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Evan M.
Asked: 2010-05-20 08:10:40 +0800 CST

Simple NAT router for ESX

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I'm looking for a simple virtual appliance that I can deploy to my ESX environment to use as a virtual NAT router / firewall to create an isolated network that I can easily give internet access too.

Basic setup: ESX Host, has 2 vswitches configured: 1 is connected to the physical LAN, the other is isolated. I need an appliance that I can add 2 vNICs to, and attach one to the isolated vSwitch, the other to the LAN, to give the isolated network outbound access (so it can reach the internet).

Anyone have an appliance that I can setup quickly to do so?

Thanks.

vmware-esx

2 Answers

  1. I like PFSense www.pfsense.org, they have a VMWare appliance:

    http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/VMwareAppliance

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  2. Any VM with routing capabilities will do:

    • Linux with some IPTABLES configuration.
    • FreeBSD with its PF (or IPTABLES again).
    • Windows Server with the built-in RRAS.
    • Even Windows client (XP, Vista, 7) with its built-in Internet Connection Sharing can do that.

    If you know some Linux and IPTABLES, it's quite easy to set this up; if you're more Windows-oriented, the Routing and Remote Access Service (built-in in Windows Server since 2000) it's very easy to set up and configure on a (virtual) server with two NICs.

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