FireboxV Installation Overview

The installation prerequisites and steps to deploy a FireboxV virtual machine depend on which hypervisor environment you use. Before you begin, download the software from the Software Downloads section of the WatchGuard website.

  • For VMware ESXi: FireboxV Open Virtual Machine Format (.ovf) template
  • For Hyper-V: FireboxV .vhd virtual hard disk file
  • WatchGuard System Manager software

VMware ESXi

For FireboxV on ESXi, WatchGuard distributes the appliance as a virtual appliance .ovf template.

To deploy a FireboxV virtual appliance on an ESXi host:

  1. Deploy the FireboxV virtual appliance to an ESXi host.
  2. Power on the FireboxV virtual machine.
  3. Connect to the FireboxV virtual machine and use the Web Setup Wizard to set up a basic configuration.
  4. Allocate additional resources to the FireboxV virtual machine.

For complete instructions, go to Deploy FireboxV on VMware ESXi.

You can also configure two FireboxV virtual machines as a FireCluster on ESXi. For more information, go to Configure a FireCluster on VMware ESXi.

Microsoft Hyper-V

For FireboxV on Hyper-V, WatchGuard distributes the appliance as a virtual hard disk (.vhd) file.

To deploy a FireboxV virtual hard disk in a Hyper-V environment:

  1. Use Hyper-V Manager or System Center VMM to deploy the FireboxV virtual machine and select the .vhd file to use.
  2. Assign network adapters, and power on the FireboxV virtual machine.
  3. Connect to the FireboxV virtual machine and run the Web Setup Wizard to set up a basic configuration.
  4. Allocate additional resources to the FireboxV virtual machine.

For complete instructions, go to Deploy FireboxV on Hyper-V.

Linux KVM

In Fireware v12.6.2 and higher, you can deploy FireboxV on a Linux KVM hypervisor. For more information, go to Deploy FireboxV on KVM.

Fireware Setup Wizards

You can use the Fireware Web Setup Wizard to create the initial configuration on a deployed FireboxV virtual machine. To run the Web Setup Wizard, you can connect to the FireboxV virtual machine from a computer on either the external or trusted network.

If you have installed WatchGuard System Manager on a computer on the FireboxV trusted network, you can use the Quick Setup Wizard in WatchGuard System Manager instead of the Web Setup Wizard to discover the FireboxV virtual machine and set up the basic device configuration.