Pfsense - a good option?

uffez

Our situation:

We have a Cisco PIX 505 in our small branch office today. Extremely reliable - basically no down-time at all.
Internet 10/10
10-15 users
One IPSEC VPN setup to our main office

We have to upgrade out network to cater for some 25 more users:

Increased Internet to 50/50
When testing network performance we noted that the Cisco could not cater for more than 25/25. Thus we bought the Netgear SRX 5308.

We tried to switch in the new FW on Friday:

After some setting issues the IPSEC started.
Network performance 35/35.
After some 45 min all Internet operations started "lagging" with intermittent disturbancies. Therefore we went back to the stable Cisco.

The setting used are defaults, apart from a few redirections and the IPSEC. DHCP is catered for by a separate DHCP-server.

Based on the current situation we can choose to spend lots of time to resolve the Netgear problem. Or as an option, go for a Pfsense instead and return the Netgear box.

Would Pfsense be a good choice? Which hardware should we choose to also cater for a future 100/100? Are there any good pre-integrated boxes, perhaps even for rack mount?

BR

/Uffe

Perry

Would Pfsense be a good choice? Which hardware should we choose to also cater for a future 100/100? Are there any good pre-integrated boxes, perhaps even for rack mount?

of course :). For newcomers to pfSense I recommend using a old / spare PC with intel nic's before buying new stuff.