Virtual IPs

Virtual IPs (VIPs) refer to a situation where an IP address does not correspond to a single physical interface. They are used in many scenarios, including the following:

  • NAT (including one-to-many NAT)
  • Scenarios where fault tolerance is needed (for example CARP)
  • Mobile usage scenarios, which allows a mobile user to maintain a consistent virtual IP address even as their actual IP address changes

To add a VIP, navigate to Firewall | Virtual IPs and click on the Add button at the bottom of the table. pfSense offers four options for virtual IPs:

  • IP Alias
  • CARP
  • Proxy ARP
  • Other

Of these four options, we can state the following:

  • CARP, Proxy ARP, and Other were available with the earliest versions of pfSense. IP Alias is available ...

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