Automated WAN Failover Monitoring

Problem Context

Network admins use pfSense with two WAN connections to split traffic and ensure redundancy. The second WAN (WAN02) gets its IP via DHCP, but pfSense fails to detect gateway outages. This breaks automatic failover, forcing manual CLI commands to add routes—disrupting workflows and risking downtime.

Pain Points

Users waste 5+ hours/week checking gateway status and manually adding routes via CLI. Failed workarounds (e.g., dual rule sets) add complexity and errors. The GUI doesn’t update routing when gateways fail, forcing constant manual intervention and breaking security/performance policies.

Impact

Downtime costs money (lost revenue, missed deadlines) and stresses admins. Manual fixes introduce errors, and the risk of unnoticed outages grows. Small businesses and home labs rely on this setup for critical services (e.g., VoIP, cloud backups), making failures unacceptable.

Urgency

Gateways fail unpredictably, and pfSense’s native monitoring is unreliable. Admins can’t ignore this—every outage risks service disruptions. The problem worsens with more WAN links, making it a growing pain point as networks scale.

Target Audience

Small business network admins, home lab enthusiasts, and MSPs managing pfSense firewalls with multi-WAN setups. Also affects IT teams in healthcare, retail, and education where uptime is mission-critical. Users of similar firewalls (e.g., OPNsense) face the same issue.

Solution Approach

AutoRoute Guardian is a lightweight agent that continuously monitors pfSense gateways and auto-updates routes when failures occur. It replaces manual CLI commands with instant, rule-based failover—restoring automatic routing without admin intervention. The tool integrates with pfSense’s API to detect gateway health and adjust routing tables dynamically.

Key Features

1. Auto-Route Failover: Automatically adds/removes routes when gateways fail or recover, using pfSense’s native routing tables.
2. Rule-Based Policies: Lets admins define failover rules (e.g., ‘Use WAN02 only for VoIP traffic’).
3. Alerts & Logs: Notifies admins via email/Slack when gateways fail and logs all changes for auditing.

User Experience

Admins install the agent via pfSense plugin or CLI (5-minute setup). The dashboard shows gateway status and route changes in real time. When a gateway fails, the tool handles failover silently—no more manual CLI commands. Admins get alerts only for critical issues, reducing daily checks to minutes.

Differentiation

Unlike pfSense’s native tools, AutoRoute Guardian *actively- monitors gateways and auto-updates routes—no manual work. Free tools (e.g., scripts) lack automation and reliability. The agent is lightweight, non-intrusive, and works with existing pfSense setups without requiring OS changes or admin-level permissions.

Scalability

Supports unlimited WAN links and grows with the user’s network. Future features include traffic balancing, SLA-based routing, and integration with cloud failover services. Pricing scales with seats (e.g., $29/user/mo for SMBs, $99/mo for MSPs managing multiple clients).

Expected Impact

Eliminates 5+ hours/week of manual work, reduces downtime risk, and ensures automatic failover—critical for businesses relying on multi-WAN setups. Admins regain control over their networks without constant monitoring, and IT teams can focus on strategic tasks instead of firefighting.