pfSense on Supermicro X10SLM-F
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New to pfSense and this forum but have been in IT for many years.
I'm interested in building a router and running pfSense for my home lab.
I am considering the Supermicro X10SLM-F Server Motherboard with a Xeon E3-1241 V3 and 8GB Ram.
I would be interested in any general advise / tips about installing / running pfSense and what I should lookout for. -
You might want to consider a mini PC to save a lot of power. I bought the one described in my sig and am quite happy with it.
Here's a speedtest on my 500/30 connection.
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Mmm, what are the requirements?
What throughput do you need? Are you going to be running packages? VPNs?
Steve
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@jknott said in pfSense on Supermicro X10SLM-F:
You might want to consider a mini PC to save a lot of power. I bought the one described in my sig and am quite happy with it.
Thanks for the information JKnott. I'll checkout the Qotom mini PC as you suggested. I briefly looked into these small appliances and found mixed reviews, which turned my attention elseware.
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@stephenw10 said in pfSense on Supermicro X10SLM-F:
Mmm, what are the requirements?
What throughput do you need? Are you going to be running packages? VPNs?HI Steve, I'm running the following equipment on my network:
- One Linux server used as a backup server
- One Linux server used as a media server
- One Linux workstation (dual RJ45)
- Two Linux laptops
- One Windows laptop using VPN for work
- Two network printers
As far as throughput, 900 - 1000 Mbps is the internet service that I currently have.
The network is currently running over 1 Gb Ethernet.Hope this helps.
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Ok so 1G throughput. That's easy with anything vaguely recent.
1G throughput with Snort and Squid and pfBlocker is more difficult though.
1G throughput with all traffic routed via some VPN server is a lot more difficult.
That Haswell Xeon could likely do all of it at the cost of power consumption. You probably don't need that sort of power.
Steve
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@stephenw10 said in pfSense on Supermicro X10SLM-F:
That Haswell Xeon could likely do all of it at the cost of power consumption. You probably don't need that sort of power.
Thanks for your feedback Steve! I do understand the power consumption angle.
There is a possibility of adding VPN to the network at some point in the near future so having a bit more horse power now feels better then just enough!
The Supermicro server board I'm considering can be had for ~$100. Adding a PSU and rack case and a spare SSD, I'm thinking the project would cost less then $400. If a component (memory, cpu, ssd, fan) goes bad, I can swap it out.Besides the pfSense Documentation on netgate, is there other required reading that you could point me to?
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You can also check our Youtube channel for the hangouts archive: https://www.youtube.com/c/netgateofficial
Or the regularly updated Larence Systems channel is also very good: https://www.youtube.com/@LAWRENCESYSTEMSSteve
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Building stuff is fun but there are a lot of SFF prebuilt PCs out there to get you something better for less. It might still scratch the itch for tinkering because most likely you'd have to get a network card and maybe SSD. The 7th and 8th gen intel core SFF prebuilt PCs are pretty cheap right now. Another benefit with an OEM style prebuilt is most are completely tool-less so you can service it very easily if necessary.
As far as compatibility, I wouldn't see why that wouldn't work but with older hardware there can always be some figuring out to do. As far as performance and power consumption, I don't really have any idea because most of my PFsense setups are pretty vanilla with some OpenVPN just to access files when I'm away.
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@stephenw10 said in pfSense on Supermicro X10SLM-F:
You can also check our Youtube channel for the hangouts archive: https://www.youtube.com/c/netgateofficial
Or the regularly updated Larence Systems channel is also very good: https://www.youtube.com/@LAWRENCESYSTEMSThanks Steve! Very helpful!
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@billy_c said in pfSense on Supermicro X10SLM-F:
SFF prebuilt PCs out there to get you something better for less.
Thanks for the information Billy. I have looked at some Dell SFF PC for this task. As you mentioned, I would need to add a network card (possibly a EXPI9404VT) to the box. The question in my mind would be how long an inexpensive prebuilt PC could run 7x24?
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@cannondale Not sure, I have one that's going on 3 years and another that's only a year but seems to be fine. Both HPs.
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@cannondale I can’t remember and I’m not at either location at the moment. Maybe something like HP ProDesk???
I don’t want to discourage you from building your own ground up or getting a mini but just throwing other options out there.
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@cannondale I should also add that I’m running two supermicro based systems that were new when build. One is going on a few years and other is probably going on 4 years. One is running in a business environment with near 100% up-time, more than I can say for some of the other network gear in that setup. Supermicro has some rock solid setups for sure.
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Thanks for the additional information Billy! It's all helpful.
