Hardware recommendations?
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Im looking to get a new router.
I'm stuck between a RouterOS device and a PfSense machine.
I've seen the watchguard fireboxes can be converted, most of them I'm finding within the price range I am willing to dip into are only 100mbit which I want gigabit.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Barebones-Mini-ITX-pfSense-Firewall-Router-Intel-D2500CC-PicoPSU-80-2x-Gbe-LAN-/200839113376?pt=US_Firewall_VPN_Devices&hash=item2ec2f1aaa0 <–- i've found things like this but I also need to be able to add in wireless functionality.
As far as hardware reccomendations go does anyone have any, as well as has anyone here had experience w/ RouterOS and how does it compare?
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Additionally can you set up a wireless interface via USB?
And how well would pfsense run on an Asrock e350m1 e350 APU machine?
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You can use usb wifi adapters and some can be used as an access point. However the wifi hardware support is limited so you have to choose your card/stick carefully. See: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AojFUXcbH0ROdHgwYkFHbkRUdV9hVWljVWl5SXkxbFE&hl=en#gid=0
There is no 802.11N support at all so if you need that you have to use an external access point. To be honest access points can be had so cheaply these days that it's hard no to recommend going that route. You can also locate it for better radio reception as a bonus.I don't know what your price range is but Watchguard boxes can be had very cheaply, even the gigabit models. E.g. : http://www.ebay.com/itm/181193373805
That box will not route at gigabit speed though. What are your actual requirements?Steve
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No requirements really, Im just using this in the home setting and I want some additional functionality.
The most intensive thing I'd probably be doing is transferring data within the network to my NAS.
I prefer buy it now items and @ 30.00 shipping thats a joke. lol
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I could sell you "Specially configured" DD-WRT linksys E2000 set up as Wireless N AP/Gigabit switch for $20 + $1,000,000 shipping…
Or you could buy one and configure it yourself for like $20. ;D
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I already run a Buffalo router preloaded w/ dd-wrt.
Im looking for a firewall as well.
Only way to do that is to add entries to iptables which I don't care for.
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Then you are all set. You buffalo router can be your gigabit switch and your wireless N AP.
Just plug it into a configured pfsense LAN port and you are all set.
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Ill just look at gigabit firebox solutions.
its not difficult to do the conversions is it, what all is required. I've kinda looked at some of the info on it.
@Stephen, That is a non gigabit model.
What are the models that ARE gigabit? -
Does it have to fit some certain special form factor or power consumption spec?
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Yeah, not a 4 ft long 1u rackmount blade. or anything of large size. I'd like it to be something I can fit on my desk. or next to it.
Also whats a good intel gigabit nic w/ multiple ports on it that would be supported by pfsense
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If it just needs to fit on your desk, just get yourself a nice small desktop board, a couple of 2 port PCIe NICs, almost any modern intel or AMD CPU, a couple GB or more of ram and put it on your desk. If all the hardware is 2 years old or more and especially if its all Intel, it going to work great. It doesn't need to be expensive either. But, if it doesn't have to fit a 1U chassis I'd suggest a quad core processor clocked at 3GHZ or more. A modern I5, I7 or AMD or something will allow you to get pretty creative. When I'm not constrained by space, power or heat, I opt for horsepower.
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BTW - Gigabit NICs are are nice and I definitely like the pretty green color it turns my switch's lights, but gigabit ports doesn't equal gigabit throughput necessarily. If you have some space, build something with a bit of CPU to spare ;)
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Well right now the machine I've got to play with is a 1.6ghz dual core AMD 350 APU machine w/ 4gb of ram.
Asrock e350m1 specifically.
I was looking into something like this potentially as well http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=281150078955&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en
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The realtek 8111e on the Asrock might be a problem and the processor isn't going to give you blazing throughput. Might be a headache.
The server is pretty big, but it will surely work one would think.
I might go a different way though if I were going to spend $200 or more.
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The advertisement for the server on ebay says dual core in the specs then quad core further down. Which is correct?
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Yeah, I noticed that. I already messaged the seller for clarification… haha. I'll have to do some digging. Ill probably end up going for a server for it.
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If its going to give you 8 or 16 threads, I like the server too. You can put ESXi on it, use two cores for a pfsense and put a bunch other services on the remaining vCores.
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if I had a new haswell machine i'd use my current rig on it with a 3960x, 12 threads :D
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I have a couple small VMs running here and there but my personal machines are all either quad or dual core. (Thats the downside of being able to fix things well - Nothing breaks often - Nothing gets upgraded often). The up-side of that is my pfsense here runs on a dual core AMD with no virtualization, my desktop is quad core no virtualization. Most everything here is single serving one user/purpose per machine and its super reliable. I've done 8 core 16 thread installs for a few people and its nice and saves on power bill, but mine is way more reliable. Most things run well, but the more I do it for others, the less I want pfsense on a VM for me.
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Im not looking to get extreme speeds, I imagine my APU machine will have more throughput then my current router lol. Definitely more processing power.
