Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Network WAN switch and pfSense

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Routing and Multi WAN
    6 Posts 4 Posters 3.0k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • E
      EvoBunny
      last edited by

      Hi there, I'm new here so please be gentle.

      I recently discovered pfSense while searching for load balancing software/hardware for around 8+ internet connections or WANS on the internet and I must say it looks like one of my greatest finds yet.

      Now the problem I have is in most cases I see in the documentation they put physical nics on the pfSense box and from there configure the outgoing load balancing for each nic which is connected to an outgoing WAN connection.

      Now my question is, is it possible to possibly have one connection with a cat5 cable (with something like 100 mbps connection) to a switch/bridge. Then on the switch you plug in the 8+ WAN connections. This way one would require only one nic that goes to the switch and another that connects to another switch which moves to a proxy/cache server and the rest of the network. I would assume you only need to configure the IP address' of the routers which connects you to the internet for the configuration of the load balancing in pfSense? But most, if not every, example uses physical nics.

      If you guys can answer me this I would be very happy indeed as it makes my setup so much easier ;D

      Please let me know if you don't understand what I'm asking here. Thanks again :)

      Here is a rough sketch:

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • B
        blak111
        last edited by

        You could have each one of those routers going into a port on the switch that's assigned to a separate VLAN. Then the pfSense link to the switch would carry each of those vlans and vlans are treated the same a separate physical interfaces.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • E
          EvoBunny
          last edited by

          Mmmm… that might help... but I'm also curious, does pfSense require a physical interface?

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • C
            cheesyboofs
            last edited by

            As you can see I have that very setup working perfectly http://www.cheesyboofs.co.uk/home.htm <- give it time to load, stick each modem in its own vlan on the switch then add each vlan to pfsense. My firewall only has vlans and you don't need to assign an address to the physical interface.

            Author of pfSense themes:

            DARK-ORANGE

            CODE-RED

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • B
              blak111
              last edited by

              @EvoBunny:

              Mmmm… that might help... but I'm also curious, does pfSense require a physical interface?

              You only need one physical interface to get it to the switch. The rest can be done with VLANs.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • GruensFroeschliG
                GruensFroeschli
                last edited by

                You "could" solve that without VLANs. (If you have 2 physical interfaces for WAN(s) and the LAN you're serving)
                This thread might interrest you: http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,14005.msg74791.html#msg74791

                We do what we must, because we can.

                Asking questions the smart way: http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • First post
                  Last post
                Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.