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    Pfsense hardware for home

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
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    • jahonixJ
      jahonix
      last edited by

      @mauroman33:

      At home I have a fiber connection 100/100

      Remember what OP has:
      @user09:

      • 1 Gbit firewall throughput
      • 100 Mbit VPN throughput

      That's 10x your speed (or your speed on VPN alone). This isn't trivial to do with off the shelf hardware.
      Unless OP adapts his wishes to monetary resources this is not going to work reliably.

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      • U
        user09
        last edited by

        does pfsense need so much power (cpu & ram) or why are the costs so high?

        if i compare it with other routers (for example the LANCOM 1781EF+ router)
        (https://www.lancom-systems.de/en/products/network-connectivity/routers-vpn-gateways/lancom-1781ef-plus/overview/):

        • costs: 470 Euro
        • Firewall: 930 MBit/s
        • VPN: 330 Mbit/s
        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • M
          mauroman33
          last edited by

          @jahonix:

          @mauroman33:

          At home I have a fiber connection 100/100

          Remember what OP has:
          @user09:

          • 1 Gbit firewall throughput
          • 100 Mbit VPN throughput

          That's 10x your speed (or your speed on VPN alone). This isn't trivial to do with off the shelf hardware.
          Unless OP adapts his wishes to monetary resources this is not going to work reliably.

          I had read it, and the device fits almost perfectly to his requirements with the exception of three network ports.
          Another user has confirmed:
          https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=114945.msg639418#msg639418  ( Reply #7)

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • jahonixJ
            jahonix
            last edited by

            @user09:

            does pfsense need so much power (cpu & ram) or why are the costs so high?

            That's regular i386/x64 hardware you're looking at. It is not a purpose built ASIC, FPGA or such that does the work.

            https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=86732.0
            https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=113862.msg634832#msg634832

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            • R
              robertfranz
              last edited by

              @user09:

              does pfsense need so much power (cpu & ram) or why are the costs so high?

              if i compare it with other routers (for example the LANCOM 1781EF+ router)
              (https://www.lancom-systems.de/en/products/network-connectivity/routers-vpn-gateways/lancom-1781ef-plus/overview/):

              • costs: 470 Euro
              • Firewall: 930 MBit/s
              • VPN: 330 Mbit/s

              Don't take manaufacturer's performance claims at face value.

              They quote performance specs under ideal test conditons which you will never see.

              What was the packet size in their test?

              Can it do 330 vpn and 930 overall at the same time?

              Did they have any rules running?

              Can it do full logging at 930?

              If you are looking for a one trick pony that will just move packets quickly, it will probably do half what they claim.

              If you also want sophisticated UTM type features, well - it's just not going to do that.

              At your price point, you'll have to choose one or the other.

              If you can tolerate high noise, pick up a short depth 2u server from ebay.

              http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rackable-Tyan-2U-Low-Noise-Home-VMWare-Server-2x-E5620-Quad-Core-48GB-8x-2-5-/131891130624?hash=item1eb552f100:g:H-MAAOSwx-9WxSXE

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • U
                user09
                last edited by

                @robertfranz:

                What was the packet size in their test?

                I found in https://www.lancom.de/fileadmin/download/documentation/Techpaper/TP-Routing-Performance-9.10-EN.pdf some tables (tcp and udp) with paket size, but I don't know which is a normal paket size.

                @robertfranz:

                http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rackable-Tyan-2U-Low-Noise-Home-VMWare-Server-2x-E5620-Quad-Core-48GB-8x-2-5-/131891130624?hash=item1eb552f100:g:H-MAAOSwx-9WxSXE

                Unfortunately, this is no option, because of the power usage.

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                • U
                  user09
                  last edited by

                  so I decided… for me pfSense is a really great firewall :)
                  back to hardware:

                  @messerchmidt:

                  @user09:

                  thank you very much for answers.

                  I'm found https://geizhals.de/gigabyte-brix-gb-bsi3hal-6100-a1426577.html
                  Does this have enough power?

                  needs dual nics, and this one does n ot have same.

                  it is a Intel I219-LM and a ​Intel I210-AT.
                  why is that a problem?

                  The advantage of the Gigabyte Brix is that I don't have to assembly of parts (only ram and ssd).

                  @messerchmidt:

                  https://www.amazon.de/GIGABYTE-N3150N-D3V-Intel-DDR3-16GB/dp/B01ALSQA2W

                  or is this the best option for me? are there problems with this mainboard and pfSense? (https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=115567.0 ??)
                  Are the Realtek Lans a disadvantages?

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                  • W
                    whosmatt
                    last edited by

                    @user09:

                    Are the Realtek Lans a disadvantages?

