Installation on Intel D2500CC (atom with dual NIC board)

n1ko

I got one of these recently too. Running vlans and no troubles (2.1).

The traffic output seems to be quite low though, running iperf with single nic and vlans only gets me around ~380Mbps because the cpu gets capped by the interrupts.

maverick_slo

Hi guys!

I just got this MB and waiting for my job to end :)
Then install fresh pfSense on it.

Are there any video troubles with it or they all got fixed?

Regards,
M

maverick_slo

Installed and working fine :)

One thing worries me in dmesg:


kernel: RTC BIOS diagnostic error 80<clock_battery></clock_battery>

I replaced battery, unplugged, CMOS is remembered so batt works 100%.
Bug?

maverick_slo

Wow, I`m quite impressed, traffic between 2 onboard interfaces:

gw.png_thumb

stephenw10

Nearly 700Mbps, that I'd quite impressive for an Atom. Did you make any tweaks? Is that just firewalling?

Steve

maverick_slo

Just firewalling, default install, Intel NICs everywhere and powerD in adaptive mode.

kejianshi

I've lost track of what you are using for HDD, but…

I'd put it on a SATA HDD or good SSD and be done with it. They can both be had for cheap.
I find on ebay that people are dumping used SLC SSDs primarily because 120MB/s is just not fast enough for them or they want enormous SSDs. Since those 2009ish Intel and Samsung SLC SSDs are nearly indestructable, and you don't need massive SATA3 speed or enormous storage, I'd grab one of those.

I recently replaced my WD HDD in my home pfsense with a 64GB Samsung SSD and its..... Exactly the same as before.
Thats not very exciting, I know, but if it always stays same, and doesn't break I'll be happy.

Its a 64GB SSD and I have it set to use about 30GB for squid cache, so its "over-provisioned" for my use.

maverick_slo

Hey!

I use calssic :) HDD Seagate 500GB constallation series…
Had one laying around and collecting dust, so I plugged it in :)

kejianshi

Nothing wrong with that…

tjabas

im also thinking of ordering a minix, i found this one: http://www.geekbuying.com/item/MINIX-MINI-HD-PC-Barebone-System-Intel-D2550-CPU-HDMI-VGA-No-memory-No-hard-disk-Us-Plug-317041.html

would this work fine?

or can i get a better and cheaper anywhere else?

im going to install strong vpn, openvpn, do you Think that i can get a good speed out of this box when using openvpn on a 100mb line?
that is very important for me that i get a good speed through the openvpn Connection, or do i need a better cpu?

and where can i buy a cheap harddrive/memorycard and ram memory for this minix?

thank you

tjabas

…and is it possible to add a wireless card in the minix? if so, witch one is the best?

stephenw10

You will probably see ~60Mbps openvpn throughput, less if you're doing other stuff with it.

Atheros wifi cards are best supported but even then older cards are more likely to work. There is no support for 802.11n so you won't see more than 54Mbps. Many people would recommend an external access point.

Steve

tjabas

ok, thank you for your answer, i guess that i have to make an order then:)
but i guess if i get a minix or other with a faster cpu, i will get even faster troughput whn using openvpn?
its too bad that pfsense cant handle pptp Connection, the Connection speed would be better than with openvpn.

where can i buy this minix as cheap as possible?

stephenw10

Yes the throughput is limited by the CPU encrypt/decrypt speed.

pfSense can do PPTP but you shouldn't use it due to it's weak encryption:
https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/PPTP_VPN

Steve

tjabas

thanks again for the Quick answer, i know that pptp is possible in pfsense but i dont Think that its possible to use a vpn service like strong vpn, pure vpn or anyting else that provides pptp encryption, but correct me if im wrong, and please tell me how to set it up to get it to work, i have Always used tomato firmware and the pptp setup in that tomato router is very easy, just username, password, and the pptp gateway is all that i need to get it to work, not that simple in pf sense if its possible at all.

rjcrowder

@tjabas:

im also thinking of ordering a minix, i found this one: http://www.geekbuying.com/item/MINIX-MINI-HD-PC-Barebone-System-Intel-D2550-CPU-HDMI-VGA-No-memory-No-hard-disk-Us-Plug-317041.html

would this work fine?

This looks to be the same box as this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856205007. There's a thread on this board where someone set one up with good luck… Once you include shipping cost, it might be cheaper from newegg.

tjabas

thanks for the link, but unfortunately i dont Think they ship to sweden, only to US.

tjabas

no i have ordered one, is it possible to install pfsense on a usb stick or anything else? i dont have a 2.5 harddrive yet.
what is the minimum of disk space that is needed to get pfsense running?

stephenw10

If you are running one of the nano images, and you should do if you're running from flash, then the smallest image is 512MB.

Steve

tjabas

tomorrow im going to get the minix:) and i have ordered a 2.5 sata drive, so how could i install pfsense?
can i install trought usb? if so, how do i do it?