Best Low-cost hardware for pfSense
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I'm sure this question has been raised before however I'm in need of a new pfSense box and (no offence) but I don't have the money to purchase one of the pfSense devices.
I'm looking for a regular computer (needs to have a hard drive), that's it. around $100-$200 is the price range.
Thanks for any provided, amazon is preferable..
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I don't know where you live, but around here there are several stores that sell refurb computers. I bought a HP dx5150 computer. I initially used openSUSE for my firewall, but have been running pfSense on it for over 2 years.
One thing to bear in mind is that a future version of pfSense requires AES-NI CPU Crypto CPU support for encryption. So, check the hardware to ensure it supports it.
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@MrPeterson if you can wait for a month of so, we're working on a new appliance. It will be worth the wait, but I can't say more than that :)
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@jknott said in Best Low-cost hardware for pfSense:
I don't know where you live, but around here there are several stores that sell refurb computers. I bought a HP dx5150 computer. I initially used openSUSE for my firewall, but have been running pfSense on it for over 2 years.
One thing to bear in mind is that a future version of pfSense requires AES-NI CPU Crypto CPU support for encryption. So, check the hardware to ensure it supports it.
That's a little frustrating, so devices that don't have this won't be able to run pfSense anymore?
I live in quite a "rural" area so buying from amazon is pretty much my only option.
@ivor said in Best Low-cost hardware for pfSense:
@MrPeterson if you can wait for a month of so, we're working on a new appliance. It will be worth the wait, but I can't say more than that :)
Well that's quite exciting but like I said, I want it to have a hard drive (due to the fact that I want to erase logs and as there's not an easy way to do so regular erasing and re-installing seem like my only option. Also from what I have seen of pfSense appliances they are all pretty expensive, will this new appliance be anywhere near my price range?
(if you can't answer any of the above that's fine, I understand.
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@mrpeterson said in Best Low-cost hardware for pfSense:
That's a little frustrating, so devices that don't have this won't be able to run pfSense anymore?
They'll still be able to run it, just not versions that require that support. So, no updates.
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@jknott
The computer you use is a desktop right? mind linking it? I;m not having a lot of success at the moment on amazon. -
Yes, it's a small case business class desktop computer. However, I bought it a few years ago and found it in a store flyer. I don't have a link for it. Regardless, it doesn't have that encryption support I mentioned, so I will have to replace it in the not too distant future.
