Intel Mini-ITX Atom 8-core Hardware Build Recipe Available Here
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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/B00785I5ZMThese were slightly too large for the fans I bought. Ended up going to home depot and buying half inch #6 screws. Works real good. These fans are real quite.
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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/B00785I5ZMThese were slightly too large for the fans I bought. Ended up going to home depot and buying half inch #6 screws. Works real good. These fans are real quite.
What fans are you using?
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What fans are you using?
Found them on ebay. 40x40x10 4pin fans. Everflow is the brand. Shipped from Hong Kong. Beat my SSD from California.
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In case anyone is curious:
CPU Temp Normal 25 degrees C
System Temp Normal 31 degrees C
Peripheral Temp Normal 31 degrees C
DIMMA1 Temp Normal 30 degrees CAmbient temp is 22-24C
This is with two fans on the top blowing in
and a fan on the front blowing out.
All three are 40mmx10mm top motor fans purchased from mini-box.comI should note, it's pretty noisy. But my furnace is less than 10' away in the same room :) So yeah, the noise is nothing.
It's an open air case, so it's best to have all fans blowing inward. Closed air boxes have a design for how air moves, so usually you blow air from one side and suck it out the other side. Open air have no path for moving air since air can come and go anywhere. Best to have them all blowing inward. Outward facing fans will suck air from the side and not move much from inside.
That's a good point, but on the other hand, the case is so small that you can feel air flow from all of the perforated vents in just about any configuration, so unless you're running a CPU at the edge of it's thermal tolerance, it's probably not going to make a difference :)
I mean if you look above, the CPU temp is pretty close to ambient air temp.
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Thanks for the good information in this thread.
Last time i tried to invent the wheel myself and did not want to do that again.I ordered:
supermicro MBD-A1SRI-2758F-O
2 x samsung M474B1G73QH0-YK0 (8 GB SoDIMM from approved list)
M350 mini-ITX case
M350 Wall Mounting Bracket
M350-HDD Bracket
Mini-Fit-JR Adapter
3x Evercool EC4015SH12BP
still have a samsung MZ7WD240HCFV-00003 240 GB SSD left over from my tests with windows storage spaces (that sucked hard)Still need a 12 volt mini din power brick.
I looked at the 80 watt seasonic SSA-0901-12 http://www.seasonicusa.com/adapter-80W.htm
i have 5 supermicro boards running on Seasonic PSU and no issues till now, so seems good idea to stay with the combination.I read however that more person choose a 192 Watt brick.
Is 80 Watt not enough ? (i read killawatt results from 17-20 watt running in the thread and i guess there is no spinup power for SSD needed ;D )
SSD is 3.0 Watt max
Fans few watts each (0.26 Amp on 12 volts will be 3.12 watt)Edit: ordered the 192 watt brick from the German shop that delivers the mini box items.
The seasonic image was misleading, no 4-port mini din is possible with them accoring to the eu support i asked. -
Got this system up and running. Added an UPS to it and it's all hanging on a wall in my garage, keeping unfriendlies out of my house. This system uses very little resources and blocks a considerable amount of traffic.
My biggest problem was I got way laid trying out using KVM on the box. I had so many problems with KVM, from traffic not making it out the gateway to occasionally not even routing inside the LAN. I had everything working in an isolated environment, but then when I moved to connect to the WAN, I had so many problems that after a day of fiddling, I reinstalled pfSense on bare metal and everything was up and working in 10 minutes.
Great little box.
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Very good to see the thread is still alive. Glad the information has been helpful for so many people.
For me, I am still running 2.2.2. I have been afraid of upgrading to 2.2.4. Has anyone upgraded your box from 2.2.2. to 2.2.4? Did you do anything to prepare for a fail upgrade? Did the upgrade go smoothly for you?
Thanks.
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I've done a few 2.2.2 -> 2.2.4 without issue.
Only thing "special" was to make sure I had a backup config.xml just in case.
The only other caveat from me: all my systems are HD installs, no CF.C'mon, what could go wrong? ;)
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For me, I am still running 2.2.2.
On what you are running 2.2.2? CFCard, CFast card, mSATA, HDD or SDD or…...
Are you able to install it once more again and then try it out for sure!
Are you using LAG (LACP) or IPSec VPN?- Backup Config.xml
- Backup all your scripts
- create a separate loader.conf.local file for custom things like boot options, or special entries
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I am running 2.2.2 on an SSD. I don't have any scripts. So backing up config.xml would be it, I suppose. There are a few users on my network that there isn't really a good time to do the update. May be I will try it this weekend. I would hate to go back to the old Asus router if the upgrade goes up in flames :-)
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Here I am about to build my pf on 1u. For Max user load is 300 wireless clients no vpn clients. willing to use squid/sarg when it works.
