Embedded hardware - what to buy

Tillebeck

Hi

I need some new PfSense routers. Preferable embedded rackmountable ones.

Simple routing with some shaping and use of limiters. No L7 as I can simply not make it work, but home that it will be used in the future
Bandwidth between 200 and 500Mbitps. Probably going up to 1Gbits in the next year as Netflix continue to grow.
About 100 to 500 users pr. router
Rackmountable
Minimum 1.6GHz. Preferable also a more powerfull (QUAD core?) CPU

What about size of RAM and size of Flash card? Any "rule of thumb" of what to choose? CF is superior for embedded systems, I have read. But I am not aware of recommended storage on CF card or RAM

I will not run storage consuming packages. At least I have not done that until now.

Example of 1.6GHz from Soekris:
http://soekris.com/net6501-70-board-rm-case.html

Example of QUAD core from Applianceshop:
http://www.applianceshop.eu/index.php/opnsense-quadcore-rack-edition-pfsense-appliance.html

I know it is broad specs. Just trying to get feedback of where you guys buy hardware.
I have a Soekris from old times. A handfull or more boxes from Applianceshop.

BR. Anders

asterix

You might be able to get systems with mobile CPUs embedded.. If memory serves me right, I had seen them somewhere on these forums.

For 500 users and 1Gbps, with no resource hungry packages like Snort or disk hungry like Squid, your best path would be to go for a Celeron G850 or an i3 tops. Start with 4GB RAM and 16GB flash (you could go as low as 4GB)

For rack mounting check these…. http://www.plinkusa.net/

Keep in mind that more the users accessing the WAN more is the routing activity and more is the CPU consumption. So don't count on adding Snort or Squid on this config as Snort will kill your throughput and Squid will kill the flash. For that many users if in future you plan to add Snort and Squid then go for an i5 (preferably i7) with 8GB RAM (12-16GB preferred) and a good fast hard drive for Squid.

Tillebeck

Thanks for your feedback