Repeat adding a new vNIC for the Servers, DMZ1, and DMZ2 LAN Segments. Document the MAC address and LAN Segment name.Click the Advanced button, click Generate to create a MAC address.From the drop-down menu choose the Clients LAN segment.Make sure the new network adapter is selected, and make the following changes:.NAT: Used to share the host’s IP address.
This may take a few minutes, depending on If you have DHCP enabled in your home network, the WAN interface will get an IP address, but we will assign a static IP later. Directly above the list you’ll see the configuration for the WAN interface. When it’s done, you’ll be presented with a list of options. The interfaces will be assigned as followsĪfter assigning the WAN interface, pfSense will configure itself.
NOTE: This enables full Firewalling/NAT mode. WAN Interface Assignment Should VLANs be set up now ? nĮnter the WAN interface name or 'a' for auto-detectionĮnter the LAN interface name or 'a' for auto-detection
If needed, use 7-Zip to extract the ISO from the archive file.įrom within VMware Workstation, open the settings of any existing VM, and select the VM’s network adapter. The first row shows pfSense’s WAN interface, which as discussed above, will be bridged within VMware Workstation to Home-Net.ĭownload the latest pfSense full installer: The below table outlines the IP address plan for each of the lab’s network segments, and includes the pfSense interface names along with the IP addresses that will be assigned to each pfSense interface. All network traffic leaving the lab that is not assigned a NAT IP within pfSense will get sent out using the IP of the WAN interface (PAT). This configuration allows lab VMs to access the Internet through the pfSense firewall. The upstream gateway is the router/firewall shown in the Home Network section of the above diagram. After installing pfSense, this vNIC will be configured as pfSense’s WAN interface, and given the following settings: When creating the VM for the pfSense firewall, the first virtual NIC (vNIC) will be “bridged” to Home-Net. I reserved 192.168.199.101 – 192.168.199.110 for my lab environment to use as external “public” IPs, and I made sure my Home-Net DHCP service was not giving out IPs in that range.
My lab PC is a tower with a single physical NIC connected to my home network (Home-Net), which uses an address space of 192.168.199.0/24. Planning the Network Segments & the pfSense vNICs The following is how I created multiple “named” LAN segments within VMware Workstation, and routed between them using a VM running pfSense, which is an open source firewall. This means you become responsible for defining a LAN segment’s IP addressing by configuring static IPs on the VMs connected to the segment, and if you want to connect multiple LAN segments together, you need a VM that can provide routing between the LAN segments. LAN Segments are a great way to create private virtual networks for any number of uses, but keep in mind that you cannot use Workstation’s DHCP features with LAN Segments. VMware Workstation has a feature called LAN Segments. I also wanted my home network, which is external to the virtual lab environment, to emulate the Internet, even though it really isn’t.
My requirements were to have separate network segments for Clients & Servers, and two DMZ networks. I wanted to build a virtual lab environment at home that would emulate an office environment. : Updated the installation steps and web portal configuration steps to support pfSense v2.4. Febru| pfSense, VMware, VMware Workstation