                    For a 1Gbps WAN connection, probably.  For that reason alone I would not consider a solution with Realtek NICs.  If you can stomach a mini ITX system with at least a PCIe x4 slot your options become wide open since you can add a cheap (used) server class dual or quad Intel NIC.  Otherwise you'll have to search for a board with integrated Intel NICs.  And Intel is not the only option in server class NIC hardware, just the most common.  I've had good luck with Broadcom as well but you're not likely to find those in a small form factor board.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • P
                      Paint
                      last edited by

                      my build below only ran me about 400 dollars and it runs extremely smooth on my internet with snort, pfBlocker and OpenVPN for my 150/150 mbit connection.

                      pfSense i7-4510U + 2x Intel 82574 + 2x Intel i350 (miniPCIE) Mini-ITX Build
                      https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=113610.0

                      pfSense i5-4590
                      940/880 mbit Fiber Internet from FiOS
                      BROCADE ICX6450 48Port L3-Managed Switch w/4x 10GB ports
                      Netgear R8000 AP (DD-WRT)

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                      • U
                        user09
                        last edited by

                        would this a good configuration for pfsense?

                        • Case: SC101i (Supermicro)
                        • Intel® Pentium® Processor N3700
                        • X11SBA-LN4F Supermicro
                        • 8 GB S0-DDR3
                        • Kingston SV300S37A/60G SSDNow V300 interne SSD-Festplatte 60GB
                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • P
                          Paint
                          last edited by

                          @user09:

                          would this a good configuration for pfsense?

                          • Case: SC101i (Supermicro)
                          • Intel® Pentium® Processor N3700
                          • X11SBA-LN4F Supermicro
                          • 8 GB S0-DDR3
                          • Kingston SV300S37A/60G SSDNow V300 interne SSD-Festplatte 60GB

                          You will be able to push gigabit speeds with this setup, but you wont be able to get 100mbits over OpenVPN (most likely).

                          pfSense i5-4590
                          940/880 mbit Fiber Internet from FiOS
                          BROCADE ICX6450 48Port L3-Managed Switch w/4x 10GB ports
                          Netgear R8000 AP (DD-WRT)

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • U
                            user09
                            last edited by

                            @Paint:

                            pfSense i7-4510U + 2x Intel 82574 + 2x Intel i350 (miniPCIE) Mini-ITX Build

                            did you test the power usage?

                            @Paint:

                            You will be able to push gigabit speeds with this setup, but you wont be able to get 100mbits over OpenVPN (most likely).

                            thanks! Is 50 Mbits OpenVPN possible?

                            Another configuration (which is available in Germany and without assemble):

                            • Intel Celeron N2930 4-Core 2,16 GHz 2MB
                            • 2x 1 GBit/s LAN (RJ-45) Intel® 82583V
                            • 8 GB DDR3 1600 LV SO-DIMM ATP
                            • 80 GB SATA III Intel SSD MLC 2,5“ (DC S3510)

                            –> Unfortunately, no AES

                            Is that better?

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                            • P
                              Paint
                              last edited by

                              @user09:

                              @Paint:

                              pfSense i7-4510U + 2x Intel 82574 + 2x Intel i350 (miniPCIE) Mini-ITX Build

                              did you test the power usage?

                              @Paint:

                              You will be able to push gigabit speeds with this setup, but you wont be able to get 100mbits over OpenVPN (most likely).

                              thanks! Is 50 Mbits OpenVPN possible?

                              Another configuration (which is available in Germany and without assemble):

                              • Intel Celeron N2930 4-Core 2,16 GHz 2MB
                              • 2x 1 GBit/s LAN (RJ-45) Intel® 82583V
                              • 8 GB DDR3 1600 LV SO-DIMM ATP
                              • 80 GB SATA III Intel SSD MLC 2,5“ (DC S3510)

                              –> Unfortunately, no AES

                              Is that better?

                              50mbps over openvpn should be possible.

                              OpenVPN does not support AES yet anyway - it should support it soon.

                              I built a similar machine with an i7 for less than 500 usd.

                              https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=113610.msg631641#msg631641

                              pfSense i5-4590
                              940/880 mbit Fiber Internet from FiOS
                              BROCADE ICX6450 48Port L3-Managed Switch w/4x 10GB ports
                              Netgear R8000 AP (DD-WRT)

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • GruensFroeschliG
                                GruensFroeschli
                                last edited by

                                You might want to take a look at the current APU2:
                                http://pcengines.ch/apu2c4.htm

                                It doesn't reach wire speed when forwarding with rules, but around 650Mbit.
                                It easiely does 100Mbit openvpn.

                                We do what we must, because we can.

