Will this Dell Optiplex be a good Home pfSense option?

[AR15USR]

A friend of mine want to run pfSense on this refurbished Dell OptiPlex 3020 SFF. Also needs to add a network card.

His use case will be this:
•Typical home setup
•Streaming TV services, Netflix/Hulu/Apple TV/Disney etc
•3-5 desktop stations
•3-5 iPhones, 3+ iPads
•3 Smart TVs
•2 baby cameras
•1 file server
•Ring Doorbell
•OpenVPN - 2 remote connex max
•Snort
•2-3 VLANS
•pfblockerng

The machine has these specs
Dell OptiPlex 3020 SFF
Intel Core i5 4570 3.2GHz Processor
16GB DDR3-1600 RAM
512GB SSD
Intel HD Graphics 4600

He will need to add a network card as well, if I read it correctly this will work, correct?
Intel EXPI9301CT Gigabit PCIe X1 Adapter

Would prefer a network card with at least 2 ethernet ports to have the capability of direct connect a server at future point, can you recommend another option?

Appreciate the help..
He has a Netgear R7000 which he will put in AP Mode and use as his Wifi AP. Not really going to be hard wiring anything at this point.

[johnpoz]

@AR15USR said in Will this Dell Optiplex be a good Home pfSense option?:

He has a Netgear R7000 which he will put in Bridge Mode and use as his Wifi AP

How exactly is that going to work? You mean he is going to use it as a AP? Not really bridge mode.. Bridge mode is when you put your isp gateway device into bridge (modem only) vs nat router.

[AR15USR]

Sorry, yes it will be used as an AP in AP mode.

[johnpoz]

Ok that makes more sense ;) hehehe

[johnpoz]

@AR15USR said in Will this Dell Optiplex be a good Home pfSense option?:

•2-3 VLANS

How is that going to work? I doubt the r7000 supports vlans - is it going to be running 3rd party firmware?

[stephenw10]

What bandwidth is the WAN connection? Will he need to use a VPN and if so what bandwidth does that need to pass?

Steve

[AR15USR]

@johnpoz said in Will this Dell Optiplex be a good Home pfSense option?:

@AR15USR said in Will this Dell Optiplex be a good Home pfSense option?:

•2-3 VLANS

How is that going to work? I doubt the r7000 supports vlans - is it going to be running 3rd party firmware?

OK good question, will have to look into that. Suggestions? DD-WRT? (website says its compatible)

@stephenw10 said in Will this Dell Optiplex be a good Home pfSense option?:

What bandwidth is the WAN connection? Will he need to use a VPN and if so what bandwidth does that need to pass?

Steve

400Mbit/s down, 50 up. Will only be using a VPN to connect in remotely and check his camera occasionally from his phone. Doesn't require much bandwidth.

[stephenw10]

Should be no problem them, that hardware will barely be troubled by that.

Steve

[AR15USR]

@johnpoz said in Will this Dell Optiplex be a good Home pfSense option?:

@AR15USR said in Will this Dell Optiplex be a good Home pfSense option?:

•2-3 VLANS

How is that going to work? I doubt the r7000 supports vlans - is it going to be running 3rd party firmware?

Decided to use DD-WRT fyi...

.
@stephenw10 said in Will this Dell Optiplex be a good Home pfSense option?:

Should be no problem them, that hardware will barely be troubled by that.

Steve

Thanks for the confirmation...