Torn on which direction to go
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Hi guys
i know theres topics about this but honest.
I'm Torn on which way to go.
I'm looking at either going a VM or a Hardware
The hardware version specs are
intel I3-10100,
8gb DDR4
250GB SSD/Vnme
Gigabyte h410m DS2v
Dual intel NicVM would run on a old dell t630 with my other vms
server runs dual E5-2620 v4 and would have a dual intel NIC attached to the PFsense VMany opinons?
regards
Jeremy -
@jeremy450 I use to run pfsense as VM for many years, and while it has some advantages - playing with whatever the latest beta pfsense being one of them - since its easy to roll back via a snapshot, etc.
You could play with other router distro's easy by just switching which vm is doing the routing, etc.
Drawback is performance - when I up'd my internet speed the old hardware I was running as my vm host just couldn't handle my 500 down, etc. Also any time I needed to reboot my VM host whole house lost internet.
I went hardware, and to be honest I wouldn't go back. I can still run pfsense or other routers as VMs to play with, etc. But now if I need to reboot the VM host, the rest of my network still has internet.
While pfsense as a vm can be done. There is something to be said for having internet no matter what you do with your VM host. Hardware setup is more straight forward as well, less complicated setup for sure.
Either way works - its up to your own preferences and needs. Its quite possible performance would be the deciding factor fo you - set it up as VM, can it handle your internet issues without any issues? If not then really the decision is made for you ;)
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I would go with hardware. With a VM, you have more vulnerability. Check my sig for what I use.
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Thanks for the replies guys
This honestly has been a hard decision as i like VMs. i converted of my stuff to VM's
My main concern was if it froze and i wasnt home to reset it. But i think i could setup a watchdog thing in Home Assistant if it cant get a ping reply for 2 or 5mins from the pfsense box to do a powercycle on a switch to reboot the box
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It shouldn't just freeze. But if that's a real concern for you then setup an HA pair. Or maybe some OOB access to the console.
Steve
