If you purchase a short-depth 1u server, you could always mount one on the front and one on the back of the rack.

Hmrf, I gave pfSense 1.2.1 RC2 a shot. My Intel Pro Gt 1000 was detected just fine as an em0 device, but the internal VIA gigabit nic was detected but NOT enabled: vge0: <via networking="" gigabit="" ethernet="">port 0xf800-0xf8ff mem 0xfdffe000-0xfdffe0ff irq 18 at device 14.0 on pci0 vge0: MII read timed out vge0: failed to start MII autopoll vge0: MII without any phy! device_attach: vge0 attach returned 6 So, what to do next? PS: Filled a ticket: http://cvstrac.pfsense.org/tktview?tn=1834</via>

As you're running squid I would really push you to stay away from any CF full installation as the continuous writing/rewriting of the cache will fry a CF in no time (at least according to many other posts here).  Glad you've chosen SSD over CF.

I installed the 1.2.1 version and the network card works correctly! thanks to all

Thanks for the info.  The price was way too low. GP

Well it has no problems dealing with the 16 MBit/s Line… I have not a lot of rules but it fits perfectly for home use if not also for a small office ;-)

Thanks.

You make no mention of what CPU you're planning on using, or how much memory, or what you're planning on doing on your network. If you'll be doing little more than email and web browsing and want a firewall, just about anything will cope with your bandwidth.  If you're going to be running lots of packages, making heaving use of torrents, VOIP and gaming then you'll need something with a higher spec. The links that Perry provided contain lots of useful information.  Read and make up your own mind.

Thanks for the link. RC

Just a bump to let anyone who wants to know, the Intel Pro/1000 PT (82572GI) works PERFECTLY in 1.2.1, even in my PCIE x 16 slot  ;D

@Skud: @valnar: Um, wrong.  Any PCIe slot can be used for anything. In a perfect world I would agree with you, however we don't live in a perfect world and motherboard manufacturers don't always come clean…. There is a very well documented issue with PCIe x16 slots NOT supporting anything other than graphics cards. If this is the case you will usually see the manufacturer refer to the slot as a PEG (PCI Express Graphics) slot. If you look at the logical chipset layout of that MSI board you will see that MSI says the slot is a PCI Express x16 GRAPHICS slot. Also, the manual calls it a PEG slot (page 61). These references would seem to indicate that MSI is being clear that this is a GRAPHICS slot. It may or may not work.. It would be nice if it did though.. ;) Now... That being said they also have an option to limit the x16 slot to x1 mode "for increased compatibility" (page 61). This may be what you need. You'll be limited to x1, but that's more than enough bandwidth for a single gigabit link and slightly bottle necking two gigabit links.. There are also many other documented cases where users have tried to use storage controllers and NICS in x16 slots only to not have them work. Check out the forums over at 2cpu.com in the storage and network section to see what I'm talking about. So, long story short. Any PCIe slot cannot be used for anything. Riley Thanks Riley, I was too tired to write out the explanation:-)

It's ALIVE!!! I just used the latest 2.0 snapshot and it appears they've added support for the NIC.. Thanks!! Riley

I have the exact same setup as above.. and I was able to install with a external dvd unit. The only problem is that I'm having  BAD HDR length issues in the logs (http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,12372.0.html) So it seems the Poweredge R200 machine doesn't work well with the freebsd 1.2.1 release :(

Some of the common things to do: Select the option where you disable ACPI Upgrade bios Disable unnecessarily features in bios sound, modem etc Go IDE with cdrom and disk http://devwiki.pfsense.org/BootTroubleShooting http://www.freebsd.org/releases/7.0R/hardware.html

Hey David, I'm running the multithreaded version of pfsense 1.2RC/beta (latest snapshot) could the multithreaded pfsense cause these errors? : http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,12372.0.html

There are TONS of x1 PCI-E gigabit NICs on the market.

@Askersundslan: Thought i search all the forum and wiki for this question but oblesvliy i missed it anyway. It's on the pfSense web site and not in the forum or wiki. Here's the link, Perry's quote originates from: http://www.pfsense.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=52&Itemid=49

How interesting! I checked the man pages, and the RTL8110S is listed, but not the RTL8110SC which this board has http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=re&sektion=4&apropos=0&manpath=FreeBSD+7.0-RELEASE However, if your saying that the board works with QOS enabled, under the new version of BSD, I am happy to assume the chipsets are close enough and go ahead and order one Cheers for the updated information!

thank you very much so far. are there any other hardware suggestions with individual components? maybe a barebone configuration or minipc?

Can anyone confirm or deny that this particular card is supported by FreeBSD 6.2? @dotdash: Hifn makes the 255, which is a PCIe card based on the 8155 chip. I'm not sure if it's supported in FreeBSD though, and they are significantly more expensive than the PCI cards.