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    PFsense -14 network ports ! and freenas -please note - 2 separate machines

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • johnpozJ Online
      johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
      last edited by

      Why would you not just use a switch here?  The performance of your bridge without how many interfaces in it is not going to compare to what a CHEAP switch could do.

      An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
      If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
      Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
      SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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      • M Offline
        Mega Man
        last edited by

        Tyvm for your reply.

        I thought (incorrectly it seems ) that it was one of the jobs of pfsense. - probably due to the fact the only networking experience I have is with home routers.

        One of the reasons I took on this project was for the fun and challenge.  I learned allot  and look forward to more learning.

        O well  live and learn.

        Thanks again for your help

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        • johnpozJ Online
          johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
          last edited by

          how much money did you spend on nics for this pfsense box?  I am thinking you could of gotten one hell of nice managed switch for the cost of 14 nics ;)

          An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
          If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
          Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
          SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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          • DerelictD Offline
            Derelict LAYER 8 Netgate
            last edited by

            i can not find the posts that made me think i could do what i wanted

            You could do it.

            Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

            Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
            A comprehensive network diagram is worth 10,000 words and 15 conference calls.
            DO NOT set a source address/port in a port forward or firewall rule unless you KNOW you need it!
            Do Not Chat For Help! NO_WAN_EGRESS(TM)

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            • M Offline
              Mega Man
              last edited by

              Thanks for your help

              @johnpoz:

              how much money did you spend on nics for this pfsense box?  I am thinking you could of gotten one hell of nice managed switch for the cost of 14 nics ;)

              Not much tbh. I had some consumer stuff around that I could of used.  But I wanted certain things like ipmi.

              If I would of known not to use it as a switch I would of got a avoton  but I wanted the additional ports.

              So all in all in its current condition I spent a total of.  260.

              90 for the nics which will be repurposed  to my freenas and a few other servers I have

              As to the switch I bought a srw2048.

              I want 24 ports. So I always up size ( I would of bought more nics but I couldn't find a board with enough pie slots )

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              • johnpozJ Online
                johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                last edited by

                How much did you spend on that switch?  It goes end of support from cisco in feb of 2016.. Prob not something I would of gotten to be honest.

                An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                • ? This user is from outside of this forum
                  Guest
                  last edited by

                  That said those SRW switches are workhorses and will survive for many moons. I still have Linksys SRW versions working like a champ. Noisy fan is my only complaint. Excellent design…..

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                  • M Offline
                    Mega Man
                    last edited by

                    @johnpoz:

                    How much did you spend on that switch?  It goes end of support from cisco in feb of 2016.. Prob not something I would of gotten to be honest.

                    looks like ~ 60 to 100

                    have not had a chance to purchase

                    which would you recommend ?

                    i want all ports to have 10/100/1000 and lacp  24 + ports

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                    • johnpozJ Online
                      johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                      last edited by

                      So your getting it used off ebay then or something because that is not new cost by any means..

                      The SG300-28 would fit your bill I think.. This is replacement for the srw line to be sure.

                      An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                      If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                      Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                      SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                      • M Offline
                        Mega Man
                        last edited by

                        What's wrong with buying from ebay? The  cost of networking stuff makes it a great value for home use.

                        Besides less life is there a reason you  would recommend not buying from ebay

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                        • johnpozJ Online
                          johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                          last edited by

                          Nothing is wrong with ebay - but there is no way could get a new unit for that price point ;)  I normally buy my stuff new is all.  Which was the reason for asking about how much you spent on nics ;)  New there is no way you would get 14 nic ports for less then the cost of a new switch, etc..

                          An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                          If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                          Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                          SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                          • M Offline
                            Mega Man
                            last edited by

                            TYVM guys for all your help
                            And I got most of the stuff for this build used. I got really lucky tbh.

                            My freenas build I bought new as I wanted specific things and data integrity was high priority

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                            • S Offline
                              SisterOfMercy
                              last edited by

                              @johnpoz:

                              Why would you not just use a switch here?  The performance of your bridge without how many interfaces in it is not going to compare to what a CHEAP switch could do.

