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Pfsense For Hyper-V

This document provides instructions for installing pfSense firewall software on a Hyper-V virtual machine. It describes downloading the pfSense ISO image, setting up the virtual machine with 1GB RAM and a 4GB virtual hard disk, adding two network adapters connected to different virtual switches, and booting from the ISO to complete the installation process. Minimum hardware requirements and links for additional configuration steps are also provided.

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Clément Minougou
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108 views23 pages

Pfsense For Hyper-V

This document provides instructions for installing pfSense firewall software on a Hyper-V virtual machine. It describes downloading the pfSense ISO image, setting up the virtual machine with 1GB RAM and a 4GB virtual hard disk, adding two network adapters connected to different virtual switches, and booting from the ISO to complete the installation process. Minimum hardware requirements and links for additional configuration steps are also provided.

Uploaded by

Clément Minougou
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How to install pFSense on Hyper-V

I was looking for a good software firewall solution since Microsoft abandoned
ISA product line. I went on and researched a bit and found pFSense – great
product that I use for years now. Since I use it in all my LABs and few
production sites, I decided to give it some space on my blog.

We`ll start with simple install procedure. I`m using Hyper-V as my main
hypervisor, so we`ll be doing tutorial on Hyper-V.

Hypervisor doesn`t matter a lot, setting up a new VM is similar on all the


platforms.

This LAB will be based on – Hyper-V hypervisor, Windows Server 2016 and
pFSense v2.3.4

In case you use some other hypervisor – FreeBSD (64bit) is platform you
want for pFSense setup.
Before we create VM and start install, let us first download pFSense
installation

Head to -> https://www.pfsense.org/download/


Choose Latest Stable Version (Community edition) | File Type: Install |
Architecture: AMD64 (64-bit) (or 32bit if you like) | Platform: CD Image (ISO)
Installer | Mirror: (closest to area where you live) in my case Frankfurt,
Germany | Download

ISO is small, about 306MB


While ISO is downloading, lets setup VM that will host it

Minimum hardware specs for pFSense can be found here


– https://www.pfsense.org/products/#requirements
So, minimum is 500Mhz CPU and 256MB RAM, optimal config is 1Ghz CPU and
1GB RAM. 1GB of HDD is required.

Lets start.

Hyper-V
Hyper-V Manager | Actions (right side of the window) | New | Virtual
Machine…

(I`ll be skipping few Windows with general info)

Choose a name and location for your VM | Next


I want Generation 1 VM since pFSense won`t boot on Generation 2 (I initially
done all the screenshots for Gen2 VM – but besides a little GUI differences all is
the same in Settings for Gen1 and Gen 2 VM) |Next
Assign RAM to the VM – 1GB is enough for testing. If you have large network
with heavy loads, you`ll of course need more |Next
For networking – I`ll choose not connected – but we`ll configure networking
right after we`re done with initial setup. We`ll need 2 NIC for this LAB. One for
internal network, and other for internet access.
Create a virtual hard disk – I`ll assign 4GB. | Next
Install an operating system later (since we need to define few more things
before) |Next
Summary |Finish
Select created virtual machine and then from the right part of the Screen select
| Settings

______________________________________________

!!Before we go further – you need to create two network adapters in Virtual


Switch Manager – one for internal communication between virtual machines,
and one adapter for access to the internet.
I will not be covering this, but I`ll just write very quickly where you can do it.
Hyper-V Manager | Actions | Virtual Switch Manager…

Select New virtual network switch and create – Internal and external switch.
Internal as its name says will be for internal communication between VMs, and
external will be for internet access. You need to connect External adapter to
the NIC that has internet access. Internal switch is virtual and doesn`t need
physical NIC.

When you are done and have two adapters ready – we can proceed – go back
to the settings of the newly created pFSense VM.

______________________________________________

Under Hardware |Network Adapter we`ll define virtual switch that we`ll use in
this LAB. I firstly selected Interna_Mreza (my internal adapter)
Then, we`ll need to create another adapter

Head on to Add Hardware | Select Network Adapter |Add


For the newly created adapter I selected NIC “Vanjski_LAN” which is my
external NIC
Now we have two NIC adapters we need for this LAB
Before we close settings of the pFSense VM, we need to add one more
“hardware piece” and do one more change.

Add Hardware | SCSI Controller |Add

New SCSI Controller will be automatically selected – select DVD drive |Add
Now, select Image file and find downloaded pFSense ISO image install.
pFSense will be probably downloaded in is.gz format. You can extract ISO from
.gz with 7Zip or similar tools (if you are using Microsoft Windows platform)

Apply
And final change – under Settings | Hardware | select Firmware and move DVD
drive to the top. |Apply |OK
Now we are finally starting pFSense installation – select your virtual machine
and start it.

pFSense

Let the countdown finish so the autoboot can load


Once again, let the countdown finish and installer will be invoked

I`ll leave default settings and select | Accept these Settings


Quick/Easy install

OK
…

Standard Kernel
…

Install is finished – select reboot.


After rebooting – remove virtual ISO image.

That is it, installation should be done now, and you should get following screen
after reboot
That is it for the installation – if you are interested in simple configuration for
the pFSense – follow this link -> https://www.informaticar.net/how-to-
configure-pfsense/

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