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    Choosing hardware based on throughput performance

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    • Z
      zax123
      last edited by

      That's awesome!  Now I know what to look for, thank you so much.

      I'll wait till Black Friday and grab the best deal possible on a similar config.  I'd even be fine if there were no hard drive, I'm much rather an SSD anyway.  Hopefully those servers use SATA.

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      • ?
        Guest
        last edited by

        Out of curiosity, how does one enable PowerD/Hi Adaptive in pfSense?

        System > Advanced > System Tunables > and then start/activate PowerD & reboot the pfSense box.
        After doing this have a look in the Dashboard for the correct MHz/GHz entry will be there.
        Do a iPerf test with one PC on the WAN interface and one on the LAN interface, thats it.

        If you are using a mSATA drive that is capable of the TRIM support, I would also suggest to activate
        TRIM support on your pfSense box.

        • Do a full install on the SSD or mSATA
        • reboot to the single user mode
        • at the prompt type in| cd /sbin/ and then ./tunefs -t enable /
        • ./reboot
        • to verify that it is activated open a shell and type in| tunefs -p / and tunefs -p / var
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        • D
          dopey
          last edited by

          Just to pipe in, I am quite happy with my A1SRi-2758F.

          With a few packages running, routing performance is still more than capable of hitting gigabit throughput.

          The biggest problem is the PPPoE issue.  For me, this is a residential connection - but I work from home and use alot of bandwidth, 700-750mbit/s is plenty.  So I'm pretty happy with it.

          But if you absolutely need the gig throughput and use PPPoE there are other choices that wlil probably work better, and even crazier, use less power.  Some of the low power i3/i5 CPUs are pretty capable, and may use more power at peak, but for the load that routing presents to them, they end up actually coming in at or lower than the rangeley.

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          • N
            nikkon
            last edited by

            Mobo is on the way…will be here in 2 weeks.
            In the mean time i found a gbit ethernet adaptor:
            DELL 0X3959 2 x 10/100/1000 Mbps PCI-E 4X REF
            Or
            Intel D33745-B PRO-1000 Single Port Gigabit Ethernet PCI-E U3867
            What do you think ? Will handle gigabit pppoe?

            pfsense 2.3.4 on Supermicro A1SRi-2758F + 8GB ECC + SSD

            Happy PfSense user :)

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Z
              zax123
              last edited by

              Thanks for chiming in @dopey,

              I'm pretty convinced that I'll go with a Dell T20 or a Lenovo TS140 E3 server.  I have lots of room in my "server room" and I really don't want to worry about getting something with not enough power.  And I find the Supermicro to just be too expensive.

              I'm hoping I'll get a T20 or TS140 with no HDD and I'll put a small (64gig or so) SSD on it.  I'm trying to never buy an HDD again. :)

              Thanks all!

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • awebsterA
                awebster
                last edited by

                @zax123
                Beware the Lenovo TS140…its a great box, but you'll be pretty unhappy if you try to put an aftermarket SSD in it.
                It uses custom brackets and power cables, which you only get in the box if you buy a Lenovo branded drive.

                –A.

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                • Z
                  zax123
                  last edited by

                  @awebster:

                  @zax123
                  Beware the Lenovo TS140…its a great box, but you'll be pretty unhappy if you try to put an aftermarket SSD in it.
                  It uses custom brackets and power cables, which you only get in the box if you buy a Lenovo branded drive.

                  Oh wow, thanks for letting me know.

                  That means I'm back to looking only for a good deal on the T20.

                  Much appreciated!

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                  • D
                    dopey
                    last edited by

                    @awebster:

                    @zax123
                    Beware the Lenovo TS140…its a great box, but you'll be pretty unhappy if you try to put an aftermarket SSD in it.
                    It uses custom brackets and power cables, which you only get in the box if you buy a Lenovo branded drive.

                    I have a ts140 and i had no problems installing a regular sata ssd and hdd in it.
                    the power connectors were not custom.  yes, the brackets were weird, but i didn't have any problems gettng things to fit.

                    for SSDs, keep in mind, yo're not dealing with moving parts.  Zip ties are your friend.

