Welcoming pfSense® Security Gateway in my home

Netgate SG-1100 pfSense® Security Gateway.

Hey beauty! No, not you, I’m talking about ← that little thing.
Introducing the Netgate pfSense® Security Gateway.

This found a place in between my cable modem and my Google Wifi access point to help me discover what is actually going on on my home network.

Some things you should know about setting up a Google Wifi access point with an upstream gateway

Here is how my network is setup:

Modem → pfSense Gateway → Google Wifi AP

Here is what Google says about this setup:

Hardwire Wifi points and other devices - Google Wifi Help

Go in “Include a 3rd party router upstream of the Primary Wifi point”.

And it’s just that. Don’t overthink it: set up the Gateway LAN interface with an IP address and enable DHCP, and plug it to the Google Wifi WAN interface.

Under the hood

Google Wifi WAN and LAN interface cannot be on the same IP subnet. Google Wifi is actually “smart” enough to switch subnet automatically if it detects it — just so you’re aware.

So:

SG-1100

WAN interface: DHCP
LAN interface: 192.168.0.1, DHCP enabled.

Google Wifi AP

WAN interface: DHCP
LAN interface: 192.168.1.1, DHCP enabled

I tried to use Google Wifi’s WAN static IP setting to no avail ┐(´ー｀)┌