Pick which Netgate device?
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I am thinking of purchasing a new Netgate device for personal use. I had a look at the Netgate devices currently for sale. Even though I have not a lot of users to serve up, I do have some requirements for the device and I am unsure whether or not the device that caught my eye will be able to handle the job well enough. At first I thought of slapping some hardware together myself, but I heard good stories about the Netgate SG-3100 model, so that is actually the model I like to go for. The amount of users which are going to use the device is not more than 4, so a maximum of 4 concurrent connections using the LAN network and using the internet is sufficient for my needs (currently I have a 50Mbit line and in the near future I might want to go for a 120 Mbit line instead). Next to this I would like to have a way of using a VPN connection when I am not at home (max 2 concurrent connections) and possibly I would like to use the new Wireguard VPN too. Is that possible? Of course it is without saying the CPU and network interfaces should be able to handle the stress of all things combined which I have summed up. I have found the SG-5100 model mind you, but that has a Intel Atom Processor, and because of the CSME scandal with Intel I am not very fond of that anymore. In case this device is unable to meet these requirements which other model would you recommend? Are there any AMD based models from Netgate (or new devices planned for that matter), or would it be possible to use any (Mini ITX) Motherboard and install a Ryzen APU onto that?
- I also found this, but I am unsure whether or not this will work: https://axiomtek.com/Default.aspx?MenuId=Products&FunctionId=ProductView&ItemId=25592&C=CAPA13R&upcat=270
- And this: https://teklager.se/en/products/routers/apu2e4-open-source-router?
Any help as to what are good parts or alternatives (in case the official Netgate SG3100 does not meet my goals) will be welcome.
Thank you in advance.
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What about an SG-1100? It will easily handle your connection speed.
As far as 'The first requirement is 1 Gb of internal LAN network performance', that should be taken care of by a switch and not your firewall.
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@bigsy thank you for your reply. Okay if I leave out the LAN what firewall device would you recommend?
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@aLPHa_NRG still SG-1100 as you don't need the extra ports and it's the cheapest, will suit your needs and verified by netgate.
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Thanks @discy, so what you are saying is that the SG-3100 probably would be overkill? What about the VPN and Wireguard? I mean would I be able to play one or two 4K Netflix streams with the SG-1100 over VPN? And does this device allow me to install 3rd party plugins?
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That seems a bit too much for a SG-1100 as on IPsec VPN it tops at 46mbps already according to Netgate.
https://www.netgate.com/products/appliances/In that case SG-3100 would make sense to me as well.
Wireguard isn't supported (yet) on Pfsense - just so you know. OpenVPN is.
The second appliance you provided will "work" and seems reasonably priced. But it says "1 Gbit on Pfsense" and nothing about VPN performance. Also, if anything goes wrong you're pretty much on your own. So unless you like fiddling around more than you already have to you might rather spend the extra cash for a Netgate device.
I have this device as I had it laying around and although performance is good, it already overheated once in 3 months time.