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The XG Series hardware appliances will reach end-of-life (EOL) on March 31, 2025. Click here to see the XG to XGS migration documentation.

Deploy Sophos Firewall in Proxmox Virtual Environment

You can install a Sophos Firewall QCOW2 disk on the KVM platform in Proxmox Virtual Environment.

Download the QCOW disk

To download the .zip file containing the Sophos Firewall QCOW2 disks for the KVM platform, do as follows:

  1. Go to Firewall Installers.
  2. Scroll to Virtual Installers: Firewall OS for KVM.
  3. Click Download.
  4. Extract and save the disks on the device that has Proxmox Virtual Environment installed. Make a note of the location. You'll need it later.

Deploy the Sophos Firewall QCOW disk

To deploy the Sophos Firewall QCOW disk, do as follows:

  1. Sign in to Proxmox Virtual Environment.
  2. Select your server and click Create VM.

    Proxmox VE dashboard with server and Create VM button highlighted.

  3. Enter a Name and click Next.

    General tab.

  4. Select Do not use any media and click Next.

    OS tab.

  5. Use the default settings for System, Hard Disk, and CPU. Click Next on each tab.

  6. Set Memory (MB) to 4096 and click Next.

    Memory tab.

  7. Choose your Bridge and click Next.

    Network tab.

  8. Make sure Start after created is unchecked, confirm your settings, and click Finish.

    Confirm tab.

    Make a note of the vmid. You'll need it later.

  9. Select your server and click >_ Shell.

    Proxmox VE dashboard with Shell button highlighted.

  10. Sign in and go to the directory where your VM's VHD is stored. By default, this is /mnt/pve/vmdisk/images/<vmid>/ where <vmid> is your vmid.

    Example

    root@a3r0-proxmox:~# cd /mnt/pve/vmdisk/images/108/
    root@a3r0-proxmox:/mnt/pve/vmdisk/images/108# ls
    vm-108-disk-0.qcow2
    
  11. Move the .zip file containing the Sophos Firewall QCOW2 disks for the KVM platform to this directory.

    Tip

    You can use curl to download the latest .zip file directly from the Sophos Firewall installers page. Do as follows:

    1. Go to Firewall installers
    2. Under Virtual Installers: Firewall OS for KVM, right-click Download and select Copy link.
    3. Use the following command to download the file, replacing <LINK> with the link you copied:

      curl -kO <LINK>
      
  12. Extract the Sophos Firewall QCOW2 disks.

    Example

    root@a3r0-proxmox:/mnt/pve/vmdisk/images/108# unzip VI-20.0.2_MR-2.KVM-378.zip 
    Archive:  VI-20.0.2_MR-2.KVM-378.zip
    inflating: AUXILIARY-DISK.qcow2    
    inflating: PRIMARY-DISK.qcow2      
    root@a3r0-proxmox:/mnt/pve/vmdisk/images/108# ls
    AUXILIARY-DISK.qcow2  VI-20.0.2_MR-2.KVM-378.zip
    PRIMARY-DISK.qcow2    vm-108-disk-0.qcow2
    root@a3r0-proxmox:/mnt/pve/vmdisk/images/108# 
    
  13. Open the configuration file in a text editor. By default, the file is at /etc/pve/qemu-server/<vmid>.conf where <vmid> is your vmid.

    Example

    root@a3r0-proxmox:/mnt/pve/vmdisk/images/108# nano /etc/pve/qemu-server/108.conf
    
  14. Remove the line that starts with scsi0.

    Terminal window with configuration file open and scsi0 line highlighted.

  15. Copy the following two lines and paste them into the configuration file where the line that starts with scsi0 was, replacing <vmid> with your vmid.

    scsi0: vmdisk:<vmid>/PRIMARY-DISK.qcow2,size=32G
    scsi1: vmdisk:<vmid>/AUXILIARY-DISK.qcow2,size=80G
    

    Example

    Terminal window with configuration file open and scsi0 and scsi1 lines highlighted.

  16. Go back to Proxmox Virtual Environment and select your firewall.

  17. Click Hardware, click Add. and select Network device.

    Proxmox VE dashboard with VM, Hardware, and Add buttons highlighted.

  18. Enter your network settings and click Add.

    Add: Network Device window with Add button highlighted.

  19. Click Options and make sure QEMU Guest Agent is turned off.

    Proxmox VE dashboard showing VM options with QEMU Guest agent turned off.

Configure your firewall

To power on and configure the virtual firewall, do as follows:

  1. Select your firewall and click Start.

    Proxmox VE dashboard with VM and Start button highlighted.

  2. Enter https://172.16.16.16:4444 into your web browser to connect to the firewall.

  3. Review and accept the Sophos End User Terms of Use.
  4. Click Start setup to begin registration and basic setup. See Registration and basic setup.

    Restriction

    The setup assistant won't start if you've changed the default password from the CLI console. You can complete the basic setup manually or reset the firewall to default to use the setup assistant.