Netgate Discussion Forum
    • Categories
    • Recent
    • Tags
    • Popular
    • Users
    • Search
    • Register
    • Login

    Hardware options to run pfSense

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Hardware
    17 Posts 6 Posters 1.5k Views
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • provelsP
      provels @cphillips
      last edited by

      @cphillips said in Hardware options to run pfSense:

      @provels
      Thanks for your comments. It's not that I have no confidence in my ESXi host, I do. It has great uptime. I think I'd just rather run a hardware device as if there is a problem with the ESXi host then this would prevent the internet from being offline..

      Just a thought, but you could duplicate your ESXi VM config on a throwaway PC for backup. My hardware backup is a 32-bit pfSense 2.3.5 recycled VPN appliance from my old job. Not current version, but would get me online in a pinch.

      Peder

      MAIN - pfSense+ 24.11-RELEASE - Adlink MXE-5401, i7, 16 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD. 500 GB HDD for SyslogNG
      BACKUP - pfSense+ 23.01-RELEASE - Hyper-V Virtual Machine, Gen 1, 2 v-CPUs, 3 GB RAM, 8GB VHDX (Dynamic)

      stephenw10S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • stephenw10S
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator @provels
        last edited by

        @provels said in Hardware options to run pfSense:

        32-bit pfSense 2.3.5

        ๐Ÿ˜ฑ

        provelsP 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Raffi_R
          Raffi_ @stephenw10
          last edited by

          @stephenw10 said in Hardware options to run pfSense:

          I would have had the Dell down as consuming significantly more than the Atom based Supermicro.

          A C2750 will be more than sufficient there. You won't need 16GB of RAM in it. You could probably do all of that with 2GB, 4GB to be safe.

          Steve

          Agree with this. The supermiro sounds like the least power hungry out of all options. I would go with that. All of them will be more than enough for all the requirements mentioned. To give you an idea, I'm running pfblockerNG, suricata, OpenVPN, and a few other packages on an overkill 8th gen i3, 8GB of ram and a single 120GB SSD. The CPU is always sitting close to 1-2% and ram is only ~40%. All of this is overkill for the small office even during heavy VPN use.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • provelsP
            provels @stephenw10
            last edited by

            @stephenw10
            Not to worry, as it's a cold backup. If you want to compile 2.4.5_p1 on x86 for me, I'll happily upgrade. And if that blows, I still have my Nokia ip530 on 1.2.3 on a gmirror raid... In any case it would only need to be online long enough to DL an ISO if needed.

            Peder

            MAIN - pfSense+ 24.11-RELEASE - Adlink MXE-5401, i7, 16 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD. 500 GB HDD for SyslogNG
            BACKUP - pfSense+ 23.01-RELEASE - Hyper-V Virtual Machine, Gen 1, 2 v-CPUs, 3 GB RAM, 8GB VHDX (Dynamic)

            stephenw10S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • stephenw10S
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator @provels
              last edited by

              @provels said in Hardware options to run pfSense:

              I still have my Nokia ip530 on 1.2.3 on a gmirror raid...

              Ha. ๐Ÿ˜

              provelsP 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • C
                cphillips
                last edited by

                Thanks all, I am going to run the C2750 and see how that goes.

                This is the board I have - https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/atom/x10/a1sai-2750f.cfm

                Do we know if the onboard NIC's are ok to run pfSense or should I be looking at installing an Intel card?

                DaddyGoD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • stephenw10S
                  stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                  last edited by

                  C2K CPUs are a SoC with 4x igb NICs built in. You should be fine there.

                  Steve

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • DaddyGoD
                    DaddyGo @cphillips
                    last edited by

                    @cphillips

                    Just for the sake of completeness...
                    It's a matter of taste, the Atom series

                    https://www.servethehome.com/intel-atom-c2000-series-bug-quiet/
                    https://www.servethehome.com/intel-atom-c2000-avr54-bug-strikes-sth/

                    and etc.

                    Cats bury it so they can't see it!
                    (You know what I mean if you have a cat)

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • stephenw10S
                      stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                      last edited by stephenw10

                      It does depend on the age of that board though.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • C
                        cphillips
                        last edited by

                        It's not new, a few years old but I am willing to use it. I actually have two of them so can have a cold spare ready to go.

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • provelsP
                          provels @stephenw10
                          last edited by

                          @stephenw10
                          HA you say! :) I think it was $15,000 our price ($17,000 MSRP). Probably the most expensive home installed pfSense box ever!
                          And they just gave it to me... :)

                          Memories...

                          Peder

                          MAIN - pfSense+ 24.11-RELEASE - Adlink MXE-5401, i7, 16 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD. 500 GB HDD for SyslogNG
                          BACKUP - pfSense+ 23.01-RELEASE - Hyper-V Virtual Machine, Gen 1, 2 v-CPUs, 3 GB RAM, 8GB VHDX (Dynamic)

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                            last edited by

                            Ha nice. ๐Ÿ‘

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • First post
                              Last post
                            Copyright 2025 Rubicon Communications LLC (Netgate). All rights reserved.