[Virtualbox] Win7 + pfSense on same machine for testing?

[SteveThing]

Hi all,

I'm wanting to learn a bit about pfSense before I make it a dedicated router/firewall/proxy.  What I'm wanting to do is create a VBox running pfSense 2.0 x32 on my Win7 box and point my Live system to the Virtual install.  Is this possible?  I know it is pointless in terms of actual protection, but I'm hoping to learn the finer points before rearranging my physical setup.

Rig:
Gigabyte EP45T-UD3LR (1xRealtek RTL8168C GigE NIC)
Q9550 (Stock speed)
8GB DDR3 1333
Plenty of HDD space
Win7 Pro x64

Network:
Cable modem -> Cisco 3640 (ExRtr)
ExRtr -> Cisco 2950 (DMZSw,  Firewall will go in here once I am comfy with it)
DMZSw -> Cisco 3640 (IntRtr)
IntRtr -> Cisco 3550 (IntSw)
IntSw -> Home Network

Regards,
Steve

[pingulino]

It might be quite possible to do that, although I never tried it.
You'll have to set Windows default gateway to your pfSense - and pfSense must be able to reach Internet some other way hmm…
Maybe with 2 nic's?

A far easier solution is to put up a complete network in VBox, that is one  pfSense and a couple of guests running whatever OS you like. That way you can test far more things and you never risk to lose Internet because of some configuratiion error.

[Perry]

My home firewall run on such a setup where I use a vlan switch and I don't see a security problem with it as vlan is the only thing allowed on that host nic.
This diagram should explain the idea behind it

[SteveThing]

Interesting setup.  I'll be sure to give that a shot.

Is there a way to create virtual NICs in VBox?  I guess I could do a couple VLANs with my one NIC and slap my machine on an extra 2950.  Worked fine on 2.0 pre-rel.

[Perry]

Yes it's call Internal Netvork

NIC 1:           MAC: 08002709B490, Attachment: Bridged Interface 'Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Desktop Adapter - VLAN : VLAN77', Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: 82540EM, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Promisc Policy: de
NIC 2:           MAC: 080027FFC74E, Attachment: Bridged Interface 'Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Desktop Adapter - VLAN : VLAN33', Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: 82540EM, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Promisc Policy: de
NIC 3:           MAC: 080027744D96, Attachment: Internal Network 'intnet', Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: 82545EM, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Promisc Policy: deny
NIC 4:           MAC: 08002735E8F6, Attachment: Bridged Interface 'Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Desktop Adapter - VLAN : VLAN44', Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: 82540EM, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Promisc Policy: de
NIC 5:           MAC: 080027F3FAE9, Attachment: Bridged Interface 'Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Desktop Adapter - VLAN : VLAN99', Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: 82540EM, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Promisc Policy: de
NIC 6:           MAC: 08002796CC45, Attachment: Bridged Interface 'Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Desktop Adapter - VLAN : VLAN66', Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: 82540EM, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Promisc Policy: de
NIC 7:           disabled
NIC 8:           disabled

One thing to remember is that nic's in virtualbox needs to be intel nic's else it won't work in pfSense