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    Purchasing hardware to run pfsense thoughts?

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    • X
      xkronusx
      last edited by

      Basically what i want to do is be able to shape and track the traffic of my home network due to the fact i run voip and ftp servers.

      Another reason is router based anti-virus looks pretty cool and would help the aggravation of fixing the house computers.

      The way i want it to be setup is WAN –> pfsense machine http://pcpartpicker.com/p/TYlj –->e4200 router for wireless

      Is it realistic to run this hardware for a powerful router? keep in mind i have 7 people in the house, 1 desktop running servers, laptop viewing hd video
      3 xbox 360 consoles that could all be going at the same time and 5 smartphones updating and doing whatever the user uses the phone for, youtube
      facebook etc.

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      • D
        daniev
        last edited by

        Not an expert, but you also have to consider power consumption and noise. I run this baby:

        http://www.mini-box.com/Intel-DN2800MT-Mini-ITX-Motherboard

        It has on-board power and is fanless and silent. It uses < 20w. I have Verizon FIOS and see 84 Mbs downstream, 39 Mbs upstream. I have one additional Intel NIC installed (same as you listed) and use it for WAN. The onboard Intel NIC connects to a Netgear GS116E switch and it breaks out VLANs for data, VOIP, TV and Camera.

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        • R
          rjcrowder
          last edited by

          I recently switched to a used HP DC7800 (intel core 2 duo, 3 gig ram) that I picked up off of eBay. Added a 16 Gig SSD and a dual Intel NIC card (total 3 ports) for a build that cost me just a little over $100. It's a relatively small form factor (although not mini-itx in size), performs very well running pfsense with squid and dansguardian, is very quiet, and draws around 40 watts at idle. So far it has been rock solid.

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          • X
            xkronusx
            last edited by

            Well all totaled out, i got the rig at $270, which is a good cost for a router, i switched in a 300 watt 80 plus bronze power supply.

            So power and cost isn't to much, i mean its not idle amount of power but still.

            I was wondering though whats the options for streaming files over the network? Like if i wanted to have a large hard drive in my pfsense
            machine and streaming music or movies to other computers in the house, is this possible?

            Also if anyone knows for sure that the Amd A4-3400 APU is compatible that would relieve some stress.

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            • R
              rjcrowder
              last edited by

              I'd get a separate media server. I use nas4free http://www.nas4free.org/ on a mini-itx platform with mirrored 2 terabyte drives. It's very solid.

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              • stephenw10S
                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                last edited by

                There are no good options for hosting files on the pfSense box. If you search the forum you'll see this is a common question that usually receives the same answers:
                It is possible to do it but it's very much not recommended. It reduces security and it probably wouldn't survive a firmware update.
                It you want a single box solution for firewall and media servers by far the best way is to run both pfSense and nas4free, or whatever, virtualised.

                Steve

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