I'm installing NetBSD in a VM on my homelab. See y'all on the other side...

:)
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Win32
* Origin: realitycheckbbs.org -- yesterday's tech today (46:1/115)

On Wed, 24 Jul 2024 11:39:05 -0700
"poindexter FORTRAN" (46:1/115)
<poindexter.FORTRAN@f115.n1.z46.fidonet> wrote:

I'm installing NetBSD in a VM on my homelab. See y'all on the other
side...

:)
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Win32
* Origin: realitycheckbbs.org -- yesterday's tech today (46:1/115)

I used NetBSD for a while since a friend was a developer and advocating
it. I gave up in the end because it was a pain to update at the time
and I always had issues with libraries.
--
End Of The Line BBS - Plano, TX
telnet endofthelinebbs.com 23
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (46:1/194)

On Wed, 24 Jul 2024 16:39:04 -0700, you wrote:

I'm installing NetBSD in a VM on my homelab. See y'all on the other side...

Never tried it, but I'd assume it's just a more difficult version of FreeBSD - which I played with for a bit just for the hell of it. I didn't really mess with ports at all, just used the binary 'pkg' method. Though, I'd imagine ports is a lot like portage, just not as many frills and colors as Gentoo has. :)

Regards,
Nick

... Take my advice, I don't use it anyway.
--- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:115.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderb
* Origin: _thePharcyde distribution system (Wisconsin) (41:1/100)

Re: Rabbit Hole Ahoy!
By: Accession to poindexter FORTRAN on Wed Jul 24 2024 05:30 pm

I'm installing NetBSD in a VM on my homelab. See y'all on the other
side...

Never tried it, but I'd assume it's just a more difficult version of FreeBSD - which I played with for a bit just for the hell of it. I didn't really mess with ports at all, just used the binary 'pkg' method. Though, I'd imagine ports is a lot like portage, just not as many frills and colors as Gentoo has. :)

portage is based on ports.


I run pfSense for my router here at home, which is based on FreeBSD. It's pretty easy to manage, but I don't think it has the actual ports system, as they don't like non-pfsense packages being installed.

...Kettle, plug, fridge, milk, coffee. Yawn.
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: The Sport is War, Total War - warensemble.com (46:1/193)

On Thu, 1 Aug 2024 14:46:36 -0500, you wrote:

portage is based on ports.

I know, that's why I'd imagine ports is a bit like portage. :)

I run pfSense for my router here at home, which is based on FreeBSD.
It's pretty easy to manage, but I don't think it has the actual ports system, as they don't like non-pfsense packages being installed.

What kind of hardware do you run it on? I'm using an Asus RT-AX88U Pro currently, which is working fine with Merlin firmware. However, in the future, I may not want to spend upwards of $300 or more on a new router if I already have some decent hardware laying around I could use.

Regards,
Nick

... Take my advice, I don't use it anyway.
--- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:115.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderb
* Origin: _thePharcyde distribution system (Wisconsin) (41:1/100)

Re: Rabbit Hole Ahoy!
By: Accession to DaiTengu on Thu Aug 01 2024 05:32 pm

I run pfSense for my router here at home, which is based on FreeBSD. It's
pretty easy to manage, but I don't think it has the actual ports system,
as they don't like non-pfsense packages being installed.

What kind of hardware do you run it on? I'm using an Asus RT-AX88U Pro currently, which is working fine with Merlin firmware. However, in the future, I may not want to spend upwards of $300 or more on a new router if I already have some decent hardware laying around I could use.

It's running on a 14 year old computer that I got from a private charter school that closed.

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 640 Processor
RAM: 4GB
Disk: 250GB (waaaay overkill)


Fortunately the motherboard has a PCIe port that worked with the Intel X710 4-port 10GBit NIC.

Now I just need to upgrade the rest of my home network to 10gbit :)

...Diplomacy is the art of letting someone else have your way.
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: The Sport is War, Total War - warensemble.com (46:1/193)

Hello Accession!

01 Aug 24 17:32, you wrote to DaiTengu:

I run pfSense for my router here at home, which is based on
FreeBSD. It's pretty easy to manage, but I don't think it has the
actual ports system, as they don't like non-pfsense packages being
installed.

What kind of hardware do you run it on? I'm using an Asus RT-AX88U Pro currently, which is working fine with Merlin firmware. However, in the future, I may not want to spend upwards of $300 or more on a new
router if I already have some decent hardware laying around I could
use.

If you don't want to get hardware for it, or can handle the router being on your VM host.
There is this:

https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/recipes/virtualize-esxi.html#virtualizing-pfsense-with-vmware-vsphere-esxi


The only limitation is requiring two nic's on the server, and the server it's self having to be up for the internet to work.




