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    Best Hardware for home use?

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    • D Offline
      dolomite792
      last edited by

      Just looking for some ideas for the best hardware for home use.  I have been doing a lot of research on this forum and elsewhere and it seems like getting a watchguard x unit or an alix or acpu1c board might be the way to go.

      I am interested in using squid and possibly snort (I'm just too curious) and I have been looking into hardware that wouldn't break the bank and would be fairly easy to setup.  It seems that one could acquire  those watchguard boxes fairly reasonably on ebay but the configuration pitfalls and the struggling to get those things to function properly and the low ram limit is kind of setting me off from them.  Does anyone know if they can take more than 512 megs?

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      • D Offline
        doktornotor Banned
        last edited by

        For snort, definitely forget about the legacy Alix boards.

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        • K Offline
          Keljian
          last edited by

          What speed is your connection? What is your budget for pfsense?

          More importantly aside from snort, what do you want to run?

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          • C Offline
            Clear-Pixel
            last edited by

            12" laptops work great…

            HP EliteBook 2530p Laptop - Core2 Duo SL9600 @ 2.13Ghz - 4 GB Ram -128GB SSD
            Atheros Mini PCI-E as Access Point (AR5BXB63H/AR5007EG/AR2425)
            Single Ethernet Port - VLAN
            Cisco SG300 10-port Gigabit Managed Switch
            Cisco DPC3008 Cable Modem  30/4 Mbps
            Pfsense 2.1-RELEASE (amd64)
            –------------------------------------------------------------
            Total Network Power Consumption - 29 Watts

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            • stephenw10S Offline
              stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
              last edited by

              @dolomite792:

              It seems that one could acquire  those watchguard boxes fairly reasonably on ebay but the configuration pitfalls and the struggling to get those things to function properly and the low ram limit is kind of setting me off from them.  Does anyone know if they can take more than 512 megs?

              If you're talking about the older X-Core model (X500, X700, X1000) then no, 512MB is the limit and it's fussy about what RAM you put in there. Perhaps more importantly they use Realtek NICs which do misbehave in certain setups.
              The X-Core-e models are much better specced and can often be had for not much more though they do require some further tweaking to get running.

              However, as others have said, what's your WAN bandwidth?

              Steve

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              • O Offline
                oppland
                last edited by

                This is working very well for me (with 4gb ram)  http://www.mitxpc.com/proddetail.asp?prod=EKIAD2500DL

                It's silent and has Intel nics.

                SG-2440

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                • C Offline
                  Clear-Pixel
                  last edited by

                  HP ELITEBOOK 2530P …. Very compact and stylish ..... Consumes about 17 watts

                  http://www.ebay.com/sch/Laptops-Netbooks-/175672/i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=HP+EliteBook+2530p

                  HP EliteBook 2530p Laptop - Core2 Duo SL9600 @ 2.13Ghz - 4 GB Ram -128GB SSD
                  Atheros Mini PCI-E as Access Point (AR5BXB63H/AR5007EG/AR2425)
                  Single Ethernet Port - VLAN
                  Cisco SG300 10-port Gigabit Managed Switch
                  Cisco DPC3008 Cable Modem  30/4 Mbps
                  Pfsense 2.1-RELEASE (amd64)
                  –------------------------------------------------------------
                  Total Network Power Consumption - 29 Watts

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                  • J Offline
                    jasonlitka
                    last edited by

                    I'm currently in the process of spinning up one of these to replace my DN2800MT.  I upgraded my FiOS and with pushing all traffic through an OpenVPN tunnel and Snort the Atom is really struggling (100% on both cores @ ~45Mbit/s of OpenVPN & Snort, running at around 63C at that point).

                    http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Atom/X10/A1SRi-2758F.cfm

                    Fair warning, 2.1.1-PRERELEASE is required if you want any working NICs and there will only be (2) working USB ports because USB 3.0 doesn't work yet…

                    My suggestion would be one of the APU boards if you're looking for something small and router-like.

                    I can break anything.

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                    • P Offline
                      priller
                      last edited by

                      @Jason:

                      http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Atom/X10/A1SRi-2758F.cfm

                      Fair warning, 2.1.1-PRERELEASE is required if you want any working NICs and there will only be (2) working USB ports because USB 3.0 doesn't work yet…

                      I just built my new system with that board.  Really nice!!  Excellent firewall platform.

                      IPMI make it soooo easy to install the OS.

                      Noname.jpg
                      Noname.jpg_thumb

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                      • J Offline
                        jasonlitka
                        last edited by

                        @priller:

                        @Jason:

                        http://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Atom/X10/A1SRi-2758F.cfm

                        Fair warning, 2.1.1-PRERELEASE is required if you want any working NICs and there will only be (2) working USB ports because USB 3.0 doesn't work yet…

                        I just built my new system with that board.  Really nice!!  Excellent firewall platform.

                        IPMI make it soooo easy to install the OS.

                        I had to hook up a USB optical drive to install. Mounting the ISO through the IPMI kept failing when trying to mount during the boot process.

                        How hot is yours running?  Are there any fans in your case?

                        I can break anything.

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                        • D Offline
                          dolomite792
                          last edited by

                          My home internet speed since its a WISP is rather slow at times (varies from 4-12mbits) which is why I am interested in the squid setup.  My budget is around $200 and I want to keep the power consumption low.  Which is why the apuc1 board is really appealing to me.  I'm not worried about the fastest gigabit ethernet speeds, more for security, experimentation, and observation as well as something that's better than a regular soho router with terrible security.  I have played with DDWRT and openwrt, mikrotik.  I've used pfsense in the past but its come to my attention again at how powerful and useful it is and so I am really interested in investing in a good router.  I love the idea of building something myself and being able to interchange parts and pieces to suit whatever I need in my home setup.

