What are people using as there pfsense firewall/router?
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I am currently using a Netgate SG-5100 appliance. Prior to that I had a 1U rackmount bare bones server chassis (from Asus if I recall correctly). Prior to the Asus I had a Supermicro Intel Atom based 1U rackmount box.
I got tired of the fan noise, power consumption/heat generation and bulk of the server style boxes and decided to go the low-power fanless appliance route. I've been very pleased with that decision.
For home networks, the Netgate appliances are ideal. And buying the Netgate hardware helps support continued pfSense software development as a bonus!
P.S. -- re-read my reply and decided I need to clarify my "home networks" statmement. I did not mean to imply the appliances only work there. There are very high-end capable models for business and enterprise networks available. I was just initially focused on "home network" since I thought that was the OP's reference point.
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^ exactly.
I run a sg4860 for my home.. There are appliances available at different price points to hopefully meet most budget constraints.
I could most likely get by with say a 2100 or 3100..
I would suggest you take a look at the different appliances - to see which one fits into your needs and budget..
Personally I wouldn't do anything other than netgate appliance.. While sure you might be able to build something for a bit less.. Its not going to be that much cheaper - and with an appliance you know it works, and netgate stands by their hardware, can you say the same for some china box you got off amazon for a few bucks less?
Completely different if you have hardware already laying around you want to leverage.. But if looking to get something specific to run pfsense on - the appliances are were its at..
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I'm running Netgate appliances for business and home use. Rock stable stuff.
-Rico
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@bmeeks Yes! The idea of enterprise level equipment in a home environment can be intoxicating. That is until you realize just how noisy and power hungry that stuff can be. That xeon based firewall plus a 48 port PoE switch can easily add $15+ to your monthly power bill. Small, silent and energy sipping gear is the way to go. You're not going to have to sacrifice anything relevant to a home network by going with a 2100 or 3100.
I currently have what is exactly the same as a XG-1541 (Supermicro SuperServer 5018D-FN4T) and I will be replacing it with a SG-3100 soon and selling off the Supermicro. I thought it would be cool to have that super capable hardware, boy was I wrong...
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@jwj said in What are people using as there pfsense firewall/router?:
5018D-FN4T
I would run that for my VM host.. And then run pfsense as VM on that.. Plus other VMs for sure.. But yeah it can get power hungry running stuff like that.
I have moved on to just a low power nas that can do my plex stuff, and my storage. And run VMs and dockers for stuff.. This uses way less power than the beast of a VM host to do everything.
And way less fan noise - while my nas does have fans, they are very quiet even when running full..
While I loved the ease of snapshots and playing with snaps for pfsense when it was on VM, there is something to be said of just having a rock solid power friendly little appliance.. Now I can reboot my nas (vm host) and still have network.. The low power router and switches and AP being poe all allow my network to be up even with a power outage (ups) for like 30 minutes or so even.. If need be could shut down 1 of my switches, and 2 of the 3 AP and and my nas and run with internet for few hours ;)
I have gotten real power aware since going solar. ;)
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@jwj said in What are people using as there pfsense firewall/router?:
Yes! The idea of enterprise level equipment in a home environment can be intoxicating. That is until you realize just how noisy and power hungry that stuff can be. That xeon based firewall plus a 48 port PoE switch can easily add $15+ to your monthly power bill.
Well, I have a Cisco switch and Ubiquiti AP and both are quiet. The switch uses a wall wart for power, so it can't be drawing that much. On the other hand the Ubiquiti PoE injector has a very heavy duty power cord, but again I doubt it draws that much.
On the other hand, I used to have an IBM Netfinity server and that was noisy and power hungry!
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SG-3100 - low power usage
Synology NAS DS218+ with 2 hard drives for plex server, ds-video and storage - low power usage
nanohd - low power usage
2 tp-link switches - 9VDC/0.6A each
1 - Raspberry pi 3 model B running samba, apache and unifi controller
1 - Raspberry pi 4 model B as a desktop replacement1 - Desktop PC with a 430W power supply that I turn on once a week to play something..
