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Can I run a free open source firewall that controls my network with more advanced QOS in a VM ?

A firewall is between "outside" and "inside". A semipermeable filter.

Case #1: a wire and a PC. PC has OS. OS has firewall to filter traffic between wire and OS.

Case #2: ISP wire, router, home wire, PC(s). Router has firewall in its OS. It filters traffic between ISP wire (WAN) and home wire (LAN). (Each PC has its own firewall too.

You seem to ask whether you can connect a VM to act as router between two subnets. Yes, you can. A link is a link whether it is physical, wireless, or virtual.

However, it is not clear where you would host the VM and therefore what is in the "inside"?

Case #3: a wire and a PC. PC has VM. wire is connected to the VM. VM is connected to the host OS. The VM routes traffic between wire and host OS. The VM has firewall. The host OS has firewall too. One wire. One network card.

Case #4: same as case #2, but the router is a PC with two network cards and has a VM. The VM filters between WAN and LAN. The host OS is connected only to the LAN.

Case #5: ISP wire is connected to a switch. Switch is connected to a PC. Switch is connected to LAN. The WAN-traffic goes through the switch to the PC. The LAN-traffic goes through the switch to the PC. There is only one wire between switch and PC. The switch supports VLANs and has two defined. The PC supports VLANs. Wire between switch and PC carries both VLANs (WAN and LAN). The PC could have a VM.


Yes, a VM could work (and is used by many). There is an extra attack vector from VM to host (and other VMs) that the separate devices do not have.
 
dave_the_nerd said:
1) Yes a VM would work for this.
2) Not necessarily, but you probably should.*

*Actually, you should probably have it running on separate hardware from your main "general use" PC, whether it's a VM or not.

Start here:

https://www.smallnetbuilder.com/oth.../31433-build-your-own-utm-with-pfsense-part-1
Click to expand...
Are there any firewall devices with a single port for ingress/egress? I'm not a network admin, but that feels like it would really suck (VLAN tagging for everything?).

To be pedantic, a HW firewall (even if the OS is virtualized) needs 2 NIC ports. Those could be onboard or on a 2-port NIC, or a combo thereof. You don't necessarily need 2 add-on NICs (since dual port is the common case) and a home user shouldn't.

Presumably the OP means "NIC port" when he said network card.
 
manly said:
Are there any firewall devices with a single port for ingress/egress? I'm not a network admin, but that feels like it would really suck (VLAN tagging for everything?).

To be pedantic, a HW firewall (even if the OS is virtualized) needs 2 NIC ports. Those could be onboard or on a 2-port NIC, or a combo thereof. You don't necessarily need 2 add-on NICs (since dual port is the common case) and a home user shouldn't.

Presumably the OP means "NIC port" when he said network card.
Click to expand...

It's not impossible but it would suck. I've only ever seen it happen with homebrew solutions, nothing commercial.
 
pcslookout said:
Would a VM work for this ? If so would I need more than one network card in my computer as well ?
Click to expand...

Yes to both. i am running pfsense in hyper-v. Get intel nics.

Mind you pfsense isn't open source, just free for home use.
 
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I would highly recommend getting a dual port NIC and assigning the entire card to the VM directly. Intel NICs tend to be much better supported for such functionality (both for virtualization hypervisors as well as support in almost all flavors of operating systems).
 
Please tell me you're not thinking of doing this purely to try to QoS your IDM traffic to stop if from tanking your network rather than just stop using IDM.
 
sdifox said:
Think of it as a learning experience.
Click to expand...

No offence to the OP, but at his technical skill level (based on his posts), trying to setup pfsense in Hyper-V on his desktop, the only thing I think he's going to learn is to hate you guys for suggesting it.
 
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