even epia cl 6000 is not too old, although it's older than the cl 10000. pulled mine out of the "junk box" a few days ago to build a replacement for my current router. :)

Those Xeon D's look ideal but as mentioned, very hard to find and they look pretty costly as well, although the integrated 10GB Nic offsets that slightly.

I think I can probably spec up a Xeon E3 for a similar price to one of the C2758's so I guess that's the best option for now.

Thanks for the replies

I put in one of these at my house.
http://www.microcenter.com/product/428946/EAP900H_High-powered_N900_Indoor_Dual-Band_Access_Point-Wireless_Distribution_System_(WDS)

For businesses I recommend open mesh access points.

Both are solid business grade hardware.  I have so much 2.4Ghz interference at my house, that band is almost unusable.  5Ghz works great for all my phones, and laptops that support AC.

+CFUN=1 doesn't help.

Code: [Select]

CHAT: The modem is not responding to "AT+CFUN=1" at ModemCmd: label.

This is a problem. The only command we sent to modem was -Modem On-
If its not responding to that then there is a hardware issue.

Did you try going to console and use #8 Command Shell and type ppp just to see the output? It will give you some clues without diving into "Term" mode under ppp console… Probably need to address your hardware issue first though.

Look what I have :)

$ df -hi
Filesystem          Size    Used  Avail Capacity iused ifree %iused  Mounted on
/dev/ufs/pfsense0    1.8G    190M    1.5G    11%    5.8k  237k    2%  /
devfs                1.0K    1.0K      0B  100%      0    0  100%  /dev
/dev/ufs/cf          49M    89K    45M    0%      23  6.5k    0%  /cf
/dev/md0              38M    584K    35M    2%    100  5.5k    2%  /tmp
/dev/md1              58M    19M    34M    36%    148  8.0k    2%  /var
devfs                1.0K    1.0K      0B  100%      0    0  100%  /var/dhcpd/dev

Generally speaking you can do that however there are various customisations that go into pfSense. It seems maybe some required library has been removed. Do you have any further error messages we could look at? Maybe try booting in verbose mode.

Steve

I am almost certain that it isn't stored on the BIOS ROM. However, yes, make a backup first.
I have never attempted to go back to the Watchguard OS personally.

Steve

Yes, you may have the 1MB rom chip.
If you backup the existing BIOS ROM what size is the resulting file?

Steve

@Jason:

@messerchmidt:

a new xeon-d with ddr4 ecc build may be what best suits you

http://www.servethehome.com/supermicro-x10sdv-tln4f-review-platform/

atom power consumption and it is faster than the 1230v3

… which would be awesome if you could actually buy these.  I want to buy 3 of them for a new vSphere test lab.  Everyone that claims to have them really doesn't if you take the time to call and check.

relatively new and hot item, for data centres,etc. So if you are not in a rush, might be worth the wait.

He signs his posts "Frank from Germany". 
He's probably your best bet for hardware advice, in my opinion.  And probably a lot easier to follow in German.

Edit:

Actually he signs 'em "Cheers from Germany \n Frank"

Don't forget a UPS for these customer firewalls.  A few power failures and UFS gets hosed.  Then you get to reload pfSense and restore the config.

Thanks for all the help folks…

I figured it out myself and now have the wifi card on the SG-4860 up if not yet fully configured to my satisfaction.

One quick update on my previous results; after a full halt, cut off and restart, text started to show as expected.

Thank you all for posts. Happy with the results.

Regards,

So.. I sold the X8SIE board, cpu and ram. P00f! Gone and $65 bucks in my pocket.

I lucked out and picked up a Supermicro SuperChassis 510T-200B for $50 bucks from a friend and figure it'll make a fine chassis for a pfSense server.. aside from routing cables from the rear but that's not an issue. So.. $15 bucks remaining. Easy come, easy go..  ;D

Looking at the following new hardware..

The Supermicro A1SRI-2758F - Is the 8-core worth the extra $70 bucks over the 4-core 2558?

Most likely 16 GB of Kingston RAM (KVR16LSE11/8) - 8GB would likely do but I prefer to over build a bit and not worry about running low down the road.

Storage choices.. I plan a full install. During setup can I select 2 DOMS, SSDs or hard drives and mirror the install? Also, and if DOMS, can I select mirrored 2.5 SSDs or hard drives for applications like squid, anti-virus, logging, etc? Better to ignore DOMs and just go with SSDs?

Sata Doms - Would this be wise in either a 32GB or 64GB DOM as a full install/boot medium? More curious then anything regarding the DOMs and pfSense. Use 2x64GB DOMs with FreeNAS for boot drives.

Sata SSD - The chassis has 2 hot-swap 2.5" Sata/SAS bays. Samsung 850 Pro. I'm thinking either the 128Gb or 256GB drives. Should these be OK for at least a few years of home family/home small office use?

Sata Hard Drive - 2.5" HGST Travelstar 500GB 72k hard drive.

I have 2 local networks which, for the most part, are complete separate. I'm looking at running a VPN between my place and a friends place to mirror data we collaborate on. Also VPN access to home network while away on 3-4 week long trips every few months.

Appreciate any comments or suggestions.

@MacUsers:

Nope! no use. It stopped working again  :'(

As the slot warms up, it may relax into a non-working state - hence the zip tie "lasso" around the base of the slot. In one scenario the ram slot was mostly broken on the side next to the good ram slot - I resolved that one with a lollipop stick folded in half to provide pressure on the broken side of the slot supported against the good ram slot. You may be able to obtain the same result with a large binder clip that fits over the ram module and still has room for the lid to close  :-\

yes, exactly! I completely misunderstood the diagram.
As you said, it was completely opposite to what it's supposed to me. Once corrected all started working as expected.

@opjohnny:

@Jason:

The Celeron 1037U is actually faster than the Atom D2550.  Significantly so in some workloads.

Isn't it really only faster on memory-bound applications?  The Atom has a higher clock out of the box, but the Celeron has better memory bandwidth and more instructions.

Clock speed is a poor measure of performance.