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                          • K Offline
                            Keljian
                            last edited by

                            @dolomite792:

                            My home internet speed since its a WISP is rather slow at times (varies from 4-12mbits) which is why I am interested in the squid setup.  My budget is around $200 and I want to keep the power consumption low.

                            Do you have any parts you can put in the box (or even a case/power supply) that you have lying around?

                            It's very cheap to put together a basic haswell celeron/pentium box with 2-4 gig of ram, dual intel pt/1000 nic with a cheap ssd (you don't need a screaming fast one for a home connection).

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                            • P Offline
                              priller
                              last edited by

                              @Jason:

                              I had to hook up a USB optical drive to install. Mounting the ISO through the IPMI kept failing when trying to mount during the boot process.

                              How hot is yours running?  Are there any fans in your case?

                              If you were failing to a mountroot>  prompt,  then you need to set "set kern.cam.boot_delay=10000" as noted here: 
                              https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Boot_Troubleshooting#Booting_from_USB

                              It's just a timing issue mounting the remote ISO via IPMI.

                              Once I did that, it mounted the ISO file on my desktop just fine.

                              –

                              My board is in a M350 case with a single 40mm fan in the front panel position.  Usually runs in the 41 - 43C range.

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                              • J Offline
                                jasonlitka
                                last edited by

                                @priller:

                                @Jason:

                                I had to hook up a USB optical drive to install. Mounting the ISO through the IPMI kept failing when trying to mount during the boot process.

                                How hot is yours running?  Are there any fans in your case?

                                If you were failing to a mountroot>  prompt,  then you need to set "set kern.cam.boot_delay=10000" as noted here: 
                                https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Boot_Troubleshooting#Booting_from_USB

                                It just a timing issue mounting the remote ISO via IPMI.

                                Once I did that, it mounted the ISO file on my desktop just fine.

                                –

                                My board is in a M350 case with a single 40mm fan in the front panel position.  Usually runs in the 41 - 43C range.

                                Good info, I'll keep that setting in mind.

                                I'm using a M350 as well but no fan.  Temps are at 46C while idle.  Based on your numbers I don't know that the front fan actually does much.  That's kind of what I expected since it doesn't blow at the CPU.  I briefly set a 40mm fan on top of the heat sink and the temp dropped to 26C within a minute or two so I might try and figure out how to attach it there.

                                I can break anything.

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                                • P Offline
                                  priller
                                  last edited by

                                  Jason ….

                                  I ordered another top plate (fan mounting bracket)  for the M350 and a second fan.  Assuming that a fan in the front position will fit over the CPU,  and I move the existing one to the back position .... Should the front one over the CPU blow down and the rear one up (exhaust)?  Or both as exhaust?

                                  Thoughts?

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                                  • J Offline
                                    jasonlitka
                                    last edited by

                                    @Jason:

                                    I'm using a M350 as well but no fan.  Temps are at 46C while idle.  Based on your numbers I don't know that the front fan actually does much.  That's kind of what I expected since it doesn't blow at the CPU.  I briefly set a 40mm fan on top of the heat sink and the temp dropped to 26C within a minute or two so I might try and figure out how to attach it there.

                                    An update on this.  As expected, when I added a 40mm fan to the front of the case as an intake, it dropped idle from 46C to ~41C.  Once I made a little duct with cardboard to angle the air towards the heatsink the idle temp dropped to 33C.

                                    EDIT 1: I made a few adjustments to the duct and now I'm down to 30C.  That's only 4C off from the fan directly on the heatsink, and it's much quieter, so I'm going with this.

                                    EDIT 2: Pictures of my quick fan duct.  I was originally going to whip something up on a 3D printer but then I figured, "manila folder"! http://imgur.com/a/RTRD9

                                    @priller:

                                    Jason ….

                                    I ordered another top plate (fan mounting bracket)  for the M350 and a second fan.  Assuming that a fan in the front position will fit over the CPU,  and I move the existing one to the back position .... Should the front one over the CPU blow down and the rear one up (exhaust)?  Or both as exhaust?

                                    Thoughts?

                                    If you're going to use two fans I'd suggest the front spot as an inlet and the rear-left (furthest from the CPU) as an exhaust.  I don't think this case and board really needs two fans though.  The one I've got installed and rigged as above seems to have done the trick, and to be honest, the temp without a fan is still way lower than my DN2800MT (idle @ 57-58C).

                                    I can break anything.

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                                    • S Offline
                                      Seth
                                      last edited by

                                      What case options are there for this board.

                                      Thanks

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                                      • J Offline
                                        jasonlitka
                                        last edited by

                                        My first pick for Mini-ITX boards is the M350.

                                        http://www.mini-box.com/M350-universal-mini-itx-enclosure

                                        I can break anything.

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                                        • P Offline
                                          priller
                                          last edited by

                                          Ya, the M350 is what I went with.

                                          The SuperMicro case looks pretty decent, too:  http://www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/Mini-ITX/101/SC101i.cfm

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                                          • J Offline
                                            jasonlitka
                                            last edited by

                                            @priller:

                                            Ya, the M350 is what I went with.

                                            The SuperMicro case looks pretty decent, too:  http://www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/Mini-ITX/101/SC101i.cfm

                                            The reason I didn't go with that one is that the memory blocks the airflow from the 60mm fan when used with the Rangeley board (and even if it didn't, it would blow the wrong direction across the heat sink).  I wasn't sure if I was going to use a fan, but if I needed one, I wanted to make sure it would actually work.

                                            EDIT: Pics added in my previous post.

                                            I can break anything.

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