Advise for upgrading miniwalls to VE-2240 or 4860s
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I currently have 6 Netgate miniwall 2D13's and 2 Dell Optiplex PCs all running either Pfsense 2.2Xor 2.1X. I am writing a grant to replace them. the replacments I am asking about are the Pfsense or Netgate store versions of RCC-Ve 2440 or 4860s. These are all for rural library branches. My questions are these.
The miniwall used a CF card for storage. The new units use "8 GB eMMC flash on board". Is this soldered on the motherboard rather than replaceable?
Does this flash setup have the slow to write changes problem mentioned in this post? Webgui slow to make changes after 2.2.3 . If so would it speed things up to get the optional Msata SSD?
If the storage is not soldered in does the whole box have to be taken apart to get it out to reflash? that is how the minwall's are now.
Do these processors have a fair amount of "future proofing"? The miniwalls are around 6 or 7 years old and their 386 processor is about to make them obselete with regards to future BSD versions. This is according to the forum.
Thanks for all help. -
asking about are the Pfsense or Netgate store versions of RCC-Ve 2440 or 4860s. These are all for rural library branches. My questions are these.
It all depends on the use case your are in and the years of usage you will play around with.
Could also be that the 6 x SG-4860 and 2 x SG-8860 would do the job.The miniwall used a CF card for storage. The new units use "8 GB eMMC flash on board". Is this soldered on the motherboard rather than replaceable?
This is a soldered on board storage like Mikrotik router are using also! It is not changeable by users
or the customers it self! You can only add a mSATA or SATA SSD to this appliances to use another
storage.Does this flash setup have the slow to write changes problem mentioned in this post?
No this eMMC storage is made for many write cycles and if you use only pfSense as a firewall it should
be enough for this. If Squid is the game or Snort on top, you should go with a mSATA or SSD.Webgui slow to make changes after 2.2.3. If so would it speed things up to get the optional Msata SSD?
In the most cases this kind of storage (mSATA) is speeding up many things, such the Webgui reaction
and Squid cache too.If the storage is not soldered in does the whole box have to be taken apart to get it out to reflash? that is how the minwall's are now.
The eMMC storage is soldered directly on the board and is not changeable.
But you can reflash it with a custom ADI image of pfSense if you buy it from the netgate shop and
not directly from the pfSense shop.Do these processors have a fair amount of "future proofing"?
Technically yes! They comes integrated with:
- AES-NI
- A SIM card slot
- Intel QuickAssist
In my eyes the most falses are done by the customers it self, they buy to small and then they
rand and bother after buying that this or another task will slow down the entire box or it is
not able to run. By a right box in the right dimensions for your business to be future proof.The miniwalls are around 6 or 7 years old and their 386 processor is about to make them obselete with regards to future BSD versions. This is according to the forum.
Yes it could be that the i386 version of pfSense might be faster gone as we could expect it.
But then the amd64 version could be faster growing or we all get more and faster updates
or upgrades this would be also nice as I see it right. -
I appreciate you taking the time to post a reply BlueKobold. I think all my questions are answered for now. If something comes up later I will post again.
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