Last Updated on July 10, 2024 by Adams
pfsense hyper-v setup!
How to Setup Hyper-V on pfSense:
You may know that there’s nothing better than having your own personal server, with an old computer in the closet. Well, maybe not in the closet, but you get the idea.
Setting up a server can be tricky, though, so it’s good to have some guidance along the way—especially if this is your first server installation. This guide on how to setup hyper-v on pfSense will help you get started using Hyper-V with pfSense on your existing system or new computer, so let’s get started!
Download and Install Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016:
While Microsoft makes it easy to download and install Windows Server, you will need to work a little harder in order to get Hyper-V.
Head over here and download both Windows Server 2016 Standard (for managing virtual machines) and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2016 (for actually hosting virtual machines). Once they have downloaded, burn them both onto DVD, or create installation media with another tool such as Rufus.
When you’re ready, restart your machine from your installation media, and proceed with installing Windows Server. After it is installed, you will want to log into your server and launch PowerShell.
Enable I/O APIC:
Since we’re installing Windows, make sure you enable I/O APIC. The vast majority of physical server motherboards have an I/O APIC enabled by default, but it’s a good idea to check before installation.
This setting is found in your motherboard’s BIOS and is usually set for Disabled, which should be changed to Enabled. Reboot your system after changing this setting and open up Device Manager as well as System Information.
Configure iptables Firewall to Allow VM Network Connections:
You’ll need to configure your firewall to allow traffic between your host machine and VM instance. You can do so with a simple iptables command: sudo iptables -I INPUT 1 -i vmnic0 -j ACCEPT. Substitute vmnic0 with whatever NIC you’re using in your VM. Repeat for any additional NICs you want exposed, then exit.
Install Virtual Machine Guests with pfSense (Virtual Box)
Microsoft Virtual Box is an open source virtualization product that can be downloaded for free. To get started using it with pfSense, follow these steps: 1. Install Virtual Box 2. Open up Virtual Box 3. Navigate to File > Preferences 4. Click on Display in left sidebar 5. Select Shared Clipboard (Experimental) 6. Restart 7. Edit a virtual machine 8. Choose Para virtualized network 9.
Installing the VMware Tools in a Virtual Machine Guest (pfSense)
After your guest operating system has booted, open a terminal window, and type vmware. If VMware Workstation was installed in a non-default location, you may need to use /usr/bin/vmware instead. Enter guest info.
You should see a line with VMware Tools not installed, underlined in red. Type: install VMware Tools This command installs most of what you need into your virtual machine, which will let you access shared folders with Windows systems and run programs written for Windows (like PuTTY) from inside your virtual machine. Once you’ve done that, restart your virtual machine.
Configuring Dual IP for Internal NIC:
Open up PuTTY, put in your credentials, and connect to your server. The default port is 22. Now you need to enter config mode by typing configure without quotes and hitting enter. Here we will change our internal IP for our WAN NIC so that both LAN AND WAN can access it, however it will also be reachable internally as well as externally.
To do that simply type set interfaces Ethernet eth1 address 192.168.3.1/24 without quotes and hit enter, now press ‘Y’ when prompted, and then press enter again. Then press escape twice to get back into command mode if you are not already there already and type save without quotes, then hit enter again….
Configuring External DNS Servers for Hostname Resolution:
In some cases, you may wish to change your DNS servers for a variety of reasons. For example, if you want Google’s public DNS servers instead of your ISP’s default (OpenDNS), then all you need to do is go into Services > DNS Resolver and make sure that Enable DNS Resolver is checked.
Once it is, just click Save and then click Apply Changes at the bottom of your screen. When done properly, you should see 1 Active Server(s) in that section. If not, clear your browser cache and try again or restart your computer if needed.
If you want to learn more about pf sense hardware, we recommend reading this Article.
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