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Watchguard Firebox performance

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  • J
    jp141
    last edited by Dec 9, 2011, 11:57 AM

    Steve I thought the Peak had intel nics?

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    • S
      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
      last edited by Dec 9, 2011, 12:02 PM Dec 9, 2011, 12:00 PM

      The previous generation X-Peak (no E) had 9 all Intel NICs and a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 CPU. Not as fast as the E box and uses more power. They are incredibly rare it seems. I have one, it's great!  ;D

      Steve

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      • J
        jp141
        last edited by Dec 9, 2011, 12:00 PM

        Ahhh ok, I will stop looking out for a cheap one on ebay then if the newer peaks are the same mobo etc as the cores :D

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        • S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by Dec 9, 2011, 12:09 PM Dec 9, 2011, 12:06 PM

          Yep don't bother. I only bought one because it was really cheap, it had a dead CF card which wasn't a problem for me. I was hoping the vpn card might be interesting but I think it's proprietary. When I connect it I just get an interupt flood and it's not seen by the OS. It is quoted as supporting 600Mbps VPN throughput though, which would be nice.

          Steve

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          • N
            network1
            last edited by Dec 9, 2011, 12:15 PM

            How do the cf cards go, wouldn't the logs hammer these?

            These will be in a datacentre.

            Are these a better option with an extra nic, newer hardware should be faster.
            http://www.supermicro.com/products/system/1U/5015/SYS-5015A-EHF-D525.cfm

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            • S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by Dec 9, 2011, 12:53 PM

              The NanoBSD images are specially setup for embedded systems on flash drives. They don't log to the CF card and mount the card RO with noatime. They only write to the card when you change the config.
              I don't know why the Watchguard CF card had failed. It could have been corrupted during a software upgrade or a power failure I didn't spent much time looking into it.

              Actually the performance of the Atom is surprisingly similar to the Pentium-M. See some nice results from a D510, here. It will be slightly faster.
              Although it's dual core a lot of the firewalling components do not multi thread.

              Steve

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              • J
                jp141
                last edited by Dec 9, 2011, 1:06 PM

                The problem with systems like that is by the time you have added a decent quad NIC they get expensive, if you can pick up a Watchguard for a decent price you cant really beat it.

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                • N
                  network1
                  last edited by Dec 11, 2011, 10:22 PM

                  Would i need a quad nic? i think i'll go with the supermicro's can get for $300. Come with Dual GB onboard will put in another 2 x gb card.
                  This should let me run load balancing with 3 nics, or any other reasons i should put a 4 port in it? giving a total of 6 NICs?

                  Will be buying 2. can put 4GB ram in them too.

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                  • S
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by Dec 11, 2011, 11:12 PM

                    No reason.  ;)
                    It's just that most of the Watchguard boxes have 6 or 8 NICs so to do a fair comparison you have to add that cost.
                    If you need more interfaces, for multiwan or more internal subnets, it usually easier to do it with VLANs and a managed switch.

                    Steve

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                    • N
                      network1
                      last edited by Dec 11, 2011, 11:20 PM

                      trying to find one of these now http://www.witronix.com.sg/prolist/Witronix%5CAC%5CMBX-1726.pdf

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                      • N
                        network1
                        last edited by Dec 12, 2011, 8:37 PM Dec 12, 2011, 8:35 PM

                        OK thoughts on this unit please, would it be supported

                        Remove HTTP….. ftp://ftp.arbor.com.tw/pub/datasheet/network_communication_appliances/MBX-1736A.pdf

                        Works with the following CPU
                        Core 2 Duo Processor E4300 - 1.80GHz / FSB-800 / 2M cache
                        Pentium Processor E2160       - 1.80GHz / FSB-800 / 1M cache
                        Pentium 4 Processor 651         - 3.40GHz / FSB-800 / 2M cache
                        Celeron Processor 440             - 2.00GHz / FSB-800 / 512K cache

                        Takes a CF card, 6 nics, and its red.

                        Again what would be the pick of the CPU's for performance and utilisation.

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                        • S
                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                          last edited by Dec 12, 2011, 11:02 PM

                          @network1:

                          and its red.

                          Nice.  :D

                          Looks expensive. And rare!
                          I'd go with the Core2Duo. You can pick those up second hand for next to nothing so why not.

                          Steve

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                          • N
                            network1
                            last edited by Dec 12, 2011, 11:11 PM

                            how do the core2's go with firewall though? will it only use half the cpu etc.

                            I'm waiting on price but they look good so far.

                            Should be a pretty quick machine, would smoke the firebox performance wise.

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                            • S
                              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                              last edited by Dec 12, 2011, 11:30 PM

                              pfSense uses a multiprocessor kernel it will run just fine on a Core2Due.
                              However you're right that you won't get double the performance since a lot of the firewall processes don't multi-thread.
                              Yep it would smoke any of the fireboxes you've talked about. You'd have to step up to the XTM5 series (which is very similar) but they are the current model so you pay a huge premuim.

                              Steve

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                              • N
                                network1
                                last edited by Dec 13, 2011, 5:06 AM

                                Well about $1000 for those boxes…. I'm undecided but may just get one yet.

                                maybe i'll get a firebox as a secondary

                                Is there any use getting one with the LCM screen? what would pfsense display

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                                • S
                                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                  last edited by Dec 13, 2011, 11:15 AM

                                  If the display is supported by LCDproc then it's very easy to get it running with a variety of display options via the lcdproc package. You can write your own lcdproc client if you want alternative information or use one someone else has written.

                                  $1000 is cheaper than I thought it would be.

                                  Steve

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                                  • N
                                    network1
                                    last edited by Dec 14, 2011, 11:14 AM

                                    Well went to order…. they are discontinued  :'(

                                    They can be made to order, however there is a min order of 100.

                                    So are their 98 others interested? or maybe someone willing to lend $98,000  ::)

                                    Such a shame these looked like the best units i could find so far and resonably priced.

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                                    • D
                                      doofoo
                                      last edited by Dec 29, 2011, 7:03 AM

                                      @network1:

                                      Well went to order…. they are discontinued  :'(

                                      They can be made to order, however there is a min order of 100.

                                      So are their 98 others interested? or maybe someone willing to lend $98,000  ::)

                                      Such a shame these looked like the best units i could find so far and resonably priced.

                                      Did you ever find anything else remotely similar to this?  I got my hopes up on page 2 and now I see it's discontinued.  This was perfect for what I was looking for. :(

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                                      • N
                                        network1
                                        last edited by Dec 29, 2011, 7:59 PM

                                        @doofoo:

                                        @network1:

                                        Well went to order…. they are discontinued  :'(

                                        They can be made to order, however there is a min order of 100.

                                        So are their 98 others interested? or maybe someone willing to lend $98,000  ::)

                                        Such a shame these looked like the best units i could find so far and resonably priced.

                                        Did you ever find anything else remotely similar to this?  I got my hopes up on page 2 and now I see it's discontinued.  This was perfect for what I was looking for. :(

                                        Yes, however decided on using IBM servers after all this.

                                        This place are the ones that made the boxes for arbor… they will still make them for you too.

                                        http://www.evoc.com/products/Network-Application-Platform/list.aspx

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