wall after it was discontinued.
- SmallWall: Another 2015 fork of m0n0wall after its end-of-life.
- m0n0wall mod: Original m0n0wall with additional features (DHCP+PPTP, DHCP+PPPoE, static+PPPoE, L2TP, WAN eth interface), no activity since 2013.
- Extended hardware requirements
- OPNsense: Forked from pfSense in 2015[3].
- pfSense: Forked from the m0n0wall project in 2004, first released in 2006.[4]
- Other usages (not a firewall)
- AskoziaPBX: An embedded telephone system.
- XigmaNAS: NAS Network-attached storage distro using FreeBSD, uses portions of m0n0wall web GUI. Formerly NAS4Free.
See also
- Comparison of firewalls
- List of router or firewall distributions
References
- Kasper, Manuel (February 15, 2015). "m0n0wall - End of the m0n0wall project".
- Chirgwin, Richard (February 16, 2015). "M0n0wall comes tumbling down as dev throws in the trowel". The Register.
- Yegulalp, Serdar (August 16, 2016). "Review: 6 slick open source routers". Infoworld via CIO.
- Fields, Robert (October 28, 2016). "Happy 10th Anniversary to pfSense Open Source Software". Netgate Blog.