PfSense HDD as file server
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My pfSense is installed to a 250GB hard drive. Obviously pfSense doesn't need all that space. So is it possible to use the remaining space as server storage? Or perhaps partition the drive so that the 2nd partition is used for server storage? It would be nice that I could keep all my network tools and CD images of tools and software installers on my router's HDD. So is there some kind of package for this? Is this even doable?
I tried searching for this but couldn't find an answer.
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Yes but don't!
pfSense is design as a firewall with security as it's primary purpose. For that reason most of the tools you would need to do this are left out deliberately. In order to use pfSense as a file server you would need to add back a lot of things. The possibility of compromising security is high, especially if you're not totally confident.
Search the forum for 'samba' or 'pfsense and freenas' for some of the many other discussions on this topic. E.g. http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,10201.0.html
Steve
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AHHHH! Forget it then! The last thing I wanna do is compromise security and its primary purpose. Phew, thx for the save ;)
This conversation…never happened 8)
But wait, this conversation did happen, so that anyone else thinking about the same idea will be put in their place :P ::)
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AHHHH! Forget it then! The last thing I wanna do is compromise security and its primary purpose. Phew, thx for the save ;)
This conversation…never happened 8)
But wait, this conversation did happen, so that anyone else thinking about the same idea will be put in their place :P ::)
You'd think, but hang around here for a while and you'll be surprised at the number of people asking about installing pfSense & FreeNAS on the same box…
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I'm not saying it's a totally terrible idea. As long as you are aware of the risks/consequences.
I guess it completely depends on where and how you running pfSense.
If you really want one box for firewall and file server then I would suggest running two VMs on that box.Steve
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Along the same lines, you may want to check out Nas4Free - http://sourceforge.net/projects/nas4free/ It's basically a fork of FreeNAS focused on reliability and advancement of existing features (ZFS) where FreeNAS has moved more towards new features, larger hardware requirements, a new GUI etc.
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Thx for the suggestions, but I will not do something that will compromise even a little bit of security. We're here to make rock-solid firewalls, and that's all that matters ;)
I swapped the 250GB for an 80GB I had lying around. So I don't care about the extra space anymore. I can always hook up the 250GB in my server comp and access it from there…much safer ;)
