NIC Assignment LAN vs WAN
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I’m new to pfSense. I’m liking it so far.
I’m working with older equipment that I have on hand right now. AMD 1.2 Ghz, 512MB Ram that has onboard realtek 10/100 nic. I also have 2 PCI cards both 10/100. Trendnet (realtek) and Intel Pro. My current needs are basic no vlans etc just connecting to cable broadband in a home environment. I have a Gige Switch behind the router for the rest of my LAN and I have a WAP off that switch. So the pfSense router is only for my internet traffic.
What is the best way to orient my NIC’s? I’m assuming the onboard Realtek should be a last resort and I should use the Trendnet and the Intel pci cards. That’s what I’m currently doing anyway…
Is there a logical or good reason as to the assignment of these cards? LAN/WAN... Do I want to put the better Intel card on the WAN or the LAN side for optimal performance? Does it make any difference?
Thanks for helping a noob.
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If you're running pfSense as a simple firewall then it won't matter much. If you're using Squid or another proxy then put the Intel on the LAN.
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That's how I had it set up. Until I get a gigabit card probably a Intel Pro Dual. I am using squid. Thanks for the input!
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Just out of curiosity, what is wrong with the onboard card? What makes an add-in realtek better than the onboard realtek? You've got me wondering about my deployment at work now. I'm using an older Dell PE 1650 with a pair of onboard gigabit cards (network is 100 meg though). The onboard cards are Intel I think but could be Broadcom. I am running snort on it now (dual cpus and 3 GB of RAM), should I use add-in cards or are my onboard ones ok?
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Just out of curiosity, what is wrong with the onboard card? What makes an add-in realtek better than the onboard realtek? You've got me wondering about my deployment at work now. I'm using an older Dell PE 1650 with a pair of onboard gigabit cards (network is 100 meg though). The onboard cards are Intel I think but could be Broadcom. I am running snort on it now (dual cpus and 3 GB of RAM), should I use add-in cards or are my onboard ones ok?
Realtek NICs stink, on-board or otherwise.
Intel > Broadcom > Everything else.
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I'd agree that the 10/100 Realtek cards aren't good (and some define low end), but their Gbit cards are ok (not amazing, but I've had no problems with mine).
