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    Bridging 2 networks

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • U
      Uranium-235
      last edited by

      Unfortunately, I don't believe fiber is much of a choice here. From what i've been told, we would have to get a permit to bury the cable.

      I've had experience with the 54G before, and had to return the piece of crap. I know the GL is much better, but is also more expensive. Right now ~$62 on newegg. I have several old celeron computers i've picked up off the street lying around, and might try using those with Airlink 4130's (Atheros Super G) which is what I"m using on my pfsense router now with no problems. Am I correct in the idea I can enable Access point on one, and Infrastructure on the other to bridge them?

      maybe I can get one GL, use it as an access point, and use PFsense in infra mode. Funds are limited here

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      • H
        hoba
        last edited by

        You can connect 2 pfsense systems through a wireless link using accesspoint mode at one end and infrastructore on the other one, right. However you only can bridge another wired interface to a wireless one if the wireless one is in accesspoint mode. This is a driver limitation, not a pfsense limitation. In that case you have to use routing instead of bridging.

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        • U
          Uranium-235
          last edited by

          yeah, not necessarily 'bridging', but routing one network through another for internet. I'm not sure if computers on the DSL network would be able to access local ones on the other side of the wireless connection. I'd imagine they would, even using netbeui. Not sure though, iv'e never done this before

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          • H
            hoba
            last edited by

            I have a setup like this. just make sure the wan interface always points to the direction with the internet gateway like in the following example:

            internetgateway–--(lan site a)---wired-wan/pfsense1/wireless ) ) ) ( ( ( wireless-wan/pfsense2/lan--- (lan site b)

            Make pfsense 1 an acesspoint an pfsense 2 use infrastructure mode. Then add some routes at site a to the lan at site b and you should be done as the default gateways always point to the internetgateway at site a. Of course internetgateway and pfsense1 could even be the same system  ;)

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            • U
              Uranium-235
              last edited by

              thank you for your replies, while I have you here, have another question (and I don't want to make a new thread)

              right now on my home router, I'm bridging my wireless NIC with my LAN nic, this is working fine, but I don't want my wireless network to have access to my wired network. Is there any way I can have pfsense to NAT to my wireless nic in addition to my wired, instead of using bridging?

              thank you

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              • dotdashD
                dotdash
                last edited by

                Just put the wireless on a separate subnet. Then add an outbound NAT for the wireless subnet. You can put in firewall rules like DENY wireless net > lan net, then allow wireless net > any.

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                • H
                  hoba
                  last edited by

                  Other option is to enable the filtering bridge at system>advanced. Then you can block access to your LAN subnet even in bridged mode.

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                  • U
                    Uranium-235
                    last edited by

                    ok, i've been thinking about going fiber more and more. I did find this cheapo converter here:

                    http://www.keenzo.com/showproduct.asp?ID=1035537 - $55

                    now, if I we can get permission to bury it, all we need is fiber. the overestimated distance between the 2 buildings is about 1000 meters. I've been looking around ebay and I can't seem to find any cable that long. I need something cheap, these people don't' have much money

                    thanks

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                    • dotdashD
                      dotdash
                      last edited by

                      I think you would need to run a spool of cable and terminate the ends. You may want to have a professional do it, as the equipment to crimp the ends is expensive, and it is not easy to get the strands polished and crimped properly.

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                      • Cry HavokC
                        Cry Havok
                        last edited by

                        Yeah, if you're dealing with fibre then you won't want to be trying to cut corners on costs - it will come back and bite you later (from experience).

                        If you go wireless then you may want to look at a UK company http://www.solwise.co.uk/.  They have a page all about kit for linking buildings and have a PDF document about setting it up.

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