Adding second NIC in tight mini ITX case (Antec ISK110 VESA case)

johy

Hi kind folks,

I am trying to build a new pfsense setup in the very small Antec ISK110 VESA case. This is for a firewall at home.

The motherboard is a Biostar J3060NH Mini-ITX with one onboard NIC and a PCI-E slot (1 x PCI-E x1 2.0 Slot). The motherboard is a "combo" in that the processor ( Intel Celeron J3060 Dual-core 2.48G) is inbuilt on the motherboard.

I got an additional TPLink TG3468 PCI-E network card and it fits the motherboard well.

However, the PCI-E slot is at the very end of the board, and I am just not able to fit it inside the mini ITX case.

The options I am thinking are

Really low profile PCI-E x1 network card. Any suggestions?
A kind of extender cable which I can use to maybe place the 2nd NIC elsewhere. What kind of extender should I be looking at?
USB to LAN adaptor. Is this advisable?
Look for another mini itx motherboard with dual NICs. I have had no luck so far. Where I live, they are mighty difficult to come across.

gjaltemba

I would get this for a ISK 110

Motherboard: ASRock Z270M-ITX/ac

s_mason16

@gjaltemba:

I would get this for a ISK 110

Motherboard: ASRock Z270M-ITX/ac

That requires him getting a new cpu and ram as well.

-the case you're using does not allow for any pci/pci-e expansion. It'd require significant modification to the case, to make it work.

if you have a switch already, you can setup VLANs, it would allow you to use your current setup without having to spend any more money. Otherwise, I'm afraid you're looking at getting a new case or a new motherboard with associated components.

gjaltemba

Do not forget to add a low profile cpu cooler to the new kaby lake processor on your shopping list.

johy

Thanks folks.

I have an old Asus RTN13U running dd-wrt, which I think I can configure as a switch with VLANs.

The regular switch on the network is a D-Link DES-1061D, which is a plain old switch.

So how does one go about with this VLAN thing. Any pointers?

gjaltemba

Curious what makes you think that you can get vlans on your RTN13U.

pfSense VLANs with a one-NIC

https://blog.spirotot.com/2016/06/28/pfsense-vlans-with-one-nic-nuc-a-tp-link-tl-sg108e/

s_mason16

@johy:

The regular switch on the network is a D-Link DES-1061D, which is a plain old switch.

That's perfect and all you'll need, I'm a big Youtube learner, I'd start with just searching how to setup vlans in pfsense.

johy

@gjaltemba:

Curious what makes you think that you can get vlans on your RTN13U.

pfSense VLANs with a one-NIC

https://blog.spirotot.com/2016/06/28/pfsense-vlans-with-one-nic-nuc-a-tp-link-tl-sg108e/

Thanks for the link.

The RTN13U is already running dd-wrt. So I think it can be configured as a switch (with VLAN). Do correct me if I am wrong.

s_mason16

i have zero knowledge of dd-wrt, but you would set up the VLAN on the pfsense system, not the switch. so if dd-wrt allows you to use it as a switch then you should be good

gjaltemba

Guess you missed the section on switch configuration in the article. Any managed switch will need configuration of vlan membership and vlan port settings for it to work.