Low Power Device for 50Mbit OpenVPN Client/Server
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Hi,
I'm currently running my pfSense on an old Computer
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E4600 @ 2.40GHz
2 CPUs: 1 package(s) x 2 core(s)
As you can see this device is quiet over-spect, also it only got 2 Network cards and I would prefer 3, however this is not very important I'm more focused on the power it consumes.
This Box connects to an external VPN Provider using a 50/10 Link. It is important that the new device needs to be able to cope with this speed as well.Any Idea what I should go for ?
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Is this about money or power? Because What does power cost? Because I'm thinking it will take 5 year or more for a lower power unit to pay for its self.
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Good question,
it might not be direct about Money itself.
It's just that Miss is looking at my little server Farm in our Basement and is thinking about how much power this consumes.
So I was looking into alternatives so that Miss is happy again (smaller= less power ;) ).
I know that for SSL VPN I need some decent CPU so the quick answer might be that I might be able to go for an older possible smaller machine but never for these little one chip boxes, right ? -
Well - I have several thoughts….
1. Your current box is probably doing a very good job and would continue to do so.
2. ANYTHING new would work great. One of those small APUs would be fine. Small, pretty, reliable and low power.
So, if the miss is happy spending $300 - $400 to make things smaller/quieter/lower power, you will get your money back... Eventually.
You said you have a "server farm"? What else is running down there?
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I got 2 further Machines down there (one isn't even powered on, but this does not count if you argue with Girls :D ) The Other Machine is my Backup/NAS/Media Server
Plus a FirtzBox (Router) as it seems it's hard to get a VDSL Modem which does not cost a fortune ;)Can you point me to one of these new APU's you are talking about ? Just that I got an idea.
At the end I believe you're right, there isn't a 20 bucks box which does the same ;)
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http://store.pfsense.org/VK-T40E/
Another option is to build yourself one fast machine with lots of processor cores, speed, ram and NICS.
Then load it with ESXI and run all your computers/servers/routers etc as Virtual Machines. One box…