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    BYO w/ Hardware in Malaysia

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    • I
      iamGavinJ
      last edited by

      Hi Everyone,

      I've been looking into building my own firewall one-and-off for quite some time now… more "off" than "on" due to the over-abundance of options and opinions so I thought it was about time to write a post and seek some help.  My requirements aren't particularly extreme but most of the posts here relate to hardware vendors in the US or UK, which doesn't quite work for me since I've recently relocated to Malaysia.  If there is anyone else on the forum from the region and could help it would be most helpful to chat.

      Requirements are:
      Relatively low power - I was looking at the newer Intel Atom processors but many people have suggested that aren't up to the job?
      AES-NI - Pretty much a no-brainer these days for OpenVPN acceleration.
      Very small form factor - Was considering a Thin Mini-ITX.  Need a case suggestion.
      Preferable fanless or VERY quiet.
      2 x 1Gb Ethernet ports w/ 9K Jumbo Frames + 1-2 port 802.3 Passive Optical Network Fibre w/ SC connector (Could do with some more help understanding this as it's my first time trying to bridge this); OR
      4 x 1Gb Ethernet ports w/ 9K Jumbo Frames
      Video onboard, can't be dealing with serial bootloaders, and preferably HDMI.
      UEFI - I've pretty much standardised all my BSD builds on ZFS w/ GPT bootloader as my backup regime just transmits ZFS snapshots to a central server.  Preferable but not essential.

      Any and all help greatly appreciated.

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      • stephenw10S
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by

        @Gavin:

        I was looking at the newer Intel Atom processors but many people have suggested that aren't up to the job?

        Depends what job you're asking them to do.  ;)

        The fact that you're asking about Gigabit ports that can handle jumbo frames makes me think you want all the bandwidth you can get, at least internally, however you haven't specified. What is your WAN bandwidth? Are you planning to run any packages? VPNs?

        The older Atoms, D525 etc, won't reach 1Gbps of firewall/NAT. The new Rangely processors, confusingly also labelled Atom, will reach that speed and beyond.

        Steve

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        • W
          Wolf666
          last edited by

          Agree with stephenw10 on Rangeley processor. I am satisfied with mine even if my use is as hobbist.

          Modem Draytek Vigor 130
          pfSense 2.4 Supermicro A1SRi-2558 - 8GB ECC RAM - Intel S3500 SSD 80GB - M350 Case
          Switch Cisco SG350-10
          AP Netgear R7000 (Stock FW)
          HTPC Intel NUC5i3RYH
          NAS Synology DS1515+
          NAS Synology DS213+

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