Is Purely Internal Traffic Limited by pfSense Box?
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I feel a bit silly asking this question (plus I'm not sure where it belongs). But, I'm wondering if the speed of the ports on my pfSense box limit purely internal LAN traffic. My setup is in my house and is totally "normal:"
Internet > Cable Modem > pfSense Box > Switch > Internal Devices (one of which is a wireless router in Bridge mode with any wireless devices connected to it).
The pfSense box is the DCHP, DNS and NTP server on the network. Basically, the only thing "non-standard" on it is pfBlocker.
Right now, all the wired connections are 1GB Ethernet. I'm wondering if, in the future, if I want to slowly upgrade things to 10GB Ethernet, will the 1GB ports on the pfSense box limit the internal network speed? Or, would the choke point be the (currently 1GB) switch?
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No, only routed traffic passes through pfSense. All other traffic stays on your switch.
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By "upgrade things to 10GB Ethernet", you mean 10GB internet connection, or running an
10GB intranet? If the latter, then you just need a 10GB switch connected to your pfSense and 10GB NICs in the PC/Servers you want to be connected to it. The switch is a convenience, as you can always direct-connect computers through static IPs as long as they have a proper NIC. Or, as @AndyRH just said: only routed traffic passes through pfSense.
