PfSense 2 NIC Ports & Wireless

[dooldeniya]

Hi, I a noob and searched the forums but wasn't able to find an answer.  I am looking to build a pfsense firewall using two NIC ports.  On the LAN side I am looking to connect to a unamanaged 8 port switch and then connect the my wireless access point to the switch.  Using pfsense, would I be able to setup a separate vlan for the wireless access point so I can keep the wireless from having access to my wired LAN even though it's running through the switch and not directly connected the pfsense machine?

The switch http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704043
pfsense build http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856205007

Thanks for your input.
-Chanaka

[A Former User]

In order to pass and actually direct VLAN traffic through a switch, the switch must understand VLAN tags, in other words support 802.1Q. Most (all?) of the unmanaged switches don't support it.

I would recommend getting an extra nic (which isn't very expensive by today's standards, hell you can even get an intel pci one for $10) and run the AP off that. PCI maxes out at about 1Gbps, which is nowhere near what the AP will pull through. Even using, ah what's it called…MIMO?, it might even pull up to 600Mbps under the best case scenario.

Scratch that, later saw the actual build. In that case you either have to go with a managed switch (even the cheapest will do, as long as it supports 802.1Q) or consider a different build for pfsense that will give you a bit of leg room to grow in the future.