Console or Terminal Server

pbxman123 · Jun 25, 2014, 6:08 AM

Good Day,

I am trying to find out if pfSense can be used as a console server to remotely connect to a bank of equipment via usb to serial or straight serial cables, that is, a bank of Cisco Routers and Switches that have a serial cable each connected to a usb to serial cable on the pfSense firewall which in turn is securely accessed via an IPSec/Opven VPN tunnel or SSH2 over the Internet. Are there any add ons such as minicom that can be added or a web based terminal with console or SSH access? Any information on this will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

cmb · Jun 25, 2014, 6:35 AM

Sure. You can pkg_add minicom or just use cu which is built in.

pbxman123 · Jun 25, 2014, 11:14 AM

Thank you for the quick response! I love this forum! Can you kindly answer one more question? How is pfSense with USB to serial adapter support, specifically with the FTDI chipset, can you or anyone comment? Again the feedback is much appreciated. Thanks.

charliem · Jun 25, 2014, 1:02 PM

@pbxman123:

How is pfSense with USB to serial adapter support, specifically with the FTDI chipset, can you or anyone comment? Again the feedback is much appreciated. Thanks.

They work OK for me whenever I need them, but that's not very often. Check out the FreeBSD supported hardware list (http://www.freebsd.org/releases/10.0R/hardware.html) and the uftdi(4) driver in particular (http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=uftdi&sektion=4&manpath=FreeBSD+8.3-RELEASE)