Vorlon


--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20240302
* Origin: Dragon's Lair ---:- dragon.vk3heg.net -:--- Prt: 6800 (46:3/101)

Re: Rabbit Hole Ahoy!
By: Vorlon to Accession on Sun Aug 04 2024 16:08:34

...and the server it's self having to be up for the internet to work.

Actually, the Internet will work without the server, but the server won't work without the Internet. ;)
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: End Of The Line BBS - endofthelinebbs.com (46:1/194)

On Thu, 1 Aug 2024 23:06:12 -0500, you wrote:

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 640 Processor
RAM: 4GB
Disk: 250GB (waaaay overkill)

Fortunately the motherboard has a PCIe port that worked with the Intel
X710 4-port 10GBit NIC.

Thanks for the info! I would also need to round up some kind of 4 port NIC or some such, but I have plenty of hardware laying around, if even including some RPi's if needbe.

Now I just need to upgrade the rest of my home network to 10gbit :)

Do you actually have the option for a somewhat decent price? I only have a gigabit option by me, as far as I know.. so that's what I have. It's a tad pricey, but it's the best and most stable option around here.

Regards,
Nick

... Take my advice, I don't use it anyway.
--- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:115.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderb
* Origin: _thePharcyde distribution system (Wisconsin) (41:1/100)

On Sun, 4 Aug 2024 21:08:34 +1000, you wrote:

If you don't want to get hardware for it, or can handle the router being
on your VM host.
There is this:

https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/recipes/virtualize-esxi.html#virtualizing-pfsense-with-vmware-vsphere-esxi

That doesn't look like a bad option, either.

The only limitation is requiring two nic's on the server, and the server it's self having to be up for the internet to work.

How would that work?

Do you treat one as incoming from the wall, run it through pfsense, and then use the other as outgoing to like a 4 port switch or something to feed the rest of the house?

Then, what about the other VMs on that same machine running esxi?

Regards,
Nick

... Take my advice, I don't use it anyway.
--- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:115.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderb
* Origin: _thePharcyde distribution system (Wisconsin) (41:1/100)

Re: Rabbit Hole Ahoy!
By: Accession to DaiTengu on Mon Aug 05 2024 04:41 pm

Now I just need to upgrade the rest of my home network to 10gbit :)

Do you actually have the option for a somewhat decent price? I only have a gigabit option by me, as far as I know.. so that's what I have. It's a tad pricey, but it's the best and most stable option around here.

TDS is installing in my neighborhood sometime in the next few months. I've been waiting for 3 years, and we're over a year out from their original promised target date.

I'll likely only get gigabit, but they do offer up to 8Gbit, supposedly. Not sure what the pricing is on it, but I'd be willing to bet it's premium, and requires a business plan.

I'd like to upgrade my switches to 10gbit, that way I don't have to worry about any future devices/computers in my home, but 10gbit switches are pricey.

If I get lucky though, an old 10G switch may "fall out of the loading dock door" at one of our datacenters and somehow wind up in a box that's shipped to my house. Similar to how the X710 NICs fell into my luggage last time I was out there.

Interesting how boxes and luggage keep getting between the loading dock doors and the dumpster. :D

...Mongo LIKE Candygram.
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: The Sport is War, Total War - warensemble.com (46:1/193)

Hello Accession!

05 Aug 24 16:47, you wrote to me:

The only limitation is requiring two nic's on the server, and the
server it's self having to be up for the internet to work.

How would that work?

Do you treat one as incoming from the wall, run it through pfsense,
and then use the other as outgoing to like a 4 port switch or
something to feed the rest of the house?

Then, what about the other VMs on that same machine running esxi?

One of the nic's is to the wall (network termination device) and is added to pfsense. Then another virtual nic is
added to pfsense just like any of your current vm's have, on the servers virtual switch.

The servers normal nic is still conncted to your local network as normal.




Vorlon


--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20240302
* Origin: Dragon's Lair ---:- dragon.vk3heg.net -:--- Prt: 6800 (46:3/101)

Accession wrote to Vorlon <=-

Do you treat one as incoming from the wall, run it through pfsense, and then use the other as outgoing to like a 4 port switch or something to feed the rest of the house?

That's where I get lost - I've seen tutorials using OpenSense, a
virtualization platform like Proxmox, and they used one network cable
running from the cable modem to the Proxmox server. They must have
created two virtual bridges, one for traffic from the router to the
firewall instance, and another virtual bridge to the LAN on the same
wire.

Other people just use a 2-port NIC, have one NIC for traffic from the
modem and another for the LAN side of the firewall.



