PfSense on a Dell Latitude E6420

whosmatt

pf blocks EVERYTHING by default :)

There is a package called pfblocker-ng that many (myself included) use for automatically blocking known bad actors with updated block lists and the like. That's probably what you're looking for.

FrankZappa

Thanks whosmatt.

FrankZappa

Thanks NollipfSense.

FrankZappa

@stephenw10 Thanks Stephen. Is the Express Card Slot considered a USB NIC?

stephenw10

Nope. Or at least it probably isn't; ignore me!

Express card does provide USB so it can accept modems etc but I would not expect a NIC to use that. This looks like it uses the Realtek RTL8110 which is a PCIe chip.

Steve

NollipfSense

@FrankZappa it's used like a PCIe slot.

FrankZappa

@stephenw10 Any idea if I can use this excpress card adapter with pf?
Sonnet Technologies Presto Gigabit Ethernet Pro ExpressCard/34

https://www.amazon.com/Sonnet-Technologies-Gigabit-Ethernet-ExpressCard/dp/B00I8MMWTY

It appears to have a Broadcom chip (I think). Not sure if this is compatible. Thoughts?

stephenw10

Without knowing what the actual chipset they're using is there's no way to know.

FrankZappa

@stephenw10 If it's Broadcom, will it work?

FrankZappa

@FrankZappa I read where it works fine with Linux with it's Broadcom NetXtreme BCM57762 controller. No idea if this is compatible w PF

whosmatt

If it is indeed the BCM57762 it should work with the bge driver:

https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=bge&sektion=4

FrankZappa

@whosmatt Thanks whosmatt. Do I need to install the driver or will pf already recognize it ?

whosmatt

You shouldn't need to install anything.

NollipfSense

@FrankZappa I have used Sonnet before on a MacBook Pro I had contemplate using as a pfSense box. Yes, it has Broadcom and it works ... just a little issue running IDS/IPS because it's in emulator mode with Netmap instead of the full interaction with Netmap. BTW - your Intel -82579LM Gigabit is supports the new Intel driver, so no problem.

aponomarenko

EC1000S is 10EC:8168. It's supported by FreeBSD according to the list of supported device IDs. Also we have a lot of successful probes of this chip in the BSD hardware database.

FrankZappa

@NollipfSense Thanks. So if I use this card on the WAN side (use internal 82579LM for LAN) shouldn't it work fine if I enable IDS/IPS? I would think using this card on the WAN just passes and receives all traffic, while the 82579LM does all the IDS/IPS, firewall, and OpenVpn traffic...or do I have that backwards?
Thanks

FrankZappa

@aponomarenko Thanks. So I went with another card: Sonnet Technologies Presto Gigabit Ethernet Pro ExpressCard/34 which has a Broadcom chip (BCM57762). I haven't used it yet, but hoping it will work.

NollipfSense

@FrankZappa said in PfSense on a Dell Latitude E6420:

use internal 82579LM for LAN) shouldn't it work fine if I enable IDS/IPS?

Yes

FrankZappa

@frankzappa Sorry for the long delay in updating this year old thread. Bottom Line: This setup is working great for almost a year now.
Dell 6420 laptop with i7, 128GB SSD and 8GB RAM

PfSense Version 2.4.5-RELEASE-p1 (amd64)

CPU Type Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2620M CPU @ 2.70GHz
Current: 800 MHz, Max: 2701 MHz
4 CPUs: 1 package(s) x 2 core(s) x 2 hardware threads
AES-NI CPU Crypto: Yes (active)

Sonnet Technologies Presto Gigabit Ethernet Pro ExpressCard/34 which has a Broadcom chip (BCM57762) which covers down on LAN connection.

The really nice thing I purchased a new battery for laptop. When the electricity goes out, it still stays running for over an hour, which is a nice feature.

Many thanks to all of you for helping me out on this.

FrankZappa

@frankzappa said in PfSense on a Dell Latitude E6420:

Presto Gigabit Ethernet Pro ExpressCard

Correction: The Presto Gigabit Ethernet Pro ExpressCard is connected to the WAN side. Works great. VPN is rock steady as well VLAN's and all my plug ins. I decided not to run Suricata as it takes too much work to dial that puppy in. Solid performance.