New setup help
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Hello,
I am working on my first pfsense setup.
I am looking to create a 10gbe home network. My original thought was that I would just use an old server box I have and throw a bunch of 10 gig cards in it and plug all my devices into the pfsense box directly - using pfsense as my router and main network switch.
My question is:
Should I use my pfesense box as my router and main network switch, or should I use it for a single wan in / lan out to another managed switch which then has all my other devices connected to that.My thought originally was that since I have a bunch of 10gbe nics I wouldn't need to invest in a 10gbe switch, but from my quick googleing it seems that that it would work, but not really how pfsense is designed to be used.
Would like some input on the best and most proper way to setup this environment.
I hope I explained that well enough, Let me know if you have any questions
Thanks
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I'd say go with a separate switch. Others have reported some issues with using pfsense as a bridge.
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A bunch of nics that you bridge does not a switch make.
If you want wire speed for your "switch" then get a switch..
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Thank you both for your responses. I will go with having another switch.
It is better to have a managed one, or let pfsense decide. I don't really see myself needing multiple subnets for now, and if I do in the future, I would probably create another lan.
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What kind of budget do you have? 10ge switches are not cheap ;) You going fiber or copper for connections?
Cheapest option prob Mikrotik
https://mikrotik.com/product/crs309_1g_8s_inThat is a port - you just need to fill it with sfp+
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@jakehaas said in New setup help:
It is better to have a managed one, or let pfsense decide.
That depends on your needs. If you want VLANs, port mirroring and more, then you need a managed switch. If you just want to connect a bunch of devices then an unmanaged switch will do.
BTW, what do you mean by "let pfsence decide"?
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@JKnott said in New setup help:
BTW, what do you mean by "let pfsence decide"?
My take on that is they don't actually know how vlans work ;) If they did they really wouldn't be asking about an dumb switch if they want to do vlans.
But I have seen a 10ge dumb switch.. Its not really any cheaper than a managed 1, so not sure why anyone would buy it ;) Problem with 10ge, is its not really priced for home use yet.. Except for those that have money to throw at it.. I would love to have the ability to do 10ge... When my current switches are eol in a few years, I will most definitely be in the market for ability to do 10ge on their replacements.
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I have to wonder what people would do with that. I can understand 10 Gb in a data centre or carrier. Some have already started running 100 Gb. But what benefit would a typical home users get? I recently upgraded my Internet to 500 Mb down and 20 up. I really don't see much of a difference in my usage. I suspect for some, even 10 Mb would be adequate. The other day a friend mentioned my upload is about 3x his download.
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@JKnott 10 Gbit is useful for large amounts of data, like a SAN/storage or for backups on the LAN to not take several hours each. That's our primary usage, outside of a server using 10 Gbit to one port on a a 1 Gbit switch. As discussed though the advantage would be LAN traffic and irrelevant to Internet traffic until the connection gets over 1 Gbps.
Side note: some Netgate routers have a switch built in, but it's a hardware switch.
Another aside and you'll probably laugh...we have a lab and it has old cabling so is 100 Mbps because it still works and we don't do anything on it other than Internet/downloading patches. Found out recent Supermicro server boards with Intel NICs can't do 100 Mbps, only 1 and 10. Time to upgrade...
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@teamits said in New setup help:
@JKnott 10 Gbit is useful for large amounts of data, like a SAN/storage or for backups on the LAN to not take several hours each.
Yes, I know. That's why I mentioned data centres and carriers. Not so much for home use, though I suppose you could read your email faster.
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@JKnott I was trying to agree with you... :)
