PCI Cards; ADSL Modems & Switches.
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Hi, i was thinking about putting together a machine and i have a couple of general questions and questions about hardware.
first of all, i was thinking of setting up a quadcore system with a file server and a few other machines running under a xen hypervisor, one of them being pfsense. this will server only a couple of computers, would pfsense run ok under a hypervisor?
my next two questions are regarding pci hardware, mainly an adsl modem and a 4 port network interface, does pfsense provide support for such? are there only specific cards/chips supported by pfsense?
i am quite familiar with linux and i understand that pfsense is a bsd kernel, do i have granular control over the operating system? i mean, can i compile and install packages/drivers?
Thanks.
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See http://www.freebsd.org/releases/8.1R/hardware.html for the list of hardware supported by FreeBSD 8.1 (pfSense 2.0 BETA).
Drivers and packages need to be built on a FreeBSD system.
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Hi AlbinoPenguin,
Welcome to pFSense, you won't regret it.There's a whole section of the forum for virtualisation. Have look through that to see whats possible.
There are only a few PCI ADSL cards that are supported and they are ones that present themselves to the OS as a network card. They are basically a router chipset running in bridge mode on a PCI card.
E.g. http://www.traverse.com.au/productview.php?product_id=115Intel network cards have better support than any other manufacturer. There are plenty of people here using Intel 4 port cards. They are expensive though.
You can compile and install anything. You are free to completely destroy the OS in any way you like! I've spent the last few days doing exactly that. Reinstalling with a backup config file is so quick though that it's not a problem. :)
Steve
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thanks wallabybob, that is a very helpful list.
Welcome to pFSense, you won't regret it.
i'm sure i won't, i have been looking for a reason to use bsd for a while now.
There's a whole section of the forum for virtualisation. Have look through that to see whats possible.
will do.
There are only a few PCI ADSL cards that are supported and they are ones that present themselves to the OS as a network card. They are basically a router chipset running in bridge mode on a PCI card.
E.g. http://www.traverse.com.au/productview.php?product_id=115thanks, i had a look at that card, was quite interesting; not sure if i agree with the price tag though. can you suggest any alternatives?
Thanks.
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Like I said it's only those 'router type' cards that are supported as far as I know. There are a few companies making similar hardware though. I looked into it a while ago and, like you, decided it wasn't worth the price. I'm running a Draytek Vigor 120. It's a router but it has a pppoa to pppoe bridge mode that makes it act as a pure modem. It's small enough that you could put it inside your pfsense box. I thought about doing that but it runs off 9V so you'd still need external power. I've been very pleased with it. It'd be nice to have everything in one box what can you do? ::)
Steve
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Steve
a little "of toppic"
You can use your Vigor 120 with your PC power supply, you only need a LM7809 to reduce the 12V ( from PC power supply ) to 9V for your modem… it is no dificult to make
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Indeed you could. At 500mA it's going to be sinking 1.5W though which is kind of wasteful and generates heat in your case where you don't want it. Better to use a switching regulator. It's probably all 5V on the board anyway. Maybe worth further investigation.