Please advise what else should I need in this box….http://www.ebay.com/itm/SUPERMICRO-SYS-5018A-FTN4-1U-Rackmount-Server-Barebone-FCBGA-1283-DDR3-1600-1333-/301380755396?hash=item462bb15fc4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820239958
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820173071
Thanks
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Looks like the 5018A-FTN4 has the power supply and power cables you need. With the RAM and SSD you linked, the only thing I can think of is more fans if it runs too warm. 300 clients are not concurrent max, right?
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Thanks for reply Sir Lion…
Right now about 150-175 clients. If their is +300 then this fan http://www.directron.com/ec4015sh12bp.html should work as you mention here. Do I need longer cable for this fan? I think this box already has 1 fan as shown in pic. -
I don't mean that if you have a lot of concurrent users you need another fan. I mean it looks like you have everything you need and the only thing I can think of is you could add more fans. I asked about your max concurrent users number only because I am not sure if this server could handle this many concurrent connections and traffic (depends on what they do). We will need feedback from someone with more experience on pfSense to tell us.
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That's make sense…I can't find anywhere how many normal (no vpn/no gaming) concurrent clients this Atom 8-core box can handle... here my set up would be...
From ISP CABLE MODEM
WAN---Pfsense (Squid, Sarg, Corn etc packges)
LAN----SWITCH----5 Hard Wire Computers/DVR/TV...etc
OPT1---SWITCH ----10 Access Points----300 max Wireless Clients
OPT2---Future WAN2
Hope some one will help....Thanks
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That's make sense…I can't find anywhere how many normal (no vpn/no gaming) concurrent clients this Atom 8-core box can handle...
This would depending on many other things and not only on the 8 Core "Rangeley" SoC alone!
- structured network
- VLANs & QoS
- used switches (L2/3) and there performance
From ISP CABLE MODEM
Ok
WAN–-Pfsense (Squid, Sarg, Corn etc packges)
ect packages I really mean is one of the points that should be known right to come closer
because Squid & SquidGuard & Snort will be narrow down the performance of the entire pfSense box.
Or perhaps massively DPI tasks on Layer 7 are hard core narrow down the power of the SoC./DVR/TV…etc
Set up a DMZ with a Layer2 Switch and store these multimedia things there that the network will not be disturbed by those devices. Cisco SG200-10/20 would be right.
LAN–--SWITCH----5 Hard Wire Computers
VLAN10 privat
OPT1–-SWITCH ----10 Access Points----300 max Wireless Clients
VLAN20 WLAN, Perhaps a separate switch likes a Cisco SG300-20/28 that is able to route the VLANs by its own?
Its to offload this from the pfSense box!Also the VLAN10 and VLAN20 are able to run then over one bigger Layer3 Switch as mentioned
perhaps a Cisco SG300 series switch with an viewing eyes for the OPT2 as WAN2!OPT2–-Future WAN2
Why not!
10 Access Points–--300 max Wireless Clients
What WLAN APs are installed here and is this by a WLAN controller regulated and handled WLAN or not?
If the WiFi clients are only surfing, mailing or facebook using it would be not the problem,
but if they are watching YouTube or downloading massively files it would be really slow down. -
Thanks for detail advise Bluekobold,
ect packages I really mean is one of the points that should be known right to come closer
because Squid & SquidGuard & Snort will be narrow down the performance of the entire pfSense box.
Or perhaps massively DPI tasks on Layer 7 are hard core narrow down the power of the SoC.WAN set to DHCP. willing to use this new box for hotel. I have to keep logs of visited urls so I need only squid/sarg & still trying to make it work since 2 years in my other pf boxes (HP Thinclient 5740 for 30 to 50 clients) but never works properly. so as of now not using squid. Do not need Snort or other cup/mem hungry packages.
Set up a DMZ with a Layer2 Switch and store these multimedia things there that the network will not be disturbed by those devices. Cisco SG200-10/20 would be right.
VLAN10 privat
VLAN20 WLAN, Perhaps a separate switch likes a Cisco SG300-20/28 that is able to route the VLANs by its own?
Its to offload this from the pfSense box!Also the VLAN10 and VLAN20 are able to run then over one bigger Layer3 Switch as mentioned
perhaps a Cisco SG300 series switch with an viewing eyes for the OPT2 as WAN2!you are absolutely right, but in my case Due to remote site setup if switch fails VLANs config is problem, using regular GB switchs are just plug and play. Also I never use VLANs & Managed switches.