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The max draw on your uap-ac-lite is listed at 6.5W @JKnott... I have not thrown a kill-a-watt on mine. But even if they drew 12W.. your only talking about $1 a month at 12 cents per kwh.. So your prob half of that.. Not sure what elec cost by you..
The pro I have is listed at 9W.. I would assume these draws are max, so with clients and using max transmit power, which none of my AP are set for, 2.4 is low and 5 is medium.. So have to assume something less than what their max draw is listed as..
I would guess, all 3 of my AP together prob cost me $1 a month or something to run.
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At home apu2e4.
At work an ancient PC which got upgraded components to support the future AES-NI requirement. If I could do it all over again, I would have gone with a Netgate appliance at work. Not because I've had any issues with the PC, but the Netgate just makes more sense especially for the workplace.
Come to think about it, I love my APU, but I probably should have done a Netgate at home too. doh!
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Any recommendations on a small UPS for a tiny pfSense box?
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@Raffi_ I'm using Eaton UPS, it's compatible with NUT
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@hintslara82 said in What are people using as there pfsense firewall/router?:
What are people using these days are the watchguard red boxes still any good.
If you do a Watchguard- stay away from anything older than the XTM5 series.. I do have an XCS which was an email filter box (only 3 interfaces) that I use for testing..
But something like a newer M400 would be a better choice if you go the red box way.
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This post is deleted! -
Yeah spammer.. Sorry folk - this guy turned out to just be another spammer..
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Some APC models do not work with pfsense.
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I am using Cisco UCS C210 M2 with 2x x5650 CPUs and 24 GB RAM... In there are also 2x Broadcom 57810 dual port 10G adapters, with every port on different VLAN, no LAGG, Tagging etc... All VLAN stuff is dedicated to Cisco Nexus 6000 :)
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@kartoff said in What are people using as there pfsense firewall/router?:
I am using Cisco UCS C210 M2 with 2x x5650 CPUs and 24 GB RAM... In there are also 2x Broadcom 57810 dual port 10G adapters, with every port on different VLAN, no LAGG, Tagging etc... All VLAN stuff is dedicated to Cisco Nexus 6000 :)
Outchh ...
Do you have free electricity ?/Bingo
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Your running pfsense on one of these?
That is nuts! ;)
How much power does that thing use??
Are you running pfsense as VM on that beast.. I couldn't see using that as a firewall/router.. Its a beast.. Old sure - but those things are beasts!!
Thing must use like 150W idle..
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I used to have free electricity before, but now I don't :( Maybe because of that I still have no habit to pay attention to consumption...
As @johnpoz suggested UCS consumption is about 150w-200w according to CIMC where I can't login now because it require flash which is deprecated now...
But consumption of UCS is less than half of what Nexus switch consume :N6K-C6001-64P# sh env pow in
Power Supply Input:
PS Voltage Current Power Status
(Volt) (Amp) (Watt)1 224.50 1.04 233.27 ok
2 224.00 1.16 259.00 okTotal: 492.27N6K-C6001-64P#
As you see switch consume 500w of power
Depends of point of view UCS C210 is a beast, but also not :) For now it do the trick, but I already considering buying something with LGA2011 and PCI-E Gen3
pfSense run on bare metal, no VM...
I want to try TNSR because it can handle much more traffic and that's why I may need new hardware according to requirements...
BTW I will be happy if pfSense start using VPP DPDK etc... in the future because this will enhance performance of existing hardware significantly :):Edit:
I manage to get in CIMC :
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Haha - I am good ;) hehehe
Talk about calling it pretty damn close..
I am all for enterprise gear.. In the enterprise where cost of electric is a very minor concern.. The only concern we ever had with power was that we had enough.. And if we didn't we put in more..
Thing prob sounds like small plane taxi on the runway with the fans in that thing alone..
