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    Atom bechmarks for pfSense

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    • A
      asterix
      last edited by

      Does anyone have real life benchmark tests of pfSense on Atom with 2/4GB RAM running the following services

      Snort (at least WAN interface selected with all categories checked)
      Squid
      Dansguardian
      pfBlocker
      OpenVPN (about 5 to 10 users tops)

      WAN: 75/10 or something around that bandwidth

      I am under the impression that Snort would be the killer.. but will it really hog all the CPU cycles and not leave other services to run smoothly?

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      • C
        cmb
        last edited by

        Which Atom? Big difference between the early versions and the latest ones. Either way that should be adequate for that much bandwidth with Snort, especially if it's a multi-core Atom.

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        • A
          asterix
          last edited by

          Yeah, I dont mind the CPU working at 80-90% at all times.. as long as it can handle all those packages smoothly with no hiccups.

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          • N
            nfz300zx
            last edited by

            I dont have snort etc running on mine. but its a atom based unit (330 1.6Ghz Duel core with HT) with 2 Gig ram and it sits at a load of 0.01 most of the time.  Thats running my whole home network/vpns etc and its not a standard home setup its more like a corporate network with seperate subnets/dmz VoIP etc.

            When i did try snort in the past it didnt make that much of a difference.

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            • A
              asterix
              last edited by

              Never was a fan of Atom but I have been looking into it since last week for a build at a client site.

              Typical setup with have like 6 different subnets for LAN, VoIP, Video, etc.. and OpenVPN for about 10 users. Client is looking for IDS and and antivirus for which Snort and Dansguardian perfectly fit in along with some caching with Squid. I have always built i3/i5/i7 systems which are rock steady and take whatever you thrown at them. My concern is that in a few months time the client will move to higher bandwidth WAN somewhere around 150/50 and I don't want the pfSense UTM to be the bottleneck. If it can handle all the different subnets.. especially heavy LAN downloads, mildy heavy VoIP and heavy HD Video data subnets smoothly then it would be just perfect.

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              • T
                tirsojrp
                last edited by

                Don't risk it, go with a Pentium or Core i3.

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                • A
                  asterix
                  last edited by

                  yup.. just wanted to give Atom a chance but haven't seen many real life feedbacks on its performance. I guess I have to stick with i3 for now.

                  My main reason for Atom was because its fanless and silent. I could add a fanless heatsink to the i3 but it may overheat on heavy network activity.

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