Intel Mini-ITX Atom 8-core Hardware Build Recipe Available Here

dopey

Are you running your LAN -> WAN and WAN->LAN by connecting the pfSense router WAN port to your internal network?

Not any more. That's how I tested it, initially but now it's connecting to my external network. I have a /29 through my ISP, so the pfsense router is one of my public /29 IP addresses.

I have another system that's on the public /29 address that i ran iperf on as a server, and I ran iperf internally from a client wired to the switch connected to the pfsense's LAN port to test lan<->wan throughput.

@mifronte:

Is RAM disk really needed if you are using SATA3 SSD?

Probably not :) I mean I ended up with a 120GB ssd because 32 and 64 gb SSDs aren't that much cheaper (maybe save 15-20 bucks total). But I figure why waste NAND write cycles if you don't have to :)

dopey

Just for comparison, two LAN clients, wired onto the same gigabit switch, I get the exact same speeds.

I'm not using jumbo frames, so theoretical maximum throughput with 1500mtu is about 940-950Mbit/s.

So 930 or so, ain't too shabby :)

redpine

So I read all the way through the thread. Went ahead and ordered the same parts and will be putting a box together over the next couple weeks. Was wondering what people thought about the following.

1. USB wireless add on or pcie wireless add on?
2. Run in a VM under Centos(KVM)?

Thanks for all the great info.

ciccio

HI,

I would like to change my actual router (Asus RT N-16) with a PFSense DIY router.

I followed this thread (your experience have been very helpful) and I will order in next few days:

Supermicro A1SRi-C2758, 8GB RAM (2x 4GB), SSD (I have not yet decided).

My doubts are:

I would like to add a Wifi card (on PCI-E slot): what do you recommend?
What case do you recommend given the presence of the above card and since I will use the router also as a VPN gateway (I would not have a router too noisy).

Thanks in advance

@redpine

1. USB wireless add on or pcie wireless add on?

An external WiFi AP would be the best in my eyes, perhaps something cheap from Buffalo, Netgear, TP-Link
pre-installed or flashed with DD-WRT or OpenWRT would do the job nest at these days. Or a plain UBNT WLAN
AP would also be a really good choice if more then one AP is needed related to the free WLAN controller software.

I would not have a router too noisy

You can go with a C2558 Board this comes without a CPU fan and would be also sufficient enough
for all actions too.

dopey

My previous router was my Netgear R7000 running dd-wrt. I simply reflashed that back to stock Netgear firmware and use that as an AP for my wireless needs.

IMO, it's much easier to manage than having a router+wireless AP in one unit. Plus, wireless architecture is changing at a much faster rate than router technology are. You can future proof a router for a long long time. Wifi is much harder to future proof.

I'd definitely recommend getting either a consumer off the shelf AC router based on your needs (i like tp-link, netgear and asus ones for performance/value) or if you're in need of more enterprise-y gear, look at ubiquiti.

dopey

throughput. So someone else messaged me with a problem that I am able to reproduce with my C2758 rig.

If I install iperf from pfsense packages on the router itself and use it to test performance, I'm getting ~600mbit/s single threaded throughput.

Yet it clearly NATs gigabit without any problems.

If I use -P (parallel threads) I can get ~940Mbit to the router.

Anyone else seeing this behavior? It seems surprising the C2758 can't handle this level of single threaded i/o but maybe I'm overestimating it's single core performance.

In case it matters, I tried with two iperf clients - a ThinkServer running an i3-4130 and intel gigabit NIC, and a i7-2600k system also using an intel gigabit NIC and I get the same behavior from either machine.

redpine

Got all the parts, but the SSD and fans. Got IPMI up and running and PXE boot (once I have the SSD I can actually finish the install). Going to do a PXE boot install of Centos and then install Xen and the PFSense in it's own VM.

Looking at IPMI it showed the CPU running at 50C, and that's just sitting their idle. Seems a little high for a passive cooled CPU. Is this normal my other fan cooled boxes show 32 C at idle

dopey

@redpine:

Looking at IPMI it showed the CPU running at 50C, and that's just sitting their idle. Seems a little high for a passive cooled CPU. Is this normal my other fan cooled boxes show 32 C at idle

That's a little bit high. It's still in the safe range for that cpu, but mine was running in the 30s fanless and in the 20s with a few 40mm fans.

