Help setting up pfSense

Ghost416 · September 5, 2015

Hi all,

I'm trying to set up pfSense on a HP t5740 Thin Client to manage monthly internet usage limits between three people, but I'm having some trouble.

Firstly the thin client doesn't recognize an ethernet PCI-E card so I only have one interface. Will it be possible to set it up using only one interface, and can someone guide me?

If there is no way to do this then my next option would be to set up pfSense on a virtual machine on another PC that is currently a file server. My hopes with this is that I can set up virtual machine and use one port for the internet connection (WAN) and the second port to connect to my local network for the file internet sharing (LAN).

Any thoughts or suggestions on alternative options welcome.

Thanks for any help.

awesomes8wc3 · September 5, 2015

I am not sure about installing it with only one interface, but one thing is for sure I do not recommend virtualizing it! I tried it once and it was really problematic, very slow, crashed a lot, etc.

KTFO|SGTmoody · September 5, 2015

Hi all,

I'm trying to set up pfSense on a HP t5740 Thin Client to manage monthly internet usage limits between three people, but I'm having some trouble.

Firstly the thin client doesn't recognize an ethernet PCI-E card so I only have one interface. Will it be possible to set it up using only one interface, and can someone guide me?

If there is no way to do this then my next option would be to set up pfSense on a virtual machine on another PC that is currently a file server. My hopes with this is that I can set up virtual machine and use one port for the internet connection (WAN) and the second port to connect to my local network for the file internet sharing (LAN).

Any thoughts or suggestions on alternative options welcome.

Thanks for any help.

It may let you as long as you can setup vlans. You would need a vlan capable switch attatched to your thin client. I have never tried it like that but im fairly sure it would work.

Yes you can set it up in a VM. I have a few virtual pfsense boxes in VMware that I use for home and other servers on remote sites. If your going to do this just make sure you keep a few snapshots so you can rool back to a working version if need be. I had power loss to a VMserver once that had PFsense VM on and some features just stopped working, the reason is still unknown, but i just rolled back to an old snapshot so wasnt an issue.

With the VM, you would not need a vlan capable switch even if you only had one interface.

Ghost416 · September 6, 2015

Thanks for the replies guys.

I got it to work by setting up a VLAN, now I just need to figure out the monthly limit set up.

I've set up CaptivePortal with freeRADIUS and it seems to be working somewhat, it asks for login but it doesn't seem to stop traffic when the limit is passed. I tried testing it by setting a 5 MB limit for myself but it doesn't stop me from using more. I read that there is a bug with the traffic limiting, but it only says that for pfSense version 2.0.x whereas I have 2.2.4, does anyone know if this is still an issue?