                                Asking questions the smart way: http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • K
                                  Kotstulle
                                  last edited by

                                  Maybe you'd consider sth like this:

                                  Barebone:
                                  http://geizhals.de/shuttle-xpc-slim-xh110v-pib-xh110v11-a1408110.html

                                  CPU (i3 Dual-Core with SMT):
                                  http://geizhals.de/intel-core-i3-6100-bx80662i36100-a1329935.html?hloc=at&hloc=de

                                  RAM (dual rank 2x4GB):
                                  2x http://geizhals.de/crucial-so-dimm-4gb-ct51264bf160b-a673173.html?hloc=at&hloc=de

                                  and f.i. a 120 GB MLC SSD (240GB+ would be even better looking at current GB-per-€ ratio…all depends on how much you are willing to spend):
                                  http://geizhals.de/sandisk-plus-120gb-sdssda-120g-g25-a1218323.html?hloc=at&hloc=de

                                  Total: ca. € 380,-

                                  If you go for a 2-core CPU without SMT, like an Intel G3900 (supports AES-NI as well), you'd be at € 300,- total.

                                  Small, easy to install, PSU included, 2x Intel NIC included...I would have bought sth like that, if I'd build it from scratch. Or at least sth in the same size.

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                                  • U
                                    user09
                                    last edited by

                                    @GruensFroeschli:

                                    You might want to take a look at the current APU2:
                                    …
                                    It easiely does 100Mbit openvpn.

                                    is the "AMD Embedded G series GX-412TC, 1 GHz quad" for openvpn better than as an  Intel Pentium Processor N3700?

                                    @Kotstulle:

                                    CPU (i3 Dual-Core with SMT):
                                    http://geizhals.de/intel-core-i3-6100-bx80662i36100-a1329935.html?hloc=at&hloc=de

                                    Unfortunately, the TDP is very high (TDP: 51W)


                                    I've found the Supermicro A1SRi-2358F and X11SBA-LN4F Mainboard:

                                    Supermicro A1SRi-2358F ( Intel Atom processor C2358):

                                    • 1,7 - 2 Ghz
                                    • 2 Core
                                    • Intel® QuickAssist
                                    • AES-NI
                                    • ECC Ram possible

                                    Supermicro X11SBA-LN4F (Intel Pentium Processor N3700)

                                    • 1.6 GHz - 2.4 GHz
                                    • 4 Core
                                    • no Intel® QuickAssist
                                    • no ECC RAM

                                    so which Mainboard should I use for my configuration?

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                                    • W
                                      whosmatt
                                      last edited by

                                      @user09:

                                      is the "AMD Embedded G series GX-412TC, 1 GHz quad" for openvpn better than as an  Intel Pentium Processor N3700?

                                      I have a hard time believing that the AMD would be faster.  Even at the same clock speed, the Intel chip will beat the AMD in pretty much any task.  Both CPUs support AES-NI.

                                      For reference I'm running an AMD CPU with 2 Jaguar (same architecture as the GX-412TC) cores at 1.45GHz.  I'm still tweaking, but currently getting about 80Mbps over OpenVPN.  That's with AES-NI enabled.  I think it should do better, but that's the best I've achieved so far.  OpenVPN is single threaded, so the core count doesn't matter in this case.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • W
                                        whosmatt
                                        last edited by

                                        @user09:

                                        I've found the Supermicro A1SRi-2358F and X11SBA-LN4F Mainboard:

                                        Supermicro A1SRi-2358F ( Intel Atom processor C2358):

                                        • 1,7 - 2 Ghz
                                        • 2 Core
                                        • Intel® QuickAssist
                                        • AES-NI
                                        • ECC Ram possible

                                        Supermicro X11SBA-LN4F (Intel Pentium Processor N3700)

                                        • 1.6 GHz - 2.4 GHz
                                        • 4 Core
                                        • no Intel® QuickAssist
                                        • no ECC RAM

                                        so which Mainboard should I use for my configuration?

                                        Between those two I'd choose the X11SBA-LN4F.  ECC isn't really necessary for an application like pfsense.  QuickAssist support is on the radar but won't help you now.  I'd choose the N3700 for the higher turbo clock speed and additional cores.

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • U
                                          user09
                                          last edited by

                                          @whosmatt:

                                          Between those two I'd choose the X11SBA-LN4F.  ECC isn't really necessary for an application like pfsense.  QuickAssist support is on the radar but won't help you now.  I'd choose the N3700 for the higher turbo clock speed and additional cores.

                                          thank you very much! Did you test the openvpn performance?

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                                          • V
                                            vicotnic
                                            last edited by

                                            Is a SG-4860 enough for 250 Mbit openvpn throughput ?

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