What WLAN APs are installed here and is this by a WLAN controller regulated and handled WLAN or not?
If the WiFi clients are only surfing, mailing or facebook using it would be not the problem,
but if they are watching YouTube or downloading massively files it would be really slow down.On OPT1 (HOTSPOT 10.10.10.1/24) using engenius-600/360 APs with static IP 10.10.10.3 to 15 no dhcp. Keep few pre config APs as standby unit at location just in case any AP fail to replace with. all APs are hard wire from/to switch no POE used. Not using WLAN controller at all. pf is handling dhcp leases for all. pf rules & allias on OPT1 are controlling unwanted access to LAN & OPT2 well. Yes, there are youtube users so as of now using captiveportal.inc to control bandwidths for all users. Do not know how to share available bandwidth equally to all when network is busy. Hoping this box will do the job.
Thanks for your help
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WAN set to DHCP. willing to use this new box for hotel. I have to keep logs of visited urls so I need only squid/sarg & still trying to make it work since 2 years in my other pf boxes (HP Thinclient 5740 for 30 to 50 clients) but never works properly.
If you are able to read the German language here are two tutorials about HotSpot with Captive Portal
and VLANs with pfSense, the config must only be typewritten by yours.pfSense HotSpot with Captive Portal
Setup VLAN & routing with pfSenseyou are absolutely right, but in my case Due to remote site setup if switch fails VLANs config is problem, using regular GB switchs are just plug and play. Also I never use VLANs & Managed switches.
Your main question was, could the C2758 board handle the traffic for ~300 WiFi clients, is this right?
And now I would only telling you that you can do some things, if this is not the case, to come closer
to reach your goal!
WLAN APs from UBNT and their Controller Software, free of charge, will be able to handle this
Load a little bit better and then combined with a Cisco SG300-28 Switch and VLANs it would
perhaps no problem.Do not know how to share available bandwidth equally to all when network is busy.
- VLANs & QoS (is also prioritize the network traffic)
- traffic shaping (from switch side balancing out the load)
- WiFi controller (is balancing out the entire clients load)
- Layer3 Switch (is doing the LAN/WLAN routing)
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I wanted a more power efficient pfsense box so I saw this thread with this build guide.
My previous PFSense box. An i5-2500k, 8gb ram, dual intel NIC
I was about to get my full gig up and down from Centurylink with it doing there speed test.
With this machine, I can't get past 700mbps but my upload I'm hitting 930mbps
I thought this could be Century link but I put my i5-2500k box in to double check and I'm getting 940mbps up and down constantly.
This is running the latest version of pfsense. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I've read WAN-NAT is based on single core speed. Would getting an G3258 be good for this? It's just for my apartment. 5-10 devices connected at a time.
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My previous PFSense box. An i5-2500k, 8gb ram, dual intel NIC
This CPU is running @3,7GHz and not on 2,4GHz so it would not be fair and able to compare against.
I was about to get my full gig up and down from Centurylink with it doing there speed test.
For sure this CPU is also playing in a total other range or class of CPUs.
With this machine, I can't get past 700mbps but my upload I'm hitting 930mbps
Pending on the turned on features, activated and installed packets and also offered services this
could easily be. But once more again, comparing an Intel Core i5-2500k against an smaller Intel
Atom SoC is not really wise! An Atom core is not a i5 core and a i5 core not an Xeon core!
This might be looking for many persons as it its the same, but trust me please it isn´t.I thought this could be Century link but I put my i5-2500k box in to double check and I'm getting
940mbps up and down constantly.For sure it is a really powerful and good working CPU.
This is running the latest version of pfsense. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
What could be helped there? I am pretty sure that the an Intel Atom C2758 SoC based board is capable
to route 1 GBit/s at the WAN port. But it is more the question what is all enabled at the WAN port?- Snort
- Squid & SquidGuard
- DPI Layer7 filter
- endless firewall rules
Or is this a plain and full install on a SSD/HDD without any other services and installed packets?
Please have a look at the dashboard systeminformation at the CPU information and tell us please
what kind of GHz you will see there? Is it @2,4GHz?Is this a really Supermicro C2558 or C2758 board or "only" a C2358 board that is not capable to
pull full 1 GBit/s?I've read WAN-NAT is based on single core speed.
Not more anytime, since version 2.2.x pfSense was doing a bigger jump forward on this
and this was also not the last jump as I see it right.Would getting an G3258 be good for this? It's just for my apartment. 5-10 devices connected at a time.
An Intel Celeron G3260T @3,2GHz is capable to route 1 GBit/s fine without any problems and lets you run
pfSense and Snort together and one or two VPN tasks.