Setting Up PfSense in Vmware Workstation 12

blupie · Mar 14, 2016, 9:33 PM

I am trying to create a Virtual lab using Vmware Workstation 12 with pfSense. I have installed the pre configured .ova image of pfSense 2.24 on one of my network pc's that is running windows 8 so I can test pfSense packages before installing on my pfSense router/Firewall.

My network consists of: Cable Modem–>PfSense router/Firewall-->Switch-->Wifi router-->Media Server-->Several Pc's and Macs.

I have successfully installed the pfSense .ova image in VMware workstation 12 but am a bit confused on how to assign interfaces.

I am presently at the*** Welcome to pfSense release-pfSense (amd64) on pfSense***

Wan (wan) -> em0 ->v4/DHCP4: 10.0.1.218/24
Lan (lan) -> vmx1 ->

choices of 0-16

When I look in the VMware virtual network editor I get this:
VMnet1 Host Only Connected DHCP Enabled subnet address 192.XXX.XXX
VM net8 Nat Nat connected DHCP Enabled subnet address 192.XXX.yyy

Under Virtual Machine settings I get this:
network adapter Host only
Network adapter 2 Nat
Network adapter 3 Bridged (automatic)

In windows 8 Under network connections I get this:
Ethernet network 2 intel
VMware network adapter VMnet1
VMware network adapter VMnet8

On the host PC running VMware I only have one Nic card and the Ethernet cable is connected to the switch. I am sure thatn I have made quite a few errors is setting this up.

Any help or suggestions on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.

Boredom · Mar 16, 2016, 9:22 PM

pfsense is only concerned with the NICs you present to it in VMWare.

Under Virtual Machine settings I get this:
network adapter Host only
Network adapter 2 Nat
Network adapter 3 Bridged (automatic)

I have found that the order / number they are present is not always the order they will appear in pfsense:
It looks like, for you, the bridged NIC is WAN interface in pfsense, and possibly the host only is LAN. If you are just testing install of packages, they likely will work for you, but if you want to put traffic through this VM, that may be tough with only one NIC.

blupie · Mar 17, 2016, 2:32 AM

@Boredom:

pfsense is only concerned with the NICs you present to it in VMWare.

Under Virtual Machine settings I get this:
network adapter Host only
Network adapter 2 Nat
Network adapter 3 Bridged (automatic)

I have found that the order / number they are present is not always the order they will appear in pfsense:
It looks like, for you, the bridged NIC is WAN interface in pfsense, and possibly the host only is LAN. If you are just testing install of packages, they likely will work for you, but if you want to put traffic through this VM, that may be tough with only one NIC.

Thank you Boredom for your help. As soon as I have a chance I will give your suggestion a try and post back. Yes , all I want to do is test different packages before I install on my pfSense router/ firewall.