09: Building a Router With pfSense
Comments (13)
July 16, 2008
July 16, 2008
Do you have extra computers lying around the house? In this episode, Matt shows us how to convert an old computer into a home network router. Here is all he needed:
- Old computer
- Network cards (at least 2)
- Wireless network card (optional)
- Simplified operating system distribution - pfSense
- Tool Kit
- Monitor
- Keyboard
Also on this episode: This week’s predictions - the reincarnation of Anton van Leeuwenhoek
Contact Information:
EMAIL: contact@wideopenmind.comTWITTER: @stevezeidner | @lzeidner
WEBSITES: http://stevezeidner.com | http://leighzeidner.com
13 Comments, Comment or Ping
ANTRONICUS PRIME
Great episode! Animation was flippin’ tight. Good job with splicing the theme. Need to generate more music (more variety). Thanks Matt, I now understand all the jargon that was in the manual for my Airport router. Perhaps I will merge with ANTON someday and become the ultimate cyborg, and kick SKYNET’s rear.
Jul 17th, 2008
Chris Buechler
Nicely done!
I linked here on our blog.
http://blog.pfsense.org/?p=213
one comment from me there on the alert you were seeing.
Brief comment on VLANs for the newbs watching this - this requires interaction with your switch using 802.1q trunking. Any decent managed switch will support this, but the most common cheap unmanaged home switches do not. This is typically only used in larger networks with hundreds or thousands of devices, or by crazy geeks such as myself that run all corporate-grade managed switches and VLANs at home. :)
Jul 17th, 2008
Steve Z
Hey Chris…thanks for the tip on the VLANs and for the promotion on the pfSense website. I think the alert was caused by a bad network card in the computer we were using, so your software was doing the right thing!
Jul 17th, 2008
Matthew
I like how this one turned out, especially how you have me going in high speed when putting the cards in. I wish I could always move that fast when working on computers.
Jul 17th, 2008
Jessi
SWEET animation Leigh! I love the big-brained little guy - complete with legs and feet. Music overlay was good too (props to Anthony). Very informative and useful info. Except that you spelled “provider” wrong in the definition for router.
Jul 20th, 2008
john
Hi,
I really like your tutorial, but what would I need to do plugin multiple computers on 1 network card (internal LAN)?
Or do I need to connect a router on one of the ports? But doing that, what’s the point of having a pfSense router/firewall PC?
Thanks
John
Jul 22nd, 2008
Steve Z
John, in order to plug in multiple computers to go through the router, you would plug the internal LAN card into a switch. Most consumer routers typically have a 4 or 5 port switch built-in, but switches can also be purchased as separate devices. You can get an 8-port Gigabit switch nowadays for less than $50 (for example, the LINKSYS EG008W at newegg) or 5-port switches for even less than that. Building your own router might cost a little more than a consumer router (unless you have all of the parts already lying around), but it will give you many more options for routing your internet traffic (and possibly better performance as well).
Jul 22nd, 2008
George E.
Hey guys, great little show. I’ve used pfSense before and I think it’s great. I’m glad to see people out there not only promoting it and FreeBSD, but also teaching others about it. Keep up the good work! You’ve got a new fan.
Jul 25th, 2008
Sarah
I am such a fan of the intro–SWEET stuff! And while the computer stuff was over my head, it all sounded good–plus, I liked the little animations and such. You guys rock!
Aug 1st, 2008
Shell
Awesome episode! The new graphics were clever and you did a great job of defining and explaining everything for networking laity such as myself. Now I know what to do with my husband’s old computers >:] Loved the outtakes, too!
Aug 2nd, 2008
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