pfSense on Hyper-V Home Setup questions.

uxm

Hi there!

I want to install pfSense on my home lab and I have some questions/. Here are the data :

I have :

an Asus DSL AC-68U router
a Hyper-V host (Windows 2012 R2 with 8GB of RAM and two (2) NICs.
a physical workstation PC
One Laptop
Smartphones
One Tablet
A Netgear Managable Switch (8 ports)

and I want to be able to use pfSense only as a Firewall for my network.

I have a Windows 2012 R2 VM installed on Hyper-V as a DC for my Active Directory and also, yesterday, I installed pfSense as a VM on Hyper-V (I followed the online manual of Netgear Support pages).

I want my physical workstation but also the wireless clients, to be able to be protected behind the pfSense firewall VM and I have an "understanding" problem of how I'm gonna be able to accomplish that.

Can you please help me understand the network diagram that I will have to design\deploy to make it work?

As I am guessing I have to design this kind of network diagram :

But, the wireless clients? How are they gonna passthrough the pfSense first?

As you guessed it, I am a little bit confused. :/

kiokoman

disable the wireless on the asus, buy an AP and put it in a vlan

uxm

@kiokoman There is no other way right?

johnpoz

Use your wifi router as just AP and put it behind pfsense.. You can do that with pfsense as VM.. Does your VM host have more than 1 nic?

If not then you would need a vlan switch between your isp modem and the rest of your network..

uxm

@johnpoz My Asus AC68U is a modem/router. So I use it as my ISP modem and then as a router. I dont know if I can use it as AP only (and not losing the routing operations of this device). I dont have a separate ISP modem. Also, my hyper-v host has 2 nics.

johnpoz

Then you have the wrong model number posted, a RT-AC68U is not a gateway device. The ac68u is a very common "router" only device.. Good reason to make sure post exact modem number ;) heheheh

You have a DSL-AC68U?

if your device is a gateway, then no you can not.. You would need to get a different modem or AP.. So you can separate the functionality of your modem and your AP.

Once you can sep the functions - then yeah its very easy to put everything behind pfsense - even your wifi... What I would suggest is get a real AP, vs modem and using your current device as just AP... Say a unifi AP that supports vlans - this will allow you to create multiple segments for wifi, as long as you have a vlan capable switch - which I assume you do since you call out vlans in your drawing - what is the exact model of this netgear?

uxm

@johnpoz oh man! sorry. :) Yes, I have a DSL-AC68U. My netgear switch is a GS108T. So I think I might keep Asus as a modem and the buy a Unifi AP (Im watching videos right now, for the AirCube ACB-AC) and separate my wifi and put it behind pfSense right?

kiokoman

yup, exactly as i said, it 's the best solution, this way you can place the access point in a better position

johnpoz

@uxm said in pfSense on Hyper-V Home Setup questions.:

AirCube ACB-AC

No that is not what you would want... That is airmax... If you want something you just set on a table or something you prob want the https://store.ui.com/collections/wireless/products/unifi-flexhd

Why can you not just get a normal AP that is mounted?
This is more what you would setup in a home as your AP
https://www.ui.com/unifi/unifi-ac/

kiokoman

@uxm said in pfSense on Hyper-V Home Setup questions.:

AirCube ACB-AC

did pay attention to this, yeah, listen to johnpoz

johnpoz

Yeah not sure what video's he is watching... But that is not wifi AP you would use in a home setup..

uxm

@johnpoz sorry I didnt know that Aircube is for costumers deoloyment. I think I will go for the Unifi AP-AC as you said.

Can I ask one more question? Should the virtual switches on my pfSense be internal and external? How will I be able to manage it? From the host itself or a VM? I thing my physical workstation will not be able to access it, right?

johnpoz

You would manage esxi host via the vmkern, which would be on your lan network..

uxm

@johnpoz I dont have VMware esxi installed

johnpoz

Sorry hyper-V just admin it from the lan side

uxm

@johnpoz that was my question/statement. That I cant admin it from lan side by a physical pc if the pfsense vm connects to an internal (hyperv) virtual switch. :(

johnpoz

You do understand pfsense can have multiple lan side interfaces right, and VM switches can be tied to physical network a well.. Maybe your issue is you don't actually get how VM Hosts work?

Your drawing is tied to both physical and virtual networks - so not sure why your confused?

uxm

I know how Hyper-V works..The actual reason that I am confused, is that I can't ping pfsense from my physical PC nor I can admin it.

Physical PC : 192.168.2.108
Pfsense Internal side : 192.168.2.10

both on the same LAN/VLAN.

johnpoz

Well then you have something setup wrong. Or not connected how you think its connected, etc.

uxm

@johnpoz Yeah I guess so. I will try to find the reason. There is no reason to bother you with that kind of questions but I will come back if I cant make it work.

Thank you ALL for your precious help! This community seems to be totally ALIVE!