Install OPNsense firewall from USB for your Home Lab (setup guide)

How to install OPNsense firewall from USB for your Home Lab. Setup guide for installing and configuring OPNsense: Assign WAN and LAN interfaces, configure interface IP addresses, set timezone and change the root password

Hardware requirements for OPNsense

The hardware requirements for running OPNsense firewall can be found in the docs
https://docs.opnsense.org/manual/hardware.html

• You should make sure your hardware meets the reasonable specification as a minimum.
• Some OPNsense features may require better hardware and more disk space.

OPNsense on HP T610 Plus Thin Client

In this example, I'm installing OPNsense firewall on a refurbished HP T610 Plus Thin Client.

The HP T610 Plus is a reasonably cheap and widely available thin client with enough CPU and memory to run OPNsense firewall in a small network environment or home lab.

I've added an HP NC365T 4 port gigabit ethernet NIC, so I've got extra firewall interfaces.
I'll use the onboard NIC for the LAN interface and port1 of the HP NC365T as the WAN interface.

I've removed the 16GB multi-level cell (MLC) flash drive and installed a 256GB SSD. 60GB or 120GB would also be OK; 256GB is the smallest hard drive I had on hand.

The hard drive is held in place using cable ties; if anyone knows where I can get a 2.5" hard drive bracket for the HP T610 Plus, please let me know in the comments.

HP T610 Plus Thin Client Hardware Specs

AMD G-T56N Processor 1650 Mhz (2 cores)
4GB memory
256GB SSD
HP NC365T 4 port gigabit ethernet NIC

Download OPNsense

https://opnsense.org/download

Download the amd64 vga image for installing from USB

Extract the iso file from the compressed bz2 file using 7-Zip

OPNsense-22.7-OpenSSL-vga-amd64.img.bz2 > OPNsense-22.7-OpenSSL-vga-amd64.img 

Create bootable USB drive for installing OPNsense

UseRufus to create a bootable USB drive for installing OPNsense

Select the OPNsense .img file
Click start to create the bootable USB

Install OPNsense from USB

When you boot from the USB drive, the OPNsense live environment will automatically start, and interfaces will also be automatically assigned.
You don't need to change any settings at this stage. Just wait for OPNsense to load.

Login with username installer to start the OPNsense installation

username: installer
password: opnsense

Choose your keyboard layout
Select keymap: United Kingdom

Continue with selected keymap

Install (UFS) GPT/UEFI Hybrid

Select hard drive ada0

Continue with recommended swap partition? Yes

Installation in progress

Complete install

Assign WAN and LAN interfaces

Login with the OPNsense default username and password

username: root
password: opnsense

1 Assign interfaces

Do you want to configure LAGGs now? No
Do you want to configure VLANs now? No

Enter the WAN interface name: igb0
igb0 is port 1 of the HP NC365T network card

bge0 is the onboard NIC 

Enter the optional interface name - press [Enter] for none

Interfaces will be assigned as follows:
WAN -> igb0
LAN -> bge0

Do you want to proceed? Yes

Configure LAN interface IP address

2 Set interface IP address

1 LAN (bge0)

Configure IPv4 address LAN interface via DHCP? No
Enter the new LAN ipv4 address: 192.168.1.254
Enter the new LAN IPv4 subnet bit count (subnet mask) 24
Upstream gateway address - for a LAN - press [Enter] for none

Configure IPv6 address LAN interface via WAN tracking? No
Configure IPv6 address LAN interface via DHCP? No
Enter the new LAN IPv6 address - press [Enter] for none

Do you want to enable the DHCP server on LAN ? No
Do you want to change th web GUI protocol to HTTPS? Yes
Restore web GUI access defaults? Yes

You can now access the web GUI by browsing to http://192.168.1.254 

OPNsense initial setup wizard

Access the web GUI by browsing to http://192.168.1.254
Login with the OPNsense default username and password

username: root
password: opnsense

General Setup

Click Next to start the setup wizard

General Information

Change the hostname (optional)
Leave the other settings at the defaults

Time Server Information

Set the timezone

Configure WAN Interface

Configure WAN Interface using DHCP

This will usually be set to DHCP for most home broadband connections with a dynamic WAN IP address

Configure WAN Interface using static IP address
In this example, we're configuring a static WAN IP address

IPv4 configuration: Static

Enter your WAN IP address in CIDR format and upstream gateway IP address
You should get all the IP addressing details from your Internet provider

Leave the other settings as the defaults

Configure LAN Interface

Subnet Mask: 24 

Set Root Password

Change the root password

Reload Configuration

Click reload to apply the changes

Reload in progress

OPNsense dashboard