How To Install And Configure The IPFIRE (2.25 - Core Update 151) Network Firewall In Your Datacenter On VMware ESXi 6.0
The IPFIRE network firewall is a free to use and open source network security and protection product with a web based console for perfoming firewall configuration tasks. IPFIRE comes with out of the box features such as stateful network packet inspection,intrusion detection and prevention,VPN server and client capability,quality of service (QoS), Web proxy as well as system addons such as file server, printing and scanning,WiFi access point, backup server, mail server, asterisk voip server,as well as many common linux network troubleshooting and monitoring utilities. Read this tutorial to learn how to install the IPFIRE (2.25 – Core Update 151) network firewall in your datacenter on VMware ESXi 6.0
REQUIREMENTS
In order to complete this tutorial successfully the following items are required. Please ensure to have these items available before taking implementation action on this tutorial :
1) A desktop or laptop running Windows, MacOS or Linux with a web browser supported by the VMware ESXi web console.
2) An application or website such as seedr.cc or utorrent to download the IPFIRE disk image file (ISO)
3) A server with atleast 8GB RAM and two network interface cards.
4) VMware ESXi 6.0 or newer.
OVERVIEW
1) Go to the official IPFIRE website and download the IPFIRE torrent file. Use a torrent downloader such as seedr.cc or utorrent to get the IPFIRE disk image file.
2) Upload the IPFIRE ISO file to the datastore on the ESXi server and create a new IPFIRE virtual machine.
3) Start the virtual machine, connect to the virtual machine console and install IPFIRE
4) Open the browser based web console and complete any post installation setup tasks
Step 1: Download IPFIRE.
1) Go to ipfire.org and click on the DOWNLOAD button on the home page. On the download page, click on the TORRENT DOWNLOAD link to download a small file with a .torrent file extension.
2) Go to seedr.cc or any other website with capability to download or convert torrent files or links into direct download links. If you have chosen to use seedr.cc create a FREE account, and login using that free account.
Click on the UPLOAD FILE button, choose the torrent file that you downloaded and the seedr.cc website will automatically download the IPFIRE ISO file.
proceed by hovering your mouse over the IPFIRE ISO file, then click on the DOWNLOAD button.
Step 2: Upload The IPFIRE ISO File To The ESXi Sever And Create A New IPFIRE VM.
3) Open a new browser tab and type in the IP address or host name of your VMware ESXi server. Click on OPEN THE VMWARE ESXI HOST CLIENT to open the VMware ESXi web console login page. Type in your ESXi login credentials then click on LOGIN.
4) Click on STORAGE > DATASTORE BROWSER and click on the CREATE FOLDER option. Type in a name for the directory on the DIRECTORY NAME text box then click on the CREATE DIRECTORY button.
5) Double click on the directory that you have just created and click on the UPLOAD button.Browse to the folder where the IPFIRE ISO file was saved, select the ISO file and click on CHOOSE. A file upload progress bar will be display, wait for the upload process to complete before proceeding to the next step.
6) Click on VIRTUAL MACHINES > CREATE / REGISTER VIRTUAL MACHINE to open the NEW VIRTUAL MACHINE wizard. Select the CREATE A NEW VIRTUAL MACHINE option and click on NEXT.
On the SELECT A NAME AND GUEST OS page, type a name to identify the IPFIRE VM on the NAME text box. Set the COMPATIBILITY option to ESXi 6.0 VIRTUAL MACHINE, set the GUEST OS FAMILY option to LINUX and the GUEST OS VERSION to OTHER LINUX (64 BIT)
Click on NEXT to proceed.
7) On the SELECT STORAGE page, choose the ESXi datastore that you would like to use to store the IPFIRE virtual machine files. Click on NEXT to proceed to the CUSTOMIZE SETTINGS page.
Set the CPU option to 2 and the MEMORY option to 2048. Set the HARD DISK 1 to 50GB and the DISK PROVISIONING option to THIN PROVISIONED.
Click on NEXT to proceed.
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