Hardware for OPNsense

[Sereno]

Good morning,
I am a new member of this community and I would like to share with you the desire that I have to learn how to use this interesting distro to equip my current home LAN with some advanced features (firewall, VPN server) that will allow me to make the LAN more secure and securely access remotely, through a VPN, to the LAN network cameras.
 
Unfortunately I'm a newbie as far as computer networks are concerned, so I hope to receive help from this community both in finding the right hardware for the current version of OPNsense and in installing and configuring OPNsense on the identified hardware.
 


I was thinking of dedicating to OPNsense an old desktop PC assembled by Olidata pentium II, HD 512 Mb and Ram less than 256 Mb and Windows 98 operating system.
 
The idea is to connect the PC, on which I will install OPNsense, to my current modem /router (Linksys WAG200G) after putting it in bridge.
 
I wanted to ask you therefore if the desktop PC mentioned above, can be good for installing OPNsense and if there is a step by step guide to proceed with the installation of OPNsense.
 
Reading some forums everyone says that you have to install a second network card but I did not understand why, if someone can explain it to me, kindly, I would be grateful.
 
And if so, what are the characteristics of the network card to be added to the PC?
 
Thank you for your help
Bye

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[marjohn56]

A firewall which at its heart is what Opnsense is has an 'in' and an 'out'. Traffic arriving on the 'in' side 'Internet or WAN' is filtered and passed to the 'LAN', that explains it in simple terms. It's more complex than that but take it as a base. So if you have an 'In' and an 'Out' you need two NICs or network ports.


Now you can do it with one NIC using VLANs, but then you need a VLAN capable switch to separate the LAN and the WAN traffic. Does that make sense?

[Sereno]

A firewall which at its heart is what Opnsense is has an 'in' and an 'out'. Traffic arriving on the 'in' side 'Internet or WAN' is filtered and passed to the 'LAN', that explains it in simple terms. It's more complex than that but take it as a base. So if you have an 'In' and an 'Out' you need two NICs or network ports.


Now you can do it with one NIC using VLANs, but then you need a VLAN capable switch to separate the LAN and the WAN traffic. Does that make sense?

Thanks a lot Marjohn56 for your answer, I wanted to ask you an info
 
Can I install OPNsense on an old desktop PC that has these features?
 
Processor pentium II; HD 512 Mb
 
Ram 256 Mb or less

Windows 98 OS.

1 single network card (I need to add another card)
 
1 CD player (that doesn't work, I have to have it repaired otherwise I can't boot the PC from CD)

If so, how should I proceed?
 


I think the things to do are as follows, please correct me if I am wrong

1) check if the PC hardware on which I would like to install OPNsense is adequate (and here you should help me, if you can tell me if the hardware of my old PC is adequate for the latest version of OPNsense)
 
2)add another network card

3) download the ISO file of the latest version of OPNsense (could you tell me the exact link from where to download OPNsense?)
 
4) create a bootable CD and boot the computer from CD (first, however, I must proceed to reformat the HD because I currently have the operating system Windows 98 on the disk and being a small hard disk I can not put even, OPNsense if I do not remove first Windows98!  Right?  )

To delete Windows 98 and make the PC ready for the installation of OPNsense what procedure should I follow?
 
Are these points that I have indicated correct?  Or did I forget something?
 
Thank you very much

Good Sunday
 
Sereno

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[Sereno]

Thank

[marjohn56]

I would not think so. Here's a link to the wiki page which tells you the minimum requirements.


https://wiki.opnsense.org/manual/hardware.html

[Sereno]

I would not think so. Here's a link to the wiki page which tells you the minimum requirements.


https://wiki.opnsense.org/manual/hardware.html

Thank you as soon as I can, I'll read everything.
 
Good Sunday
 
Bye and again thanks

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