Firebox x750e as a combination switch/router?

nondostom

Hello

I've tried searching for this answer to no avail, so I figure I would just ask:

I'm looking at buying a Firebox x750e - can I use this with pfsense to act as both a router and a 6-7 port switch for the LAN? If I can do this, do I need to create a VLAN or something like that?

I only have about 4 or 5 devices to hook up, so if I can use the remaining ports on the firebox, it would save me having to link it to a separate switch and have the the devices hooked up to that.

Thanks :D

fastcon68

I have done that, with no problems. I had fun with it and had several different vlans and all different type of stuff connected.
RC

nondostom

Sounds great, so how do you implement it in pfSense? I'm not really familiar with implementing VLANs..

Do you define the WAN and LAN port as per normal, and then make a VLAN out of the remaining ports? Is it that straightforward?

Thanks :)

stephenw10

If you just need to use the remaining ports as a switch in order to save having a a separate device you just need to bridge them. The documentation on this is a bit sparse!
http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/What_is_a_bridged_interface_and_how_would_one_be_used%3F
I attempted this on my own box as a test a while back, see this post and few following it:
http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,25011.msg236750.html#msg236750
You should be aware that the resulting bridged interfaces will not be as fast as a switch. (still quite fast though!)

Also have you read through the, now ridiculously long, thread for these fireboxes?
http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,20095.0.html

There is a bug in the driver included with pfSense 2.0.1 used by the four interfaces on the right hand side of the box (msk0-3) which can cause the interface to stop responding. You should connect less important clients to these! I have never had a problem if they are connected at 100Mbps. This will hopefully be fixed by updated code in 2.1.

Steve

nondostom

@stephenw10:

If you just need to use the remaining ports as a switch in order to save having a a separate device you just need to bridge them. The documentation on this is a bit sparse!
http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/What_is_a_bridged_interface_and_how_would_one_be_used%3F
I attempted this on my own box as a test a while back, see this post and few following it:
http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,25011.msg236750.html#msg236750
You should be aware that the resulting bridged interfaces will not be as fast as a switch. (still quite fast though!)

Also have you read through the, now ridiculously long, thread for these fireboxes?
http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,20095.0.html

There is a bug in the driver included with pfSense 2.0.1 used by the four interfaces on the right hand side of the box (msk0-3) which can cause the interface to stop responding. You should connect less important clients to these! I have never had a problem if they are connected at 100Mbps. This will hopefully be fixed by updated code in 2.1.

Steve

Thanks for the info. I did read parts of the firebox thread, so I know that changing the CPU would be helpful in order to reduce overall consumption and so on. They are pretty much x86 boxes, hence the appeal I guess!

If I can secure the firebox I have my eye one I will definitely follow up. I know what I want is certainly do-able know which is a big help, so thanks :)