Pfsense with single nic

[StefanSz]

Hi ,

I’m new to proxmox , pfsense and I have limited networking knowledge so not good to start with .

Current setup:
I have 2 x mini PC (AMD 5700g with a Inwin chopin case , so I can’t install anything in the pcie slot) with proxmox installed on both (in cluster mode) , the itx motherboard has only 1 network port and Wi-Fi .

I also have a Synology NAS server , with 2 network ports .

I have a Wi-Fi router from my ISP with 5 network ports and one network port for the ISP network , with ppoe configured already with some vlan config as well (to connect to the isp network - it came preconfigured) .

The router from the isp is acting as dhcp and has some port forwarding setup for my Plex server that runs on the NAS .

Both mini pcs are connected to my wifi router using network cable , also the Synology NAS is connected to the Wi-Fi router , but I’m using 2 ports for extra bandwidth (so 4 out of 5 ports are already in use)

In the house I have a multitude of devices all connected to the Wi-Fi (tvs , laptops , other computers)

The isp router already has some username password configured against it for pppoe, but I can’t view the password , so it needs to be the main device connected to the isp network

I want all my proxmox VMs, Synology NAS , and other physical devices to route all traffic via the pfsense vm . Is this possible or What are my options ?

I can purchase usb network adaptors and try to do pass though , but I don’t know how good they are if going via usb , also don’t know if this will help with anything . I’m open to suggestions . Thanks

 

[bobmc]

Theoretically, there would be nothing stopping you running pfsense under proxmox with a single physical nic on the host but it does make more sense logically to have a nic dedicated to WAN traffic. There are plenty of USB to Ethernet adaptors around so that would seem to be a sensible option but you will probably need to make sure that drivers are available. Personally I wouldn't bother with pass-through if you get one, I would just create a second bridge and assign that to the pfsense appliance as the second nic.

If you want your wired devices to route via the pfsense, they will need to be on a separate network where the pfsense is the gateway address for that subnet and you will probably need to buy a small network switch so that you can isolate dhcp/lan traffic. In that case, your wireless devices will not be able to communicate with anything on the wired network unless your ISP router supports static routing which is unlikely.

Alternatively, disable the dhcp server on the ISP router and put everything (logically) behind the pfsense. You will need to verify that your wifi devices can get a dhcp lease from pfsense but that should work (you may need to reboot the router after disabling dhcp).

Secondly you will need to double-NAT your plex server to make it accessible outside your home.