                              Hmmm, I wouldn't know. Those SUN cards probably have an intel chipset.
                              I have a similar setup, but only with three ports. Bridge0 is the lan interface. Bridge0 contains igb1, igb2 and igb3. I would think this is more practical for a small home network. I have a free quad port card, which I might install in the pfSense box, because I do not have enough ports on my switch.

                              Hi, I'm Lance Boyle, and people often wonder if I'm real.

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                              • johnpozJ Online
                                johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                                last edited by

                                "I would think this is more practical for a small home network."

                                You would be thinking wrong then.. Lets be blunt and point blank about this!!  It is NEVER EVER EVER, NEVER better to bridge NIC ports to use as a "switch". Why would anyone think this ever??? When you can get a 5 port get switch for 20 freaking dollars that will out perform you nonsense bridge setup.  When would this ever make sense in any home or any setup anywhere??

                                There are are times where a bridge can be useful.. This would not be one of them.. If you need more ports to connect devices, get another switch, update your switch to one with more ports, etc.. etc..  Bridging nics is not a switch! PERIOD!!!

                                An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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                                • ? This user is from outside of this forum
                                  Guest
                                  last edited by

                                  To make matter worse OpenWRT defaults to a Bridge type interface and you have to go -out of your way- to make a routed interface. I think the differences between all the router OS's make for confusion. I was there no long ago!!

                                  I remember when i came over from Monowall it blew my mind that I was being forced to make a WAN interface at bare minimum, whereas MonoWALL required at least a LAN interface. Small differences can be tough when your used to another way.

                                  I have used the clumped together mess of bridging for "convience" mostly due to all the bad wireless tutorials out there.

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                                  • F Offline
                                    fragged
                                    last edited by

                                    @Phishfry:

                                    To make matter worse OpenWRT defaults to a Bridge type interface and you have to go -out of your way- to make a routed interface. I think the differences between all the router OS's make for confusion. I was there no long ago!!

                                    Devices that run *WRT usually have a integrated switch chip in them to provide N number of LAN ports. Those are a complete different device from a PC with multiple NIC ports.

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                                    • S Offline
                                      SisterOfMercy
                                      last edited by

                                      @johnpoz:

                                      "I would think this is more practical for a small home network."

                                      This was actually about having one LAN instead of seperate networks.

                                      @johnpoz:

                                      Bridging nics is not a switch! PERIOD!!!

                                      Why not? What is it not capable of, and how much of a performance penalty are we talking?
                                      More and more high-end switches seem to be some sort of soft-switch with a intel rangely chip and running linux.

                                      Hi, I'm Lance Boyle, and people often wonder if I'm real.

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                                      • F Offline
                                        fragged
                                        last edited by

                                        @SisterOfMercy:

                                        Why not? What is it not capable of, and how much of a performance penalty are we talking?
                                        More and more high-end switches seem to be some sort of soft-switch with a intel rangely chip and running linux.

                                        They also include actual switching chips that take care of churning traffic at wire speed though switched ports.

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                                        • ? This user is from outside of this forum
                                          Guest
                                          last edited by

                                          Earlier or later you will be coming in trouble or pain with bridged together ports.
                                          Qualitative and good switches are often not so expensive anymore;

                                          • Cisco SG300 series
                                          • Cisco SG200 series
                                          • TL-SG2216
                                          • Zyxel GS1910XT
                                          • DGS1510-24

                                          or for smaller networks

                                          • Netgear GS105E
                                          • Netgear GS108E
                                          • Netgear GS108Tv2

                                          All of them are better then bridging ports together, in my eyes!

                                          • more speed
                                          • more stability
                                          • more ports
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                                          • johnpozJ Online
                                            johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                                            last edited by

                                            any dumb switch for <$20 would be better than bridging ports if you ask me ;)

                                            An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                            If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                            Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                            SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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