Important info for Zach:

• Management console: 192.168.7.19

• Password = p@ssw0rd (Wow! So creative...)

• MAKE SURE THAT BOTH DRIVES ARE WIPED. If larger drive has an install, it will prioritze its information due to the boot order.

Milestone 1

ESXI Config

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• My first step was to access the IPMI of the server. My Ip for my IPMI is/was 102.168.7.52

• The menu looks like this....

Next, I navigated to "Remote Control" and clicked the "ikVM/HTML5" tab

This should cause a pop-up. After restarting the server with the "Power Control" option you should be able to press f11 to get the following boot menu:

• When this appears make sure to select General UDisk5.00"
• After this, select the ESXI installer to get the ball rolling

After this, make sure to select the smallest drive. Which in this case was the MICRON 1300:

• Make sure to overwrite the prior VMFS datastore

• This can be done using the "Install ESXI, overwrite VMFS datastore option

• After pressing enter and establishing a root passwd (and then hitting enter again) the install should begin. When it's finished the following will pop-up:

• Next, I physically removed the USB with the boot onit and pressed F11.
• You must then select the drive which you installed ESXI on.

• Press F2 before doing anything at this screen

• From the "Configure Management Network" ---> "Network Adapter" you can set the adapter to whatever interface you have connected. (In our case it was vmnic1)

• Next go to "IPv4 Configuration" and input your IP info. In my case this was 192.168.7.19 with a /24 subnet and a gateway of 192.168.7.250

• Then go into "DNS Configuration" and set your DNS server. In my case it was 192.168.4.4 for my primary DNS Server and '192.168.4.5` as the alternate.

• Finally, create a DNS suffix. Mine was cyber.local Press ESC, apply changes and restart the box (Saying yes to the prompts you get)

• Now you should be able to access your ESXI! (By typing in its IP address)

Datastore and Virtual Switching:

• In "Storage" select the "Devices" tab and select a space drive (the larger one we didn't select earlier). Use the "Actions" tab and clear the partition table.

• Next, navigate to "Datastores", press "New datastore" and utilize the following configuration when you get to it:

• Make sure to select the erase data option on the drive before completion.

• Navigate to the "Datastore browser". Upload the required ISOs to an "ISOs" folder on datastore2.

• After this is done, navigate to "Networking" ----> "Virtual Switches" ----> "Add standard virtual switch" and fill in the info it asks for.

• Next, go to port groups and click "Add port group"

• Virtual Switch after creation:

GW01 Setup

• Navigate to "Virtual Machines" then to "Create/Register VM". Copy the following configuration (Making sure to Thin Provision your disk, which I forgot to include in my screenshots)

• After this is complete, go to the "Virtual Machines" tab and select your newly created device. While there, go to "edit' and apply the pfSense iso, save, and reboot the machine...

• Accept and install. Making sure to set "Auto (UFS)" and "Entire Disk"

• Now reboot. After the reboot finishes, set the WAN interfaces and LAN interfaces.

• When the following options appear, choose "2" to configure your interfaces using your assigned IP addresses.

• Optional: Ping google.com to verify connection and DNS.

Xubuntu

• Using the same process as before, create a new virtual machine. (This time with some beefier stats and using the Xubuntu ISO.)
• After opening the VM's remote console via ESXI, you should get a menu like this:

*Utilize minimal installation:

• Make sure to select "Erase disk and install Xubuntu" saying yes to all prompts. This should start your install!

• Now, restart your new box. When the restart is done, you should see the default xubuntu login portal appear!

• As always, go to "advanced network settings" and begin configuring your device to your designated addresses.

• When this is done (correctly), you should be able to navigate to your PfSense main page (mine was at 10.0.17.2)

• Login using your default credentials and start using the pfSense wizard:

• Feel free to use 1.1.1.1 as a DNS for now. This will likely be changed later.

• The only changes you will make are unchecking the box labeled "Block RF1918 Private Networks" and check "Block bogon networks" if they aren't set that way already.

• Assuming you've set an admin password and followed instructions thus far, you should get a completion notice like this:

• Our final step is to go into ESXI and create snapshots for all of our boxes. This ensures that if we run into problems later we have a stable point to fall back on. This can be done by clicking "Take a snapshot" and saving it as an appropriate name. For my case, I named it "Base".