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    What are people using as there pfsense firewall/router?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Firewalling
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    • ?
      A Former User @bmeeks
      last edited by

      @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...

      JKnottJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • johnpozJ
        johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
        last edited by

        @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. ;)

        An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
        If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
        Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
        SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.7.2, 24.11

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        • JKnottJ
          JKnott @A Former User
          last edited by

          @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!

          PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
          i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
          UniFi AC-Lite access point

          I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

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          • M
            mcury
            last edited by

            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 replacement

            1 - Desktop PC with a 430W power supply that I turn on once a week to play something..

            dead on arrival, nowhere to be found.

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            • johnpozJ
              johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
              last edited by johnpoz

              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.

              An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
              If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
              Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
              SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.7.2, 24.11

              M 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • Raffi_R
                Raffi_
                last edited by

                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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                • Raffi_R
                  Raffi_
                  last edited by

                  Any recommendations on a small UPS for a tiny pfSense box?

                  M JKnottJ 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • M
                    mcury @Raffi_
                    last edited by

                    @Raffi_ I'm using Eaton UPS, it's compatible with NUT

                    dead on arrival, nowhere to be found.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • chpalmerC
                      chpalmer @hintslara82
                      last edited by

                      @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.

                      Triggering snowflakes one by one..
                      Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4590T CPU @ 2.00GHz on an M400 WG box.

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                      • H
                        hintslara82 Banned @hintslara82
                        last edited by

                        This post is deleted!
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                        • johnpozJ
                          johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator
                          last edited by johnpoz

                          Yeah spammer.. Sorry folk - this guy turned out to just be another spammer..

                          An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                          If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                          Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                          SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.7.2, 24.11

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                          • JKnottJ
                            JKnott @Raffi_
                            last edited by

                            @Raffi_

                            Some APC models do not work with pfsense.

                            PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
                            i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
                            UniFi AC-Lite access point

                            I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                            • K
                              Kartoff
                              last edited by

                              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 :)

                              bingo600B johnpozJ 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • bingo600B
                                bingo600 @Kartoff
                                last edited by

                                @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

                                If you find my answer useful - Please give the post a šŸ‘ - "thumbs up"

                                pfSense+ 23.05.1 (ZFS)

                                QOTOM-Q355G4 Quad Lan.
                                CPUĀ  : Core i5 5250U, Ram : 8GB Kingston DDR3LV 1600
                                LANĀ  : 4 x Intel 211, DiskĀ  : 240G SAMSUNG MZ7L3240HCHQ SSD

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                                • johnpozJ
                                  johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @Kartoff
                                  last edited by johnpoz

                                  Your running pfsense on one of these?

                                  2579280.jpg

                                  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..

                                  An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                  If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                  Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                  SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.7.2, 24.11

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                                  • K
                                    Kartoff
                                    last edited by Kartoff

                                    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 ok

                                                   Total: 492.27
                                    

                                    N6K-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 :
                                    UCSC210M2PC.PNG

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                                    • johnpozJ
                                      johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @Kartoff
                                      last edited by

                                      Haha - I am good ;) hehehe

                                      good.png

                                      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..

                                      An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                      If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                      Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                      SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.7.2, 24.11

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                                      • bingo600B
                                        bingo600
                                        last edited by bingo600

                                        @work
                                        I'll "inherit" 4 x Cisco 9300 in Q1 2021

                                        And I just inherited a "free" HP-DLP360 G9
                                        Now if i can convince the Boss to get 2 x 10G cards .....

                                        10G would be a nice upgrade in the TestLab.

                                        Any suggestion for 10G cards for the HP ??

                                        I'm not experienced w. Enterprise servers (ILO etc)

                                        /Bingo

                                        If you find my answer useful - Please give the post a šŸ‘ - "thumbs up"

                                        pfSense+ 23.05.1 (ZFS)

                                        QOTOM-Q355G4 Quad Lan.
                                        CPUĀ  : Core i5 5250U, Ram : 8GB Kingston DDR3LV 1600
                                        LANĀ  : 4 x Intel 211, DiskĀ  : 240G SAMSUNG MZ7L3240HCHQ SSD

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                                        • 1
                                          1OF1000Quadrillion
                                          last edited by

                                          I have a completely overpowered Alienware R4 desktop I am using for pfsense now, my old HP died a couple weeks ago-blown motherboard. The Alienware has a 4790 CPU and 16 GB of ram.
                                          I have never seen the CPU go over 6% and never seen the RAM usage over 20%.

                                          When this PC running pfsense dies I fully intend on getting the SG3100 or equivalent at minimum from negate. I may even go for something a bit beefier if I upgrade to GB internet by then - I prefer overpowered to "just what's needed" or (gasp) under-powered.

                                          If you run old PC hardware and "free" PFSense I encourage you to pay for a snort subscription at minimum to support Netgate's efforts.

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                                          • johnpozJ
                                            johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @1OF1000Quadrillion
                                            last edited by

                                            @1of1000quadrillion said in What are people using as there pfsense firewall/router?:

                                            pay for a snort subscription at minimum to support Netgate's efforts.

                                            Huh?? You mean a support subscription from netgate? The $30/year rule subscription doesn't support netgate or pfsense that I am aware of..

                                            Where did you see that the rule subscription supports netgate?

                                            An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                                            If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                                            Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                                            SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.7.2, 24.11

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