Recommendation for a 1u colocated server
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 No I have no recommendations I'm afraid. :- 
 All my pfSense experience has been with second hand equipment.
 There seems to be quite a jump from the Alix to some thing faster in price terms. The Supermicro 1U servers seem to get well received on the forum but I've never used one.Steve 
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 Thanks, I was starting to see that price difference after the many hours of web searching. The next tier looks like + $500 devices unless you diy but the mini pc market looks like a huge mess. I think I'll try the m1n1wall 2D3. It can't be any worse than the D-Link, and if I somehow manage to max it out, I can always use it for home. Thanks a lot for your time. 
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 Dont forget it can run on standard hardware too, you could pick up a cheap 1U HP/Dell server on ebay, just check the HW compatibility lists :) 
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 It would be an option, but I'm trying to stay at 1u. If the m1n1wall doesn't work out then I'll definitely try a used dell 1u. Thanks 
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 I've just started a similar thread looking for much the same thing. http://www.idotpc.com/TheStore/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=105 http://www.arbor-usa.com/catalog/network-communications/cat_soho-small-business-server-platforms.html 
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 Personally I would get something with alot of RAM, I think snort can be very beneficial in this scenario. 
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 I would go for an IBM X336 1U server with 8gb ram. Works very well and can handle 1gbit throughput… http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=ibm+x336+8gb&_sacat=0&_odkw=ibm+x336&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313 Runs like a charm 24/7/365 :) 
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 I would go for an IBM X336 1U server with 8gb ram. Works very well and can handle 1gbit throughput… http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=ibm+x336+8gb&_sacat=0&_odkw=ibm+x336&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313 Runs like a charm 24/7/365 :) Power is a pig on those so if you are paying for VA used you are better off looking elsewhere. But if power is unlimited they will work fine. 
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 Mine is currently using 160watts….so not a big issue. 
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 Mine is currently using 160watts….so not a big issue. My E3-1260L's are humming along at 68 watts (using SSD). In our co-lo that charges $0.70/VA/month that means it's saving me about $95 a month so the payback window is short. 
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 What hardware do you use then to support those processors? 
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 What hardware do you use then to support those processors? Supermicro X9SCL+F board with Intel X520 gig-e SFP+ NIC. 
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 Update Hey guys, I ended up getting an alix 2d2 device from here: http://www.xagyl.com/store/product.php?productid=16296&cat=0&page=1. It came with pfsense preinstalled on a 4gb cf-card. I have it set up and it is working great! It was a lot easier to setup than I thought. It has so far been able to handle my server load with no problems at all. I can now use all my allocated public ip's from my colocation provider all on one nic on my server! It's great! I will report back in a month or so with more updates. Thanks everybody for all the help. 
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 One other consideration for those that come across the thread.. The Soekris units 5501 & 6501 both now have a 1RU rack mount case option with internal A/C an HD options… Although I know of a number of installs using the Netgate and SuperMicro solutions mentioned and all I can say is 
 "if it's PFSense, it's going to work" !!Happy New Year all..
