Pondering an SG-4860
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Hey all,
I'm looking at an SG-4860 to replace my current virtualized pfSense setup. The 4860 appeals to me because of it's low footprint, power consumption, and horsepower. I'm currently on 100/20 service with a fairly small ruleset + Snort. In the future I might upgrade to 300/20 or even gigabit, so this - in my mind - rules out the SG-2440. I've seen some hints drop that these units will be seeing an upgrade in the future. I'm looking to buy in the next month or two. Should I consider holding off? Also, is it possible to add an mSATA SSD to the unit later vs. at build time?
Any info is greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
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I have an SG-4860 and 200/20 and it performs great. I hadn't heard that newer hardware is coming out, but this hardware is sufficient for my needs at least. I also added an mSATA ssd to the device after I purchased it with no issues. You have to change the boot order in the bios to allow it to boot from the eMMC, as it will try to boot from the mSATA first, but other than that it was very easy.
I added the disk for additional logging capacity.
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I just upgraded from SonicWall (had an old 4060) to a pfSense SG-4860. I was a bit nervous about the transition from having to recreate my entire configuration from scratch.
Wish I had done it much earlier. The SG-4860 simply rocks. It doesn't even blink at anything I throw at it. I have a decent set of rules, VPNs, etc, for a mid sized hosting network. I push < 100mbps, though, so that might be a factor. I also started using pfBlockerng which is worth the price of admission alone.
I think the SG-4860 seriously contends with a $3000+ commercial firewall. I've had my old SonicWall on cold standby in case of a problem. I've since decided I'm going to get a second SG-4860 for backup (maybe even HA? dare I try?) and still save a ton of $ compared to an new NSA appliance from SonicWall.
Frankly, I bet I could run my entire network on the SG-2440 (resource usage on the 4860 is ridiculously low). But for my requirements the $200 difference is small and I don't mind a little overkill.
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In light of recent notifications by Netgate on future releases of pfSense, the (current) SG-4860 and its Intel Atom C2558 are already poised to take advantage of the AES-NI requirements that are coming. Many of the other fanless solutions will be lacking based on CPU.
https://www.netgate.com/blog/more-on-aes-ni.html