What's yoru ambient temperature? What does the system temp read?

The ambient temperature in my room is arond 65-70f

redpine

The ambient temperature in my room is arond 65-70f

Brrrrrr. Mine is 74f.

Fans aren't here yet, but that's ok. It'll take me a while to figure it all out, before I throw it in the garage and hook it up to the internet.

Seems a little high for a passive cooled CPU.

Thats pointed to the VM I think. With a native install it would be like the others here
told around and much less hot.

MikeV7896

@redpine:

The ambient temperature in my room is arond 65-70f

Brrrrrr. Mine is 74f.

Fans aren't here yet, but that's ok. It'll take me a while to figure it all out, before I throw it in the garage and hook it up to the internet.

I keep my place at 76-78 during the day, and fanless at near idle, my 2558 board would run ~35-40. Adding one of those 40x40x15 fans has brought it into the mid-20's.

These numbers are based on pfSense's reading (from the CPU itself via coretemp). The IPMI sensor always reports warmer than the CPU's own sensor on my board. Right now, pfSense (coretemp) is reporting 25 degrees, while IPMI is reporting 30 for the CPU.

is reporting 25 degrees, while IPMI is reporting 30 for the CPU.

I my eyes nothing to compare against, sorry. Yours is the C2558 and this comes from the entry
point with no active fans for the cpu, but the C2758 board does. And then on top of this, if someone
runs pfSense native on this boards it will be even cooler then running CentOS and pfSense in a VM on this.

dopey

@BlueKobold:

I my eyes nothing to compare against, sorry. Yours is the C2558 and this comes from the entry
point with no active fans for the cpu, but the C2758 board does. And then on top of this, if someone
runs pfSense native on this boards it will be even cooler then running CentOS and pfSense in a VM on this.

The supermicro c2758 does not come with an active cpu cooling fan. It's a fanless board.

robi

@dopey:

@BlueKobold:

I my eyes nothing to compare against, sorry. Yours is the C2558 and this comes from the entry
point with no active fans for the cpu, but the C2758 board does. And then on top of this, if someone
runs pfSense native on this boards it will be even cooler then running CentOS and pfSense in a VM on this.

The supermicro c2758 does not come with an active cpu cooling fan. It's a fanless board.

Yes, indeed.

redpine

Found these 4 pin 40x40x10 fans. But they didn't come with mounting screws. Anyone know which mounting screws would fit these?

Thanks

redpine

@BlueKobold:

Seems a little high for a passive cooled CPU.

Thats pointed to the VM I think. With a native install it would be like the others here
told around and much less hot.

VM wasn't installed yet. That was just boot up with no OS, 50f, which seems high for doing nothing.

dopey

I just got around to ordering the parts for a third NAS (using an Atom D2550 - i don't need performance, just need it to be cheap and work fairly well) and it occurred to me that the supermicro also has an internal usb port.

I notice most people doing this build, seem to be using an SSD, and it never occurred to me to just use a flash key and pfsense embedded. Is there a reason why most people on here have been going hte SSD router and not the usb flash route + embedded route?

@redpine:

Found these 4 pin 40x40x10 fans. But they didn't come with mounting screws. Anyone know which mounting screws would fit these?

Thanks

Standard 10mm long fan screws should work. They're the "fat" looking screws:
Something like this should work:
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Computer-Case-Screws-Pack/dp/B00785I5ZM

pfcode

Question about installing the fan, Should I install and let it push air in or pull the heat air out? There is a arrow (out/in) indicator on the fan made me confused.

dopey

I'm sure someone with a ME degree and a working knowldge of thermal and fluid dynamics could probably tell us exactly the best way to arrange vans, but my rule of thumb has always been, something to pull in cool air, and something to push out warm air.

The M350 has alot of ventillation, so that' sprobalby not critical but what I ended up doing was putting two fans on the fan bracket blowing down at the cpu/ram/motherboard and one fan on the front blowing outwards.

My case is mounted on the wall so that if you're looking directly at it, the backplate is on your left and the front face is facing to the right.

This allows the top fans to pull in cooler air from the room, and the font fan to vent out.

It probably would have been better to mount it so that the front face was facing upwards, but I didn't want to worry about weight on the power cord unplugging it over time since that would be on the bottom.

I probably overthought it :)