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

    onboard 4 port NIC, secure for PFsense use?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Virtualization
    8 Posts 3 Posters 865 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.
    • B
      blank
      last edited by

      Hi,

      I just ordered a supermicro Atom C3758 motherboard with 4 NIC's, and I plan to run xcp-ng or similar on it.
      but since the 4 NIC ports is onboard, they are probably the "same card".
      So is it actually secure to try and split it up, 1 for WAN, 1 for LAN (Router on a stick) and 2 for VM's
      or would it be better to add a PCI card 1 port NIC for WAN, and adding that PCI card to PFsense only?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • A
        Abdrouf4995
        last edited by

        security is relative,
        in this case i would think about performance more than security.
        it depends on how critical your network is.
        i think a lot of people here are using pfsense as a VM.
        so i think it's secure for most cases.

        B 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • johnpozJ
          johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
          last edited by

          Is your question about 4 port nics? And isolation of traffic? Since they are onboard? I have a sg4860 with 6 on board nics.. So should I be concerned?

          Maybe I am not understanding the question??

          An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
          If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
          Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
          SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

          B 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • B
            blank @Abdrouf4995
            last edited by

            @Abdrouf4995 why would you be more concerned about performance, should I expect a huge drop in performance when running in VM?

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • B
              blank @johnpoz
              last edited by

              @johnpoz I mean if virtualized.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • A
                Abdrouf4995
                last edited by Abdrouf4995

                no, as I said it's depend on how critical your network is. and how much traffic on your network.
                I'm just saying in the case of vm is more about performance rather than security.
                i mean it's not like physical but if everything is working normally in your pfsense vm you don't need to be concerned.
                for example if your other vms are on high cpu usage. that might effect your pfsense IF your host can't handle the load. but if your host is powerful enough you should be fine.
                pfsense don't need that much power anyway.
                i ran it as vm on my laptop for testing before and it worked fine, but i didn't have a busy network.
                less than 100mbs traffic.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • johnpozJ
                  johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                  last edited by

                  Thee are 1000s if not 10's of thousands of deployments on all kinds of VM... I ran it for many years as vm myself.. No there is no concerns with it as a vm vs physical... As long as setup correctly.

                  An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                  If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                  Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                  SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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

                    Thanks for taking your time, appreciate the help.

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