Mudmap
Remotely Manage and Configure pfSense® in the Cloud
New year, new Mudmap. Today, version 2 officially goes live. So, what's changed?
Under the hood, quite a lot, actually. Almost all the updates have been informed by you, and I thank you for your ongoing support. Technically, the platform is rather different but those changes should be almost invisible to you. So then, what's going to affect you then?
Log in and Registration
It's changed - a lot. Previously, Mudmap handled all your authentication internally (don't worry security was not compromised - many businesses do this) but now, we've switched to a well known and regarded third party provider Auth0. This means Mudmap will offload the task of user registration and login to Auth0 with all the security benefits that provides. At this stage, Mudmap is only using their Username and Password authentication capabilities but in the future will be able to provide social authentication as well.
There is one downside, though. You will have to sign up again to create an account with Mudmap version 2, unfortunately this also includes re-registering all your devices. You can start the registration here
User interface updates
The dashboard has also undergone a make over. Some parts are the same but the general look and feel have changed. The biggest change has been to the Device detail page which now attempts to replicate the pfSense user interface's navigation bar.
mudmap demo of aliases
View this gif in higher resolution here.
Not all sections are currently available for this release. Crossed out tabs in the navigation bar indicate features that are coming soon but not yet completed. Once they've been finished, you will be able to access them - stay tuned for updates.
Device details can also be updated after registration now, too.
Payments
Some of your feedback centered around the ability to change the account email and payment email address. The association between the two was, in hindsight, brittle and not respectful for the at-times complex nature of business accounting. This new release fixes that thanks to Stripe, our new payment provider. When subscribing, you will be taken to a Stripe hosted payment window where you can enter your payment details. Once subscribed, all payment data will be handled by them. Updating these details can be done within the Dashboard inside the profile page by clicking on the Stripe Portal button.
What about Version 1?
It's being sunset and will be shut down on 1 March 2022. Until then, you are free to continue using it but no new features will be created for it. Security patches and updates will continue to applied as needed but apart from that, version 1 is no longer under active development.
I want to thank everyone who used it, and helped to shape the future of Mudmap.
What's next
More features! Currently, Mudmap is lacking features but thankfully, this update will make pushing these out to you much quicker. For the technically inclined, you can read up on the design decisions and technologies used in the upgrade. The next lot of features going under development can be found in the Roadmap, but if you have any feature requests please make a suggestion via email, or at our Github page by opening an issue.
Mudmap is not an info product, developer tool or simple subscription service. It's a pay per device service and each device added to the network increases the strain on the network. Increased strain means costs to scale and achieve equilibrium.
Services like this are those that fall into the be cautious of trial periods camp. That is why Mudmap does not, and likely never will offer a free trial period.
Today, I changed my mind - sort of.
I'm now offering a free tier for all customers. Instead of an uncapped free trial, users can simply sign up and add up to two devices for free, forever. No credit card is required.
I want potential customers to experience Mudmap and see its potential. They shouldn't have to pay, just to test it out and I am almost positive it is this friction that has led to poor conversion rates.
This update also includes some user experience improvements, too. Initially, when a customer signed up and entered the dashboard for the first time they were presented with an empty table (where any devices would be shown if connected). Now they will see a Welcome prompt with links to the documentation about their next steps.
A lesson I have learnt in this is, don't expect your users to search for, or even look at your footer (or navbar) links no matter how obvious. A crude look at the analytics indicates that about 50% of dashboard user numbers are seen on the documentation site.
I hope by adding the link - front and centre - to the documentation after the initial login, will help to point people in the right direction. I'm also considering making a collection of videos and linking to them for users to follow along with.
Mudmap is also on LinkedIn now as well.
For more information about the latest updates and how to stay informed, you can read the blog post below.
Mudmap uses the SSH protocol as its transport mechanism between the client and server.
Pfsense devices do not allow WAN access to the firewall without a rule allowing traffic through. To connect a firewall to Mudmap, the firewall must have an open SSH port so that the two can communicate.
Whenever you open a port to the open internet, it is going to get scanned and brute forced pretty quickly. To limit this, you can define a source address which is permitted access to the firewall. Everything else is blocked.
Until now, this was not possible as Mudmap's hosting platform does not provide static IP addresses.
Thankfully, there are third party vendors who can provide this. So as of today, Mudmap now has a pair of load balanced static IP addresses.
This is a huge security improvement and something I am happy to release for customers.
Read more at the blog
Mudmap's landing page has been revamped!
The pages have received an overhaul in preparation for new customers. This included an enhanced pricing page with a simpler and more streamlined approach.
Devices are now a flat rate of $6 per month/per device. Customers only pay for what they use - no more licences not getting used!
Try Mudmap!
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Get ready for a near-complete Dashboard overhaul as well. Performance and page bundle size is significantly improved.
After months of development, Mudmap is ready to start onboarding customers.
Managing pfSense in the cloud is kicking into gear with Mudmap's ability to link all your devices.
Network engineers, IT shops and anyone else who manages, or wants to manage multiple pfSense firewalls can now do so from one dashboard.
Now that Mudmap is at MUP - Minimal Usuable Product - users can connect to it and experience a portion of Mudmaps future potential. Features supported today:
- View all pfSense devices in one table
- Get individual device details for any device
- Restart, Stop or Start any services running on the device
More updates and features are in rapid development.
See https://mudmap.io/ to get started!
Mudmap is being built using Django but this time I deployed the initial marketing pages using Hugo. It was a breeze to set up and deploy.
This launch does not correlate with the release of a workable product, yet. I have opted to deploy only the static marketing before the MVP for two reasons:
- To keep my own momentum (this is important as a solo developer)
- Allows for blogging with the intent to raise the SEO and page rankings in parallel with app development
The main application is 60% ready for release with much of the backend code ready. However, I am still working on the frontend dashboard.
The main application launch will be the next milestone.
I've read so many times that you should solve your own problem, and so last week I sat down to think about all the problems and if there are any confluences of things I am interested in.
I am a developer and network engineer (albeit, now a full-time developer) with experience using firewalls. I like pfSense and have managed these professionally and personally. Something that always bugged me was having to SSH or VPN in. This gets tiresome if you aren't on a device, or have access to a device, that has the required SSH key or .ovpn file.
Hence Mudmap was born.
Does Mudmap mean something?
noun INFORMAL•AUSTRALIAN
a simplified diagram or sketch of a route, containing only essential features.
I am an Australian and an ex-serviceman, so the term Mudmap has meaning in my life. It refers to a lifelike diagram of an area of interest for military operations, usually done in the field. It's often made out of mud but you could use anything that simulates the area of interest.
For network operations, I felt this is also applicable. You need a lifelike diagram of your network security appliances - not just a diagram or spreadsheet. There is no better way to mock it out than to see everything in one location such as a dashboard - something pfSense does not provide.
Hence, the genesis of this idea and the name Mudmap.
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