@adam65535: How stable are the i350 Intel nics?  The only reason I didn't choose them is they are not on the 8.3 hardware compatibility list.  I figured even if they did show up soon they would be unstable since they would be new. Mine work fine.  They're actually a fairly old part (in hardware terms), the i350 was launched in 2011-Q2. I don't see them on the 8.3R HCL but it's explicitly listed in the release notes. http://www.freebsd.org/releases/8.3R/relnotes-detailed.html

@ebo2002fr: Does it worth increasing vm.kmem_size and vm.kmem_size_max ? Not likely. @ebo2002fr: Do you think it is a hardware issue ? Yes, your "hard drive" shouldn't be causing: @ebo2002fr: 2013-07-18  13:27:05  crit  routeur  kern  kernel  ata2: hardware reset timeout 2013-07-18  13:27:04  crit  routeur  kern  kernel  ata2: port is not ready (timeout 10000ms) 2013-07-18 13:26:56 crit routeur kern kernel g_vfs_done():ad4s1a[WRITE(offset=192856064, length=16384)]error = 6 2013-07-18 13:26:56 crit routeur kern kernel g_vfs_done():ad4s1a[WRITE(offset=192856064, length=16384)]error = 6 2013-07-18 13:26:42 crit routeur kern kernel g_vfs_dkone():ad4s1a[WRITE(offset=6144000, length=2048)]error = 6 2013-07-18 13:26:42 crit routeur kern kernel ng_vfs_done():ad4s1a[WRITE(offset=65536, length=2048)]error = 6 2013-07-18 13:26:42 crit routeur kern kernel g_vfs_done():ad4s1a[WRITE(offset=199290880, length=2048)]uerror = 6 2013-07-18 13:26:42 crit routeur kern kernel ata2: hardware reset timeout 2013-07-18 13:26:42 crit routeur kern kernel ata2: port is not ready (timeout 10000ms) tfd = 00000080

This is running a magnetic 5400 rpm HD.  I did notice I put it on a quad core 8gb ram machine with a HD and I got about 400k.  Then I tried it on my junky neoware ca22 running nanobsd with 512ram and got 4MB.  Can anyone explain?  Is it because the nanobsd version is reading instructions from ram and not disk?

Generally the snapshots are "good enough" but there are sometimes problems with particular snapshots or certain features of particular snapshots.

Steve, thank you very much for the feedback. I was pulling my hair out! I purchase a new heatsink/fan so we will see how that works out. Cheers!

I removed that picture since it was basically making your post a spam post. If you want to list the model you used and link to the source, that's fine, but try not to turn the post into one large ad for another company. There are quite a few others that have used thin clients for pfSense before. They can be very good, provided you can stuff an extra NIC or two in them (or use VLANs)

Little update on the topic few months later ^^ (Quite busy past weeks) Finally I got a Supermicro 1U with included PSU for 90$ I've modified the case a little bit since the Nic did not fit well with the adapter I found, made new holes, moved the mobo, painted the case and hooked up everything. Note: Supermicro chassis have a 1piece connector for front buttons & led that dont fit with desktop motherboards, had to figure out wich part of the plug controlled power&reset then simply put the connector sideways to get theses switch working. (adapter available on supermicro website) Installed everything yesterday as basic setup, added pfBlock and snort today ;D See pictures below. I just ordered a 12inches quiet fan and I will remove the blower, open up the psu remove its little fan also and let the psu open in the case. Then I'll put the quiet fan in push configuration above the mobo and remove the shitty middle wall. Currently the setup is 26Db at 3feet, hope it will help Thank you all [image: IMG_20130714_163719_122.jpg] [image: IMG_20130714_163719_122.jpg_thumb] [image: IMG_20130714_163745_227.jpg] [image: IMG_20130714_163745_227.jpg_thumb]

Maybe I did understand MSIX wrong. Though it's probably usefull with a quadcore or more. I'll have a look at the FreeBSD page about em and try to tune the settings. Thanks.

just a FYI, macs can DD iso's directly, no need to convert. actually some images are made unbootable when converting. (obviously not true in this case, but i've had it happen in the past)

Just as FreeBSD is updated.. so as their supported drivers. Realtek as late as 2010 worked great with pfSense 2.0 beta. They were problematic with the earlier versions of pfSense coz they had little to no support for drivers. Its not the same anymore. I have built well over 15 systems for family and friends since 2010 and a lot of them have Realtek cards. Till date none have shown an forms of issues. I in fact have issues with Intel on VMware. One can argue on VMware drivers.. but my take is.. it's more on the NIC chipset.

I have had unreliable results running from USB also.  I switched to either the full install with a hard drive or a CF card. CF card is rock solid.

thank you for your reply.

Much easier with the right tool. http://www.amazon.co.uk/diy-tools/dp/B00439KMC0 Steve

@kejianshi: For wireless AP I go with a DDWRT linksys E2000.  They can be had for dirt cheap, its always been solid for me, all the ports are gigabit, so you also end up with a 5 port gigabit wired router.  I've been running them for years.  They also make excellent portable clients to your pfsense VPN if you have one. This: I use a WRT610N (basically the same as E2000 and E3000) with DD-WRT, now is a powerful managed switch + access-point with multiple SSID and VLAN..

Thanks.. Unfortunately to late, I just ordered without N technoly so I was sure it was working… (I really do not have the need for N).

I used to use CA10: http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,40502.msg209156.html#msg209156 I had it booting from a IDE DOM (http://goo.gl/HbWpV) running the full version. I never had any problems, though booting was't fast and upgrading took forever.

@newbieuser1234: How did you flash the DOM with nanobsd? DOMs usually have flash with many more write cycles than consumer grade flash intended for cameras, phones etc. Therefore you can run the full version of pfSense on them. I have run my home pfSense from the same 1GB DOM for over 4 years. If you want to run NanoBSD why pay extra for a DOM when a cheap CF card would do? But if you really want to run the nanoBSD version off a DOM then the flash procedure would be essentially the same as for a CF except you would need to connect the DOM to the motherboard on the appropriate socket (SATA or IDE) for the DOM and take care that you specify the destination device correctly. The exact details will depend a bit on what equipment you have available for flashing the DOM.