Announcement
Our new documentation site is alive!
You can view our latest documents here.
Regardless of the installation method you chose, you will need to go through the initial configuration wizard before you may start using Sensei.
To start your "Initial Configuration Wizard":
-
Log in to your OPNsense web interface
-
Click Sensei from the left menu
-
Click on the Dashboard sub-menu to open the configuration wizard
1- EULA
-
Accept the End User License Agreement (scroll and read the terms to get to the next button).
- Click the "I Agree" button to continue to the "Hardware Check" section.
2- Hardware Check
Your hardware will be analyzed to ensure it meets the minimum requirements. You will receive one of following responses: compatible hardware, low-end hardware, incompatible hardware. The setup will not continue if you have incompatible hardware.
Compatible
Low-end
Incompatible
- Click the "Next" button to continue to the "Reporting Database" section.
3- Reporting Database
- Select the database you wish to use for reporting. High end systems will have 3 options, while low end systems only have 2 options.
If you wish to use a remote ElasticSearch database, you must choose it now since you cannot change this after the initial configuration wizard has been completed.


If you select “Use a Remote Elasticsearch Database”, you will be prompted to enter the URL, username, and password.
If you have SOHO or higher Sensei paid subscription, we recommend that you install your license key before proceeding with the initial configuration wizard since this will activate a feature that will enable you to have central reporting for many firewalls from a single Elasticsearch instance. Otherwise, only a single remote ES instance can be used with a single firewall.
-
Click the "Install Database & Proceed" button to install the local database if one is chosen and to continue to the "Interface Selection" section.
4- Interface Selection
- Select the Ethernet Interface(s) to protect. To do so, click on an interface and use the right/left arrow buttons to move it to protected/unprotected interfaces combo box.
For detailed information on "Deployment Modes", see here.


- Click "Next" to continue to the "Cloud Reputation" section.
5- Cloud Reputation
The engine processes the request, queries the "Sunny Valley Network (SVN) Cloud" in real-time, and decides whether it will be blocked or allowed. Sensei checks against 140+ million websites under 120+ categories in milliseconds.
Cloud Threat Intel settings let you:
- Enable/Disable the “Cloud Reputation & Web Categorization” engine
- Set local domain name you wish to be excluded from cloud queries
-
Select the fastest Cloud Reputation Servers which are used for queries
- Click "Next" to continue to the "Sensei CLI" section.
6- Sensei CLI (Security)
-
Set your TCP Service password. This password protects the command line access to the packet engine. It is highly recommended to use a very secure password. The default password is “Sensei1234” so be sure to change it.
- Click "Next" to continue to the "Updates & Health Check" section.
7- Updates & Health Check
- Check for Updates Automatically: Checks automatically for the updates and creates a notification on the Sensei "Status" page.
-
Automatically Update Databases and Threat Intelligence Data: Checks automatically for the updates and creates a notification on the Sensei "Status" page.
- Enable Generation of Support Data: If enabled, Sensei collects supporting data during unusual events and crashes. You can share this data while opening a ticket with us.
-
Max Swap Utilization: You may specify how much swap space Sensei may utilize when the system is low on memory. It is recommended that you do not set this value too high. Otherwise, system performance may suffer.
- Health Check: If enabled, "Health Check" monitors the system's memory, CPU, disk usage and core services if they're working correctly, and raises alerts if anything goes wrong. "Health Check" also stops the relevant services if they're consuming excessive system resources.
-
Help Sunny Valley Improve Its Products and Services: If enabled, general system information is submitted to Sunny Valley to help improve the future development of Sensei.
- Click "Next" to continue to the "Deployment Size" section.
8- Deployment Size
Sensei may support up to 1,000 concurrent users on an average PC. You can set your Sensei installation’s capacity in this section.
You may see detailed information about suggested hardware at Getting Started > Hardware Requirements
- Click "Next" to continue to the "Finish" section.
Finish
- Click the "Finish" button to save your initial configuration data and start using Sensei.
Hands-on Video