Too bored of hardware problems
-
Is there any way of virtualizing pfsense and using windows or linux to pass through usb nic drivders?
-
You can, but I wouldn't recommend it. What kind of hardware issues are you having?
-
Mainly with USB wifi adapters, I must do load balance with one wired and 2 wireless connection and I am too bored of trying different chipsets with any luck. for explample, I read RT3070 worked propperly in client mode, but the performance is terrible.
-
Why don't you use pci or pcie network cards?
You can get used ones very cheap.
-
I know, the problem is that ig I want to use a small form mobo like mini itx or dedicated, doesn't have enough pci ports (size is another problem) for 3 pci nics (2 for want, 1 for lan)
-
Or vlans
-
vlans force me to use rj45 and vlan switch making it too expensive because a hardware limitation, not a features limitation
-
I know, the problem is that ig I want to use a small form mobo like mini itx or dedicated, doesn't have enough pci ports (size is another problem) for 3 pci nics (2 for want, 1 for lan)
I use nothing but mini itx for my firewalls and together with the one or two on-board LAN ports I get 3 or 4 port in total with these:
Jetway ADMPEIDLA Notice that is requires a full length Mini PCI-E connector (some boards only have half length slots).
HP360T But most dual port Intel or many of it's OEM-variants are okay. With a PCI-e riser card/cable they fit in almost any small size chassis.
-
Do you mind taking a pic of the hardware you are using and posting here?
-
Atm I am using an standard ATX motherboard for configuring and standard USB Wifi nics with different chiptsets like for example linksys wusb100, I'm planing on using https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=75415.0 or quite similar.
Thank you for answering
-
By the way, there are many linux services I would like to use (not avalible in FreeBSD)
-
Do you mind taking a pic of the hardware you are using and posting here?
If you mean me, I'd rather not. They are all in production so I won't be taking them apart, which in my opinion would be the only way to get any interesting pictures. All of them are placed in pretty awkward places so any outside case shots would be with bad lighting, from funny angles and half obscured by other stuff .
If you want to see the cases I use there are much better pictures of them here:
I have two EM-150/EXT and one Morex T3460.Two of the the motherboards I use are Intel so not available any more and the last one I actually don't remember what brand/model it was but it's onboard LAN isn't Intel (works great though).
I hate the problems associated with USB-nics so that's not an option for me. I use cheap routers configured as APs with DD-WRT to provide wireless on all three locations.
-
By the way, there are many linux services I would like to use (not avalible in FreeBSD)
'many' : Any of them something you should be running on a firewall appliance? Or not already available as a package format?
"load balance with one wired and 2 wireless connection".
That just sounds as a recipe for disaster! But if you insist on using WiFi as WAN connections :
< I would personally never use a setup like this for anything resembling business use / high uptime required >
I would plainly use "stable" AP's/receivers that receive the signal, and move it down the line by wire and feed it into your firewall.- Your wifi is no longer bound to FreeBSD drivers.
- Signal/noise ratio will be better in almost every case (range of most USB wifi dongles are f* horrible).
- No USB adapters (really, why even try..).
- 1 onboard nic / 1 dual port NIC expansion and you are set. or vice versa.
As to your opening post. Hyper-V seems to be functioning quite well for some people. A usefull thread might be : https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=75549.60
You will loose performance in any case. Especially on lower end hardware.
And I would still recommend against the use of USB adapter of any kind, let alone combined with a hypervisor / virtualisation layer. 3G/4G is a different matter.