PfSense Guest Notes

Tweaks and tips for better performance with pfSense >= 2.2 on Proxmox >= 3.4.

Note: This has been tested with pfSense 2.2 and Proxmox 3.4 (qemu 2.1)

Create VM

• Download the pfSense 2.2 amd64 "Live CD with installer" ISO .gz (from here), extract (gunzip) and transfer the ISO to your Proxmox server.
• Create a new VM:
  • CPU: dual-socket or dual-core
    • IMPORTANT: cpu type 'default kvm64' works, but if pfSense does not boot try 'qemu64' instead.
      Alternatively do the following:
      Either by escaping to boot prompt and run:
      • set hw.mca.enabled=0
      • boot
      • Or start with CPU emulation qemu64
    • After successful boot: echo "hw.mca.enabled=0" >> /boot/loader.conf.local
      Above fix means that any CPU model can be used (verified on Opteron). Documentation here -> pfSense forum
  • RAM: 512 MB (minimum)
  • Network: 2 or more Virtio (bridged)
  • Create a 8GB primary disk, Virtio (scsi, qcow2)
  • Add pfSense-LiveCD-2.2-RELEASE-amd64.iso ISO as an optical drive
  • Options, use tablet for pointers: No (you don't have to use mouse to manage it, if disabled reduces interrupts)

Network Virtio consideration

In the guest network interfaces names are like 'vtnetX'

IMPORTANT: Enter the web GUI and go in System > Advanced > Networking and flag Disable hardware checksum offload. If you don't do it layer3 traffic from lan to wan will not work, or will be really slow (but traffic to/from the firewall will work fine: see the pf sense wiki about virtio for details https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/VirtIO_Driver_Support )