Subj : Rabbit Hole Ahoy!
To   : Vorlon
From : Accession
Date : Wed Aug 07 2024 17:29:06

On Wed, 7 Aug 2024 16:06:58 +1000, you wrote:

 Ac>> For example, right now my cat6 cable goes from the wall to my modem,
 Ac>> then to my router which has 4 ports on it to feed my server machine
 Ac>> (which has virtual NICs, of course, to feed whatever VMs I have), and
 Ac>> 3 other separate computers.

 V> Do you have a network switch with all your gear conncted to (Not the
 V> router)?
No. The "switch",  I guess, is built into the router. See below.

 V> Ie:

 V> Cable Modem ---> router ---> Network swicth (4 or more ports) === All
 V> other gear
 V> Or is your setup:

 V> Cable modem --> router --> all other gear

This. My router has 2 inbound ports from WAN (gig or 10gig), and 4 outbound ports to run to separate machines.

 V> How many other devices are on your network (Wired/WiFi)?

Wired = 4 separate cases. One of them being my server machine. Wifi, I couldn't even tell you, but it's probably 10-20 devices at any given time.

 Ac>> If I remove the router, and run the cat6 from the modem to the server
 Ac>> machine running pfsense, Then I would need some kind of 4 port switch
 Ac>> off the other NIC on the server machine to feed the rest of the
 Ac>> house, correct?

 V> You only need a second nic in your server. Here are some screen shots of
 V> my setup.

 V> http://vk3heg.net/pfs/

It seems after pfsense, you're running the rest of your network virtually? I can only do that with the VMs running on the same server machine pfsense would be installed on.

Then, I need to wire up 3 other PCs.

 V> A normal vm on your server would be connected to vswitch0 (VM Network),
 V> and only that single nic.

 V> Pfsense is connected like this:

 V> Nic 1: vswicth0 (VM network)
 V> Nic 2: Physical Nic2 to your cable modem.

 V> You'll see in my screen shots, that nic2 is called "WAN" (vswitch1 in my
 V> case. I have just renamed it)

I see, and think I understand. However, I don't see anything besides your VM network, like other hard wired machines (not virtual).

 V> BTw: If your using the wifi from your router, you'll need a dedicated
 V> wifi access point (Unless your router can work as a AP
 V> as well. Some can. You'll have to look in it's config or try just
 V> connecting it back to your network via one of the lan ports
 V> and leave the WAN port disconnected).

Most can, nowadays. But yes, this one can. It can also work in a mesh network, but my house isn't big enough for all of that.

Regards,
Nick

.... Take my advice, I don't use it anyway.
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