--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckbbs.org -- yesterday's tech today (46:1/115)

DaiTengu wrote to Accession <=-

Interesting how boxes and luggage keep getting between the loading dock doors and the dumpster. :D

I had a car I called "The Dumpster". When my boss told me to toss
something out into the dumpster, I complied. :)

I jumpstarted the BBS with a PC and hard drives I got from that job, and
was given a box of modems that had been made obsolete. I used to give
them out to prospective callers with a floppy disk and a term program
with my BBS at dialing directory entry #1. Made a few new callers that
way.



--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckbbs.org -- yesterday's tech today (46:1/115)

On Mon, 5 Aug 2024 22:57:12 -0500, you wrote:

TDS is installing in my neighborhood sometime in the next few months.
I've been waiting for 3 years, and we're over a year out from their original promised target date.

Yikes. Sounds about right, though. All of this fiber shit should have been ran a long time ago in most suburbs. But alas, they seem to only do what they need to, to get by. Hell, there's still ISPs that don't offer IPv6, how ridiculous is that!?

I'll likely only get gigabit, but they do offer up to 8Gbit, supposedly. Not sure what the pricing is on it, but I'd be willing to bet it's
premium, and requires a business plan.

Yeah, I wouldn't doubt that. I have Spectrum here, and their highest plan is gigabit (which I have). I'm unsure and unaware of anything better offered by any of the other providers in the area (at the moment the only competitor might even be AT&T - I don't think FIOS is around here), but most of the other service providers around here are shoddy, at best.

I'd like to upgrade my switches to 10gbit, that way I don't have to
worry about any future devices/computers in my home, but 10gbit switches are pricey.

I guess I'm not too worried about it at the moment. I think most of my NICs are what, 100/1000mbit nowadays? Guessing by the time I need to upgrade my router again, most of them will probably support 10g both ways by then.

Interesting how boxes and luggage keep getting between the loading dock doors and the dumpster. :D

Lucky you have that option! :)

Regards,
Nick

... Take my advice, I don't use it anyway.
--- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:115.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderb
* Origin: _thePharcyde distribution system (Wisconsin) (41:1/100)

On Tue, 6 Aug 2024 19:15:50 +1000, you wrote:

One of the nic's is to the wall (network termination device) and is
added to pfsense. Then another virtual nic is
added to pfsense just like any of your current vm's have, on the servers virtual switch.

I guess I may have worded my original questions wrong.

How would I get wired internet to any other computers in the house, outside of the server machine?

The servers normal nic is still conncted to your local network as normal.

Through what, a 4 (or more) port switch to feed other computers?

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

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

I don't feel like crawling under the desk right now, but I'm fairly certain my server machine already has two NICs.

Regards,
Nick

... Take my advice, I don't use it anyway.
--- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:115.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderb
* Origin: _thePharcyde distribution system (Wisconsin) (41:1/100)

On Tue, 6 Aug 2024 12:18:00 -0700, you wrote:

That's where I get lost - I've seen tutorials using OpenSense, a virtualization platform like Proxmox, and they used one network cable running from the cable modem to the Proxmox server. They must have
created two virtual bridges, one for traffic from the router to the firewall instance, and another virtual bridge to the LAN on the same
wire.

One cable to supply the internets to the virtualization platform (better yet, directly to pfsense), then a virtual bridge created for any other VMs on that same machine, but then /another/ bridge would probably need to be created for the rest of the LAN *outside* of the virtualization platform, ie other computers.

This is more confusing than I thought it would be. :)

Other people just use a 2-port NIC, have one NIC for traffic from the modem and another for the LAN side of the firewall.

Uh huh. Where does that go, though, if you want your entire LAN to pass through pfsense, first? See where I'm going with this? Refer to my previous message to Vorlon asking specifics in regards to this.

I've definitely stumped myself, unless I'm on the right track in my previous message.

Regards,
Nick

... Take my advice, I don't use it anyway.
--- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:115.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderb
* Origin: _thePharcyde distribution system (Wisconsin) (41:1/100)

Hello Accession!

06 Aug 24 17:13, you wrote to me:

One of the nic's is to the wall (network termination device) and
is added to pfsense. Then another virtual nic is added to pfsense
just like any of your current vm's have, on the servers virtual
switch.

outside of the server machine?

The servers normal nic is still conncted to your local network as
normal.

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

Do you have a network switch with all your gear conncted to (Not the router)?

Ie:

Cable Modem ---> router ---> Network swicth (4 or more ports) === All other gear

Or is your setup:

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

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

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

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

http://vk3heg.net/pfs/

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

Pfsense is connected like this:

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

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

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


Vorlon


--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20240302
* Origin: Dragon's Lair ---:- dragon.vk3heg.net -:--- Prt: 6800 (46:3/101)

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

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

Do you have a network switch with all your gear conncted to (Not the router)?

