Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Choosing Hardware For pfSense

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
    19 Posts 6 Posters 3.1k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • stephenw10S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by

      I'd be surprised to see numbers that high to be honest.

      There is some scaling with more CPU cores but not everything. For example most NICs can use 4 or 8 queues but not 16.

      But, yes, if you don't have PPPoE then either should be fine for 2Gbps.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • P
        projas123.
        last edited by

        Hola buenas tardes, xq no pruebas los nuevos equipos oficiales Netgate, nosotros en la empresa que trabajo, adquirimos uno, y nos ha ido bastante bien.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • w0wW
          w0w @tman222
          last edited by

          @tman222 said in Choosing Hardware For pfSense:

          D-1718T

          It depends on the topology, board design, and the ethernet card itself. Some cards can be expensive, you know.
          https://www.servethehome.com/supermicro-x12sdv-4c-sp6f-review-25gbe-and-intel-xeon-d-1718t/3/
          For example, 2x25Gbit Ethernet. I'm not claiming that my opinion is 100% correct, but those numbers should be achievable. However, I haven't tested it myself.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • georgelzaG
            georgelza
            last edited by

            hi all,

            looking at a refurbished Dell Optiplex 7010 as a new pfSense platform.

            Will be looking at a couple of them... some with Proxmox for other purposes also / clustered,

            for pfSense,

            1. what's the Intel chip that is best supported for 2.5GbE.
            2. Also want to look at a dual port SFP+ card, Intel chip recommendations.

            G

            stephenw10S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator @georgelza
              last edited by

              @georgelza said in Choosing Hardware For pfSense:

              what's the Intel chip that is best supported for 2.5GbE.

              Intel made the i225 and i226 in several variants. The i226 uses less power. The early revisions of the i225 had issues with spontaneously losing link.

              @georgelza said in Choosing Hardware For pfSense:

              Also want to look at a dual port SFP+ card, Intel chip recommendations.

              Hard to beat the x520 IMO. What do you plan to use it with though?

              Steve

              georgelzaG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • georgelzaG
                georgelza @stephenw10
                last edited by

                @stephenw10
                will fit 1 x dual port 2.5GB and 1 x dual port SFP+
                the 2.5's will be used initially,
                1 to fiber provider ONT
                1 to Unifi switch
                to be later replaced with 1 x SFP+ to fiber provider and 1 x Unifi switch.
                My NAS will also get a 2.5GbE card and the additional machines that will go into a Proxmox cluster that will run a EKS cluster and various other VM's.

                The pfSense will be redeployed onto the Dell, with i5 CPU and 8GbE RAM.

                looking at the 7010 atm, but might look for something i5 but smaller that can take the 2 cards. that use less power.
                the Proxmox cluster will be 4 x 7010's, the unit's i can get is 8GbE and 500GB SSD, will initially take as is, but upgrade to either 16 or 32GB RAM.
                storage will be from the NAS.
                Might have some 4TB HDD becoming free, replace the 4TB's with 8 or 10TB's in the NAS. so they can be local storage in the Proxmox nodes.

                G

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  So using the SFP_ ports at 10G? And with fiber SFP modules?

                  georgelzaG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • georgelzaG
                    georgelza @stephenw10
                    last edited by

                    @stephenw10

                    As a start the dual port 2.5Gb i226 will be the in port from Fiber provider and out to core.

                    Then that will be migrated/replaced via the Fiber plumbing.

                    10GbE SFP+ based as that is what the Unifi switch have as uplink port.
                    So as a start I will still come into the pfSense via the 2.5GbE port, but go out to Unifi Core switch via the SFP+ port/fiber.
                    Plan is to have the input into the pfSense also go SFP+ fiber based.

                    G

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by

                      Should be fine then. Where people usually run into issues is trying to use an SFP port at 2.5 or 5G. Or even at 1G with a module that doesn't offer it.

                      georgelzaG 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • georgelzaG
                        georgelza @stephenw10
                        last edited by

                        @stephenw10

                        Not to worry
                        Know dif between 2.5 GbE that can run over cat 5+ copper
                        SFP which is 1 GbE based fiber and
                        SFP+ which is 10GbE based fiber.

                        G

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • First post
                          Last post
                        Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.