VLAN Tagging and USB issues
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Hello, I'm sorry if this is a question that has been asked a lot, I'm sure it has. I've done research and it appears impossible to find what I'm looking for.
I am trying to set up a firewall with my managed 802.1q switch. It's my understanding that I need an 802.1q compatible NIC to go along with that switch. I had originally set out to set this up all on a desktop that I have, but I don't have enough money to buy 2 NICs(the current onboard one isn't compatible) as well as a new CPU for the desktop(the old one broke), so I'm left with only one option. I have an old Lenovo laptop, and the onboard NIC is compatible with pfSense. My current plan is to configure the onboard NIC as the WAN interface, and, as much as I don't want to have to do this, purchase an 802.1q compatible USB > Ethernet adapter NIC to configure as the LAN interface and attach it to the switch. I know this is not recommended but as I said, due to money constraints this is my only option.
So, the trouble I'm having is that I need a USB adapter NIC that is not only compatible with pfSense(which is hard enough to find), but it must also support vlan tagging. After breaking a literal sweat trying to find this elusive device for days, and reading and re-reading the compatible adapters section here: http://www.freebsd.org/releases/8.1R/hardware.html#ETHERNET, I've finally resorted to asking for help on this forum. Does anyone have any recommendations on this matter? Am I correct in assuming that I need to find an adapter that supports vlan tagging if I have a vlan taggin capable switch?
Thanks.
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Maybe you could turn around things. Have the onboard NIC do the taggintg (if it supports that) towards LAN and use the USB nic without tags as WAN.
