Mikrotik ARM H/W + PFSense ARM image = fun lab project ?

Oxygen_IT

I couldn't find anything that indicates it has been done or can't be done.

Idea - Spare ARM based Mikrotik with 1GB RAM as a PFSense firewall for my lab.

Can anyone confirm if it is / is not possible? A Mikrotik 5009 atleast meets the following:

ARM CPU - CPU compatibility ?
1GB DDR4 (Same as NG1100).
Marvell Amethyst family. (NG1100 = Marvell 88E6141 networking switch which drives (3) GbE Ethernet (WAN/LAN/OPT) ports).

NEtgate 1100 Specs:

CPU: Underpinned by the powerful, yet energy-efficient, 64-bit Marvell ARMADA 3720 network processing system-on-chip (SoC), which fully leverages Dual Cortex-A53 ARM processor cores.

Network Ports: Marvell 88E6141 networking switch which drives (3) GbE Ethernet (WAN/LAN/OPT) ports

Storage: 8GB EMMC storage.

Memory: 1GB DDR4 RAM, DDR4 memory allows more stable, higher transfer rates for memory-intensive applications (e.g. IDS/IPS).

bingo600

@oxygen_it
My guess is that it would be possible - Hardware wise.

But i don't think it would be a "fun lab project" , unless you are very skilled with Uboot + FreeBSD + drivers + building pfSense.

If you give it a try , please remember pfSense is a registered trademark.
You can't call your build pfSense.

My guess is that "Nobody would bite" , if it was "easy" we would have several working RaspberryPI images by now.

/Bingo

stephenw10

Yeah, this would be in the difficult to impossible range. I would not attempt it given the far easier ways to get pfSense hardware for a lab.

Steve

A Former User

NETGATE 1100
$189
compared to ClearFog Base
$ 200 to ~ $ 300

NETGATE 2100
$ 349
compared to ClearFog Pro
$ 200 - ~ $ 330

Netgate appliances comes with pfSense and offers
the plus variant and they are not so far away from
their price range.