How To PFSense Configure Network Interface As A Bridge / Network Switch

Our sample setup

The setup is as follows:

           +------------+
           |  NAS       |             192.168.1.254 (lan)
           |  Server 01 +------>--------+    +----------+
           +------------+               |    |          |
        192.168.1.10                    lan -+          +- wan (rl0)  ISP/Internet 
            +---------+                      |          |   Public IP: 202.54.1.1        
            | Desktop |                      | PFSense  |   
            +---------+------->----------+   | Host     |
        192.168.1.11                    opt1-+          |
            +------------+                   |          |
            | HP         |                   |          |
            | Printer 01 +------------->opt2-+          |
            +------------+                   +----------+
        192.168.1.12    

        Bridge0 includes following (note only lan interface needs an IP address)
        lan = vr0 = IP: 192.168.1.254
        opt1 = vr1 = IP: none
        opt2 = vr2 = IP: none

I’m going to assume that you’ve already assigned and configured wan and lan interfaces.

Step #1: Assign opt1 and opt2 interfaces

First, assign and enable all the additional interfaces such as opt1, opt2 and so on by visiting Interfaces > (assign) option:

Fig.01: Assign network ports

Click on each interface name such as opt1, opt2, opt3 and select “Enable Interface“. Make sure IPv4/IPv6 Configuration Type set to “None“. Finally click on the “Save” button:

Fig.02: Setting up opt2 interface

Warning: Only one interface on a bridge should have an IP address. In this example, I’ve assigned IP address to lan interface (192.168.1.254). Do not add multiple IP addresses in the same subnet on different bridge member interfaces. Other interfaces on the bridge should remain with an IP type of None.

Step #2: Create a bridge interface

Visit Interfaces > (assign > Bridges option. Click on + symbol to add bridge0 and select member interfaces such as LAN, OPT1, OPT2 and so on. In this example, I’m only selecting LAN and OPT3 as member interfaces for bridge0:

Fig.03: Configure bridging of interfaces (lan and opt3)

My final bridge0 interface will look as follows:

Fig.04: Interfaces: Bridge

Step #3: Adding a firewall rule

You need to add a firewall rule to allow traffic between each interface of the bridge. Click on Firewall > Rules > Select Lan interface. You need to select opt1, opt3 and so on. I suggest that you add a simple rule like “Default allow interface to any rule” i.e. set Protocol: any, Source: any, Destination: any > and click on the “Save” button:

Fig.05: Add a firewall rule

Step #4: Test it

Open the Terminal app and try to ping between nas server, printer and desktop using ping command:

ping 192.168.1.10
ping 192.168.1.254