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    Hardware Advice

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    • M
      mrmango
      last edited by

      Hi,

      We have a 50mb link coming in, we have around 15 users, concurrent I guess would be around 7-8. We are passing through VPNS to the server and it is mainly being used to handle port fowarding, nothing particular intensive. I would like to use some of the features of pfSense, like analysing data when issues occur.

      We want a 1U rackmount system.

      We were looking at:

      http://www.applianceshop.eu/index.php/firewalls/opnsense/opnsense-ghz-rack-edition-pfsense-appliance.html

      But also:

      http://www.mini-itx.com/store/rack pre built by them, just requires myself to install pfSense.

      Question is, do the systems from Applianceshop look good enough for the job? Anyone had any experience with them?

      If I do get a pre built system from mini itx, what should I get in terms of hardware ? To ensure it's compatible in terms of hardware.

      Thanks

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • ?
        Guest
        last edited by

        Regarding the rack from appliance shop: Do you really need the rack? The hardware (board) is the same as in the smaller box:

        http://www.applianceshop.eu/index.php/firewalls/opnsense-ghz-pfsense-appliance.html

        I have some of these boxes. Maybe you should check your needs regarding the throughput of your VPNs before decison making for the hardware…

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          @mrmango:

          We are passing through VPNS to the server…

          Please clarify this. Are you terminating the VPNs in the pfSense box or do you have some other server doing that on your network?

          Steve

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          • O
            oppland
            last edited by

            I had similar requirements and ended up picking this:  http://www.mitxpc.com/proddetail.asp?prod=EKIAD2500DL

            They have some rackmount versions too:  http://www.mitxpc.com/products.asp?cat=118

            SG-2440

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            • M
              mrmango
              last edited by

              Hi,

              Passing PPTP to our windows server, we are not terminating the VPN into the pfSense box.

              @stephenw10:

              @mrmango:

              We are passing through VPNS to the server…

              Please clarify this. Are you terminating the VPNs in the pfSense box or do you have some other server doing that on your network?

              Steve

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • M
                mrmango
                last edited by

                Thanks for replying.

                Yes, rack is what we are looking for.

                @chemlud:

                Regarding the rack from appliance shop: Do you really need the rack? The hardware (board) is the same as in the smaller box:

                http://www.applianceshop.eu/index.php/firewalls/opnsense-ghz-pfsense-appliance.html

                I have some of these boxes. Maybe you should check your needs regarding the throughput of your VPNs before decison making for the hardware…

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • M
                  mrmango
                  last edited by

                  Has this hardware been fine on pfSense? I could match that hardware with the other provider.

                  @oppland:

                  I had similar requirements and ended up picking this:  http://www.mitxpc.com/proddetail.asp?prod=EKIAD2500DL

                  They have some rackmount versions too:  http://www.mitxpc.com/products.asp?cat=118

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • ?
                    Guest
                    last edited by

                    No major issues yet, I started my pfSense career with these boxes and they are normally doing fine (for about 7 months at the longest). I would buy them nowadays without the CF-card and do the setup on my own.

                    I really had some doubts about the VPN-throughput in the beginning, but I set up two Xeon servers with pfSense just to test the VPN throughput and it didn't get much better with this setup. So apparently the different fiber/cabel/PPPoE internet access points are causing the low throughput…

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                    • O
                      oppland
                      last edited by

                      It's worked very well with pfsense.  Very, very low cpu usage and very low ram usage.

                      SG-2440

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • stephenw10S
                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                        last edited by

                        As long as you're not terminating the VPN then the pfSense box doesn't have to do any encryption/decryption, it's just moving packets. You should have no problem passing 50Mbps with almost any hardware. If you decide to run any packages like Squid or Snort then things start to require more horsepower.
                        By the way although pfSense suppports PPTP directly (terminating) it's very definitely not recommended because:
                        https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/PPTP_VPN

                        Steve

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