Custom pfSense box
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Hi
So I have been testing pfSense for some time using an old Intel Celeron D 3.06GHz Single-core x64 CPU and an OEM Fujitsu motherboard and was not getting the performance I wanted and it had no Gigabit ethernet connections and no options for adding it with expansion cards.
Now I have a few parts lying around and want to build myself a mini-ITX based pfSense box to use as my primary router/firewall.
The parts I have is an Intel Core i3 2100 3.10GHz and 8GB of Kingston HyperX 1333MHz DDR3 RAM. And of course a 32GB USB-drive to run the OS on and a PSU.
I have been looking around for a mini-ITX motherboard with dual gigabit ethernet connections and onboard display output.
My choice has come to the Zotach Z77-ITX WIFI [Z77ITX-A-E], which can be found here: http://www.zotac.com/products/mainboards/intel-cpu/product/intel-cpu/detail/z77-itx-wifi/sort/starttime/order/DESC/amount/10/section/specifications.html
It has dual gigabit ethernet and onboard wifi, so it should be enough to do what I need. The only problem is that Zotac is not showing any information on what ethernet and wifi controllers that are on the board, so I don't know if the board will be compatible with pfSense.Has anyone tried building a pfSesne box with this motherboard?
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2x Realtek RTL8111E Gigabit-LAN not recommended for network setup, no info for WiFi.
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You beat me with a minute or two :P
http://techreport.com/review/24316/zotac-z77-itx-wifi-mini-itx-motherboard-reviewed/4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500077
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Seems like WIFI here is AW-NB037H. Related topic follows
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Thanks for your answers. It sounds like the wifi-card is not getting to use it's full potential, so maybe I have to choose another board.
Do you have any recommendations for a Mini-ITX board with dual gigabit ethernet, that can run on the CPU and RAM that I have and still support pfSense?I did have a look at this board: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4405
But do you have other recommendations for a compatible motherboard tha meets my requirements?
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Look for something from Supermicro, maybe. Same problem with Gigabyte - Realtek NIC's. Look for some motherboard with Intel NIC's, Marvell worked for me as well.
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I think you have to explain it a little to me. I don't understand why you all recommend to avoid the realtek NIC's. All of my computers have up to this point been using Realtek NIC's and my old pfSense box did also use a Realtek NIC. I have had no issues at all with these NIC's.
I know that it has something to do with the quality of the NIC, but as I will be using it for a small network with two internal networks and 5 servers on a 50Mbit fiber connection I don't see why I cannot use a board with Realtek NIC's.
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Agreed, you CAN use a board with Realtek NICs.
However, just because you CAN do something, it doesn't mean you SHOULD.
Make sense?
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Yes, it does make sense.
But can someone please give me 1 really good reason for not using a board with Realtek NIC's. As of now I think I will go with the Gigabyte board I linked to in a previous post.
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At my opinion, the problem could be described like that -
If the NIC cannot handle inbound/outbound connection streams, then, when NIC goes out of it's throughoutput capacity, for example, SIP devices will produce garble sounds due to increased network latency.
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This is why:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/18497
Although you can get away using one, and it will probably be fine. However, there's alternatives available without these problems.. is the uncertainty worth the few bucks you save to you?
I guess it depends how much of a financial hardship we're talking about.
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This is why:
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/18497
Although you can get away using one, and it will probably be fine. However, there's alternatives available without these problems.. is the uncertainty worth the few bucks you save to you?
I guess it depends how much of a financial hardship we're talking about.
Realtek's 100Mbit cards were absolute trash. The Gig-E parts are much better but they're still not in the realm of even a low-end Intel part. If you're trying to push typical "home" speeds they're fine.
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I used the gig realtek nics in a production environment for a long time with no issues. They are not as bad as they were many years ago but the reputation they (deservedly) received has remained.
If you can afford a supermicro board they are worth the price especially if this is for a work environment. For a home network I would not stress about what board you use to much.
I tried about a year ago to get wireless working with pfsense directly and had many issues so eventually I gave up. I now use a ubiquity AP instead and it has been rock solid. Worth the extra expense IMO.
http://www.ubnt.com/unifi/unifi-ap/
http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-UniFi-Enterprise-System/dp/B004XXMUCQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405274434&sr=8-1&keywords=ubiquiti+uap