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    Another hardware question - please advise

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    • G
      gjaltemba
      last edited by

      @SSri:

      <snip>The planned setup :

      • Raid 1, partition a small size, say, 25-30GB, to run ESXi 6.5 and use the remaining ~100GB Raid 1 disk to run two VMs
      • VM1 PfSense / VPN
      • VM2 Suricata / Packet Inspection needs.
      • I will set up a separate machine to meet other requirements.
        <snip>(2) I plan to set port mirroring in my Cisco managed switch and use the second VM as a small box for packet inspection / Suricata needs.

      Can PI / Suricata be installed / run separately than on the PfSense. I am concerned running packet inspection as a part of PfSense will unnecessarily route all internal traffic through this and reduce the Lan traffic performance.

      Thanks,
      SSri</snip></snip>

      Seeing that there are only 2 vm, personally I would just put both vm in a promiscuous port group and not bother with port mirror.

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      • W
        whosmatt
        last edited by

        @SSri:

        • Raid 1, partition a small size, say, 25-30GB, to run ESXi 6.5 and use the remaining ~100GB Raid 1 disk to run two VMs

        In this day and age ESXi can boot from the same partition you use to store VMs. Gone are the days where the hypervisor needs a separate partition just to boot from.  No need to split it up.

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        • G
          gjaltemba
          last edited by

          I seriously doubt that esxi can boot from just one partition without writing a new installer. When I run

          esxcli storage core device partition list

          There are 6 system partitions and a vmfs5 partition for local storage on one drive.

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          • S
            SSri
            last edited by

            Sorry for not replying. I have been away on business.

            Thanks every one for valuable advise, which are very helpful.

            After a long thought, I have decided to run PfSense FW-Router-VPN on its own. The rest of the requirements starting with Suricata/Packet Inspection to Home Lab clusters will be run on a beefy server via multiple VMs. I will use the port mirror on my switch to inspect packets on the separate server running Suricata/PI as one of the VMs.

            I have finalised the following specs for the PfSense-VPN.

            PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

            CPU: Intel - Core i3-7350K 4.2GHz Dual-Core Processor  (£147.80 @ Alza)
            CPU Cooler: CRYORIG - M9i 48.4 CFM CPU Cooler  (£22.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
            Motherboard: ASRock - Z270M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  (£105.91 @ BT Shop)
            Memory: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  (£67.35 @ CCL Computers)
            Storage: Sandisk - SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£48.80 @ Amazon UK)
            Case: Thermaltake - Core V21 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  (£53.99 @ Amazon UK)
            Power Supply: Silverstone - Strider Gold 450W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply  (£79.47 @ Scan.co.uk)
            Total: £526.31
            Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
            Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-03 18:11 BST+0100

            • Intel i350 t-2 or t-4.

            I will be ordering the parts next week.

            Thanks all.
            Cheers

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            • W
              whosmatt
              last edited by

              @gjaltemba:

              I seriously doubt that esxi can boot from just one partition without writing a new installer. When I run

              esxcli storage core device partition list

              There are 6 system partitions and a vmfs5 partition for local storage on one drive.

              You're right. What I meant to say is that the days of the user having to manually set aside storage for the OS are gone; the installer handles everything now.  No need for a separate array just for the install, etc.

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              • G
                gjaltemba
                last edited by

                There was never a requirement for a separate array just a lun. I run esxi 6.5 from a sdcard.

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                • P
                  patrick0525
                  last edited by

                  https://plugloadsolutions.com/80PlusPowerSuppliesDetail.aspx?id=26&type=2

                  Consider a used eBay Dell 80+ gold psu. My psu is the L265EM-00 ATX12V form circa 2011. I got it for $15 USD including shipping. A 10% load for a 500W is 50 watts and may not be realistic for a pfSense firewall that predominantly rests at idle. I chose a 265W psu which is closer to my real world idle state. I also tested it on an old mobo for an hour before plugging it into my kaby lake pfSense mobo.

                  Currently I idle at 18.4W with a G4650T CPU, nc364t, liteon msata ssd and packages: openvpn,suricata, pfblockerng, squid and squid guard.

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                  • S
                    SSri
                    last edited by

                    @patrick0525:

                    Thank you. I will definitely check out a suitable dell psu.

                    Cheers.

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                    • P
                      patrick0525
                      last edited by

                      No need to buy an over wattage psu. You may need to buy 24 pin & 12V  extension cable since Dell cables are usually too short and designed for their mobos.

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                      • S
                        SSri
                        last edited by

                        Thanks for the heads up.

                        Regards

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                        • P
                          patrick0525
                          last edited by

                          I just lowered my idle consumption wattage by adjusting the bios settings for the CPU and system fan from standard cooling to silent cooling. Wattage is now 18.1W

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                          • S
                            SSri
                            last edited by

                            Thanks for all help. Cheers

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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