No. The "switch", I guess, is built into the router. See below.

Ie:

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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

Pfsense is connected like this:

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

You'll see in my screen shots, that nic2 is called "WAN" (vswitch1 in my 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).

BTw: If your using the wifi from your router, you'll need a dedicated
wifi access point (Unless your router can work as a AP
as well. Some can. You'll have to look in it's config or try just connecting it back to your network via one of the lan ports
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.
--- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:115.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderb
* Origin: _thePharcyde distribution system (Wisconsin) (41:1/100)

Hello Accession!

07 Aug 24 17:29, you wrote to me:

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

No. I have The server, My workstation, the BBS (Amiga), TV/Media box, WiFi Access point all on the same network switch.
All of my VM's (9) and my local machine's are all on the same physical network. It's not a complectated network, they all connect to the same network swicth.
I have no need to seperate them out. Plus my network follows the KIS standard! #-)

ESXi Server 8 Port Swicth
*---------------*
*---* | ____ ____ | *---------*
|NTD| <---->|NIC2| |NIC1|<--->| * * * * | <---> Rest of computers etc...
*---* | | *---------*
*---------------*
NTD: Network Termination Device. It's the ISP endpoint (Ethernet)

Pfsense is connected like this:
Nic 1: vswicth0 (VM network)
Nic 2: Physical Nic2 to your cable modem.

You'll see in my screen shots, that nic2 is called "WAN" (vswitch1
in my 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).

See above. Those screen shots are from ESXi's web interface.

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

Then you won't need a extra network swicth, just use your current router as the network swicth (With the wan cable[s] disconnected.)

Vorlon


--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20240302
* Origin: Dragon's Lair ---:- dragon.vk3heg.net -:--- Prt: 6800 (46:3/101)

On Fri, 9 Aug 2024 16:26:36 +1000, you wrote:

No. I have The server, My workstation, the BBS (Amiga), TV/Media box,
WiFi Access point all on the same network switch.
All of my VM's (9) and my local machine's are all on the same physical network.

Ok. Your description before didn't include all of that.

It's not a complectated network, they all connect to the same network swicth.
I have no need to seperate them out. Plus my network follows the KIS standard! #-)

ESXi Server 8 Port Swicth
*---------------*
*---* | ____ ____ | *---------*
|NTD| <---->|NIC2| |NIC1|<--->| * * * * | <---> Rest of computers etc... *---* | | *---------*
*---------------*
NTD: Network Termination Device. It's the ISP endpoint (Ethernet)

I'm not trying to separate anything out. I basically was describing the exact same thing as the picture above.

Then you won't need a extra network swicth, just use your current router
as the network swicth (With the wan cable[s] disconnected.)

Why would the WAN cable be disconnected? Wouldn't I have to run an ethernet cable from NIC1 <---> Router (in place of the 8 port switch)?

I'm not trying to have the "Rest of computers" using wifi, I want them wired.

Regards,
Nick

... Take my advice, I don't use it anyway.
--- Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:115.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderb
* Origin: _thePharcyde distribution system (Wisconsin) (41:1/100)

Hello Accession!

09 Aug 24 16:46, you wrote to me:

Then you won't need a extra network swicth, just use your current
router as the network swicth (With the wan cable[s] disconnected.)

Why would the WAN cable be disconnected? Wouldn't I have to run an ethernet cable from NIC1 <---> Router (in place of the 8 port switch)?

You will be only using your current router as a network switch and wifi ap. You don't want the router trying to route, when pfsense is doing
that job, and this requires the wan port cable to be disconnected. (Unless it's documentation says otherwise)

I'm not trying to have the "Rest of computers" using wifi, I want them wired.

If you have a need for more than 4 devices to be wired, then a 8 port network swicth will be needed.


Vorlon


--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20240302
* Origin: Dragon's Lair ---:- dragon.vk3heg.net -:--- Prt: 6800 (46:3/101)

On 06 Aug 2024, poindexter FORTRAN said the following...

I had a car I called "The Dumpster". When my boss told me to toss something out into the dumpster, I complied. :)

Thanks for the smile, nice one :)

|15d|07ozo
|08ssh://|11g|03lobal|11v|03illage|11b|03bs|08.|11n|03et|08:|082222 |08(|07fsx|08) |0721:1/238 |08(|07agn|08) |0746:20/115
|08(|07tqw|08) |071337:1/117 |08(|07spn|08) |07700:1/117

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: The Global Village ssh://globalvillagebbs.net:2222 (46:20/115)