eMMC Write endurance
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@SteveITS I do use Suricata - Just now realized that it was a SSD recommended package... I'll have to look at the RAM disk thing, but I'm also going to see if I can figure out getting a SSD installed so that maybe this thing isn't just a really expensive paperweight in a couple more months. Seems lame it ships with such crap storage, yeah I know there is an option for more, but maybe more robust storage should be standard if the unit can't handle a couple packages running on it, I mean what's the point if you just use it like a home Linksys router. Sure don't remember seeing anything obvious ahead of time saying that running without a SSD would kill the unit in a bit over a year.
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@nkull Yeah, turn off logging for Suricata on an eMMC -- if you want the storage to last.
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@rcoleman-netgate Yeah, little late for me to see that... Hopefully it's not too hard to swap in some good storage.
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@nkull Yeah I wish they'd make that more obvious in the store or somewhere. Might sell more "max" units up front.
It really depends on logging. Some routers have a LOT of alerts from a high amount of traffic and/or open ports, some like to leave the dashboard running which logs to the web server log the whole time for every widget update.
I suppose another similar high-write situation is updating dev builds every day.
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@SteveITS Well adding a RAM disk failed spectacularly, had to recover it at the console... How much space are you usually allocating? I did 400MB for both /tmp and /var and it crashed the system.
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@SteveITS Probably a lot of alerts... I forward logs to a syslog and it keeps pretty busy. I do have open ports as I run services behind the unit. I am trying to shut down some logs now, I think I got the suricada logs turned off and I also disabled the default deny rule logs now.
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@nkull Hmm, normally 512 and 1024 as I recall. Check /var and /tmp usage in the disk widget, it has to fit.
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@SteveITS It was showing less than 50MB per when I set it up... but upon boot it filled 400GB before the thing could even get going... I look again now and they are nearly empty again.
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@rcoleman-netgate said in eMMC Write endurance:
@nkull Yeah, turn off logging for Suricata on an eMMC -- if you want the storage to last.
Just gonna say, maybe you should put this on your product page when you are buying the unit, *Hey, you might want to consider better storage if you are going to use this for more than basic firewall applications because the storage on this device is gonna crap out! * or maybe when you install the packages in the router....
Instead the product page just has things like
"pfSense Plus software is a powerful firewall, router, and VPN solution that leverages a number of highly-regarded open-source projects. The software competes effectively with far more expensive, commercial alternatives and is used by hundreds of thousands of businesses, educational institutions, and government agencies all over the world. Leading secure-networking features and capabilities include:"
and
All at a fraction of the cost of proprietary alternatives, pfSense Plus software is the perfect answer. Popular pfSense Plus use cases include load balancing, traffic shaping, captive portal, UTM device, DNS/DHCP Server, IDS/IPS, transparency caching proxy, web content filtering, failover WAN, and much more.
Not very cost effective though if you burn through 90% of it's storage lifetime in 1 year... And I'm just one person... granted I'm a power user, but still.
That page you referenced is referenced nowhere on the product page itself. I just checked... and yeah, I'm feeling a little bitter about it. As I said, hopefully I can upgrade it, not that you have any information that helps with that like you did with older units... if I can't it will just be a paper weight pretty soon from the looks of it.
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@nkull I installed a SSD in my SG-4100 around two weeks ago, it was pretty easy.
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@mcury That's good to hear! I had not seen anyone confirm it in a 4100 yet, so that makes me happy... I have one on the way.
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@nkull You will need to remove torx screws, if I remember correctly, I used T6, T8 and T10..
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@mcury That I can do...
What drive did you end up putting in?
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@nkull said in eMMC Write endurance:
What drive did you end up putting in?
I got a WD SN520 (2242), I had to install a little heatsink because it was hitting 75+ Celsius..
So, keep attention to the drive temps, and in case you need a heatsink, get a thin one because you won't have much space..
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@mcury That's toasty... I've got a 2280 coming of the same drive. Have a link to the heatsink you used? Looks like it's helping from your post above.
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When I was closing the box, I noticed that the heatsink was touching the box.. So I don't recommend the one I'm using..
If you get one, check the thickness and in case it touches the box, don't force it..
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@SteveITS said in eMMC Write endurance:
@nkull Hmm, normally 512 and 1024 as I recall. Check /var and /tmp usage in the disk widget, it has to fit.
Hi @SteveITS I went from 1100 to 2100 Max with 128GB SSD, precisely because of eMMC longevity concerns. So with the SSD I should be safe. However...
As I have 4GB of RAM, which is mostly < 25% usage, would my 2100 benefit from also adding a RAM drive?- The SSD has under 5G allocated and 110G free
- I use the following packages:
avahi, dpinger, kea-dhcp4, kea-dhcp6, ntpd, openvpn, pfBlockerNG (with logs), radvd, syslogd, unbound DNS Resolver
Thank you.
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With pfBlocker-ng running you will likely need some pretty large RAM drives. That depends on the how many lists you have active though.
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@Cabledude Concur memory use is list/situation specific. We rarely get to 1GB usage for pfSense.
Pros: bit faster temp files, logging
Cons: Lose up to an hour (per settings) of data at power loss