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                    • awebsterA
                      awebster
                      last edited by

                      I stand corrected, the server in question is the RS140 which has strange power connectors & brackets.

                      –A.

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                      • N
                        nikkon
                        last edited by

                        need advice:
                        Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I210-T1

                        or

                        Intel® Gigabit CT 82574L

                        which one is more reliable and fast

                        pfsense 2.3.4 on Supermicro A1SRi-2758F + 8GB ECC + SSD

                        Happy PfSense user :)

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • ?
                          Guest
                          last edited by

                          The i210-T1 is a Server grade NIC and could be a really cool LAN Port to speed up things there. ~45 € here
                          And the Intel Gigabit CT adapter will be a really cool WAN port as I see it right. ~25 € here

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                          • H
                            Harvy66
                            last edited by

                            @BlueKobold:

                            The i210-T1 is a Server grade NIC and could be a really cool LAN Port to speed up things there. ~45 € here
                            And the Intel Gigabit CT adapter will be a really cool WAN port as I see it right. ~25 € here

                            The i210-T1 also makes for a nice desktop NIC  8)  Integrated Realtek… Not in my home. Disabled in bios, discrete NIC.

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                            • N
                              nikkon
                              last edited by

                              i210-T1 ordered :)

                              pfsense 2.3.4 on Supermicro A1SRi-2758F + 8GB ECC + SSD

                              Happy PfSense user :)

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • Z
                                zax123
                                last edited by

                                Hi guys,

                                Would this server:

                                http://slickdeals.net/f/8205601-dell-poweredge-t110-ii-core-i3-2120-tower-server-w-1yr-prosupport-229-free-shipping?src=rcm_category

                                Be powerful enough to do 1gigabit WAN reliably with a few VPNs, etc?

                                Please let me know, it's really not expensive.

                                Thanks!

                                Robert

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                                • Z
                                  zax123
                                  last edited by

                                  Actually, this looks like a good deal, especially with 10% off first order:

                                  https://www.blinq.com/detail/electronics/printers-networking-office/networking-routers/lenovo-thinkserver-ts140-5u-tower-server-xeon-3-2ghz-4gb-ram-70a4001lux/156830?condition=brand-new

                                  Should I go for it?

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • ?
                                    Guest
                                    last edited by

                                    @zax123

                                    pfSense box 1
                                    pfSense box 2

                                    Both will do what you want and need, for ~$299 or ~$310 it will be perhaps in the same price range
                                    as you search but much better then the bigger once compared to the power consumption!

                                    • 8 GB RAM
                                    • mSATA

                                    Will be rocking for a long time together with pfSense for sure.

                                    • Snort
                                    • SARG
                                    • ClamAV
                                    • pfBlocker-ng
                                    • Squid & SquidGuard

                                    You will be able to built a real UTM device with this.

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                                    • Z
                                      zax123
                                      last edited by

                                      @BlueKobold,

                                      Thank you for this recommendation.  You mention + 8GB of memory, so pfSense would need 8GB of memory on these Celeron boxes, and I will get an mSATA or SATA SSD.  I assume 128GB is big enough.

                                      I am going to wait till Black Friday to see if either of these go on special and grab one the cheapest possible.

                                      Thanks again for the info!

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                                      • Z
                                        zax123
                                        last edited by

                                        Oh by the way, my 1gigabit WAN comes in via PPPoE.  Are both of these Jetway boxes capable of handling that along with everything else?

                                        Thanks!

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                                        • ?
                                          Guest
                                          last edited by

                                          You mention + 8GB of memory, so pfSense would need 8GB of memory on these Celeron boxes

                                          You might be also lucky with 2 GB or 4 GB of RAM, pending on the installed packets and running services.

                                          and I will get an mSATA or SATA SSD.  I assume 128GB is big enough.

                                          For sure it will be really a big one for that.

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                                          • N
                                            nikkon
                                            last edited by

                                            Not sure you can process 1gb via PPPoE because issue #4821 is still not solved.

                                            pfsense 2.3.4 on Supermicro A1SRi-2758F + 8GB ECC + SSD

                                            Happy PfSense user :)

                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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