Alix APU1C4 vs A1SRi-2758F
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Hi all,
i am looking for new hardware to build a pfsense appliance and i am mostly struggling between the two options mentioned in the subject.
Let me first give you some facts about what we have and what we require from the firewall:- Internet bandwidth: 6Mbit (no option to increase that in the forseeable future unfortunately)
- 3 UniFi APs are connected to our ProCurve switch and from there trunk to one eth of the firewall, there are 3 ssids running on those APs (one is a private wlan the other one for guests and another one in a nearby bulding) The guest ssid provides wireless internet access to sometimes 20 - 60 children.
Therefor on the vlan interface of the guest ssid i wanna run squid and do some content filtering and website caching so that we can use our low bandwith connection more efficiently and restrict access. Some QoS will take place either. - Another VLAN will include a windows machine and a printer for the office and will be seperated from the rest naturally.
I would like to add clamav and snort to the already mentioned services.
The question i have is, if the APU1C4 will be enough to handle all that or if i really need to go for something bigger.
On the one hand the throughput requirements are really on the low side but i cant calculate what stress other services like squid and clamav or snort put on the apu or the ram of the alix. With the SuperMicro option i will probably virtualize all that with ESXi and add a dedicated VM for managing the UniFi APs but its a bigger investment and i wouldt like to recommend something that is way above what we need for the task.Maybe you can help me out with your knwoledge and expeirence. :)
Thank you in advance. -
Both are more-than-adequate for 6Mbit/s. The C2758 is a powerhouse and would be largely wasted on firewall duties alone. Mine is sitting largely idle on 75/75. It is a great choice for a small vSphere environment though.
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Thanks for your reply.
I am still uncertain about this, you are absolutely right a few firewall rules here and there won`t affect the performance of the ALIX system very much but if i throw
squid + squidguard maybe clamav and snort into the mix i am concerned that the ALIX can handle all that with ease.I don
t wanna overkill the whole thing and buying a A1SRi-2758F sounds a little bit overkilled considering the internet connection is only 6MBit but i dont have practical experience with the new ALIX appliances and the Relatek NICs won`t make the choice easier for me. Are they able to handle VLAN tagging properly? -
Thanks for your reply.
I am still uncertain about this, you are absolutely right a few firewall rules here and there won`t affect the performance of the ALIX system very much but if i throw
squid + squidguard maybe clamav and snort into the mix i am concerned that the ALIX can handle all that with ease.I don
t wanna overkill the whole thing and buying a A1SRi-2758F sounds a little bit overkilled considering the internet connection is only 6MBit but i dont have practical experience with the new ALIX appliances and the Relatek NICs won`t make the choice easier for me. Are they able to handle VLAN tagging properly?The old Alix boards and the new APU have nothing in common. The new one will meet your needs, the old ones will not if you're using squid, snort, and ClamAV.