Pfsense 2.3 and esxi 6 first time install

[techy82]

Hi All,

I have just setup my first pfsense machine however i am having a little issue

I am using vmware and named the virtual switch LAN, the pfsense install shows just above the management network on 192.168.0.60

the lan side of pfsense is on em1 v4 192.168.0.70/24

for some reason i cannot ping 192.168.0.70, but can ping the esxi management side of things on 192.168.0.60, any ideas whats going on? I have tried everything I can think of

Thanks very much

[heper]

Might be an issue with your vswitch? Post some screenshots

[techy82]

Thanks will get some and post what's strange is if I change the wan to em1 instead of em0

It detects my virgin media connection but I cannot connect to web gui and the lan interface disappears

[johnpoz]

You need to validate via mac that your pfsense vnic is in the correct vswitch that is connect to your actual physical lan.  Be it em0 or em1

[techy82]

thanks please find snapshots, the mac addresses reported by pfsense do not seem to tally up with the ones on esxi?

[johnpoz]

what do you mean they don't tally up??

So in pfsense what is connected to your lan vswitch?

[techy82]

One of the ports in pfsense goes to my hp switch the other goes into the modem mode port on my virgin modem

I cannot seem to find the Mac addresses shown by em0 and em1

If I change wan to em1 it shows my external isp connection but the lan vanishes

[johnpoz]

what do you mean you can not find them??  I posted a picture where they are located… Look in esxi, for which the mac of which devices is connected to your differen vswitches..  Then assign them correctly in pfsense.

Looks like a1 is em0 and ab is em1 in pfsense..  So which is which in esxi?

[techy82]

Thanks sorry I'm new to this

Do I have to manually put the Mac in esxi?

Thanks again

[johnpoz]

huh??  Dude look on the props of the nic you have assigned to your pfsense vm… What does it show for the mac??

Mine are manual set in pfsense vm, yes because it makes it very easy to know which is which ;)  But they do not have to be.. Here look at my ubuntu vm, etc..

[techy82]

Thanks :)

The ones in esxi are totally different to the ones shown under em0 and em1 in pfsense

[johnpoz]

Well how can that possible be??  You have a vnic assigned to pfsense VM, the mac would match up – see my image with pfsense and what esxi shows.  If your macs are not matching up then yeah not going to work... You have interfaces messed up?

You have looks like 5 nics in tha esxi host..

[techy82]

Really not sure I'll have a play around when I get back in, I have one port built into the motherboard and a 4 port pci-e Intel card so unless somethings going weird with that? The network connection on the mb is the one connecting into my switch and has the esxi management on the Intel card is the one connecting to my isp

[johnpoz]

Well dude I can tell you its never going to freaking work if the mac your VM shows is not what pfsense is showing for its interfaces..  Did you pass the nic through and pfsense is seeing the phsyical nic?

Pfsense is showing 00:0c:29 which is a typical vmware vnic mac… So what do you mean they are not matching up.. What does your pfsense VM show is the mac of the vnic, and what does pfsense vm when your on the console show for the mac?

Make sure you assign the correct em0, or em1 to the right vswitch lan or wan, etc..

[techy82]

Thanks no it's set to e1000d and I havnt set a pass thru

I will double check what Mac it's showing as

I added the vswitch in the tutorial for wan but my virgin media modem goes straight into my servers network card and not my hp switch do I need to configure anything extra for this

Thanks again it's much appreciated

[techy82]

thanks they do exist as you mentioned within vm, when i set wan to em0 it removes the lan option?

[techy82]

restarted everything and all is now working, thanks everyone for your help and support :-)

[johnpoz]

how is it working.. your screenshot of pfsense only shows a wan interface??

Doesn't pfsense default to 192.168.0/24 on its lan??  Be so long since used default on its lan not sure, I know it defaults to 192.168.0 or 192.168.1/24 on its lan.. But those are so common of a network I always change it.. I currently run 192.168.9/24 on pfsense lan..

[techy82]

It seemed to want to default to 192.168.1.1 restarted everything and changed it to 192.168.0.1 to Match my current setup power cycled everything again and it started working

If I changed the lan up range would I have to also change my switches up, esxi management to the different range?

[johnpoz]

does not matter what networks you use - but from your post there is on 1 interface and its wan interface.. What exactly are you doing with pfsense with 1 interface??