Need help to build my first pfSense router

pfcode

HI, All

I have an old motherboard that I want to use to build my first pfSense machine, the motherboard is this:

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M2NMX_SE_Plus/

Its a micro ATX motherboard, I found this rackmount case, that the motherboard can fit into:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811165572&cm_re=D-214-MATX--11-165-572--Product

The problem is that currently there are 2 gigabit intel network cards (one is PCI, one is PCIe) installed on this motherboard, I want to use them with pfSense, but I have no idea how to install these 2 network card to fit into this rackmount case, Any parts need to purchase? I'm really new to the hardwares.

Thanks much for any help

William

messerchmidt

you can get an ebay dual nic intel lan card for 28$ cdn shipped

should work in the 16x slot. does the board have built in video? do you have an old pcie card?

might make more sense to buy newer hardware

messerchmidt

for a single wan on say rogers cable or bell dsl, but not say dotto one gigbit fiber

this is probably less hassle versus using old stuff, and will outperform it while consuming far less power

GIGABYTE GA-J1900N-D3V

http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00J0P042U/ref=asc_df_B00J0P042U3667446?smid=A19N3NI8X4F24J&linkCode=df0&creative=395393&creativeASIN=B00J0P042U&tag=shopbotca-20

or

http://www.ecsrv.com/ShopSearchPage.aspx?No=220146&ST=GA-J1900N-D3V

or

http://www.memorydepot.com/detail/GA-J1900N-D3V.html
add 4-8gb (i suggest 8gb of laptop ddr3l and you are set

use a small ssd or hd,etc - i suggest the sandisk 128gb that goes on sale for $60 cdn very so often at canadacomputers and ncix

jzhyHuy8

What about the GA-C1037UN?

How does the Celeron 1037U compare to the J1900? Anyone got experience there?

pfcode

@messerchmidt:

for a singlee wan on say rogers cable or bell dsl, but not say dotto one gigbit fiber

this is probably less hassle versus using old stuff, and will outperform it while consuming far less power

GIGABYTE GA-J1900N-D3V

http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00J0P042U/ref=asc_df_B00J0P042U3667446?smid=A19N3NI8X4F24J&linkCode=df0&creative=395393&creativeASIN=B00J0P042U&tag=shopbotca-20

or

http://www.ecsrv.com/ShopSearchPage.aspx?No=220146&ST=GA-J1900N-D3V

or

http://www.memorydepot.com/detail/GA-J1900N-D3V.html
add 4-8gb (i suggest 8gb of laptop ddr3l and you are set

use a small ssd or hd,etc - i suggest the sandisk 128gb that goes on sale for $60 cdne very so often at canadacomputers and ncix

Thanks

messerchmidt

@jzhyHuy8:

What about the GA-C1037UN?

How does the Celeron 1037U compare to the J1900? Anyone got experience there?

obsolete vesus the q1900.

messerchmidt

once you add pci gigabit network cards or a dual nic pcie card and a pci video card - not much cheaper than going q1900. the q1900 is faster and uses less power, and is itx

jzhyHuy8

So this leaves the only two possible options:

Gigabyte J1900 with dual lan
ASRock Q1900M with dual nic card

Do you know if they still got problems with the BIOS or which one I should choose there? Really confused right now and don't know what to buy. I need to put everything in a 19" server case.

messerchmidt

the latest gigabyte boards come with an updated bios. a pain because you need windowZ to update the bios, but a BartPE bootdisk can be used

the asrock q1900 is an option, so is their amd a5-5000 itx with an intel lan

people seem to be having luck with the gigabyte setup. i would push for that.

Guest

Something on top to upgrade this board would be the option to insert a
Soekris vpn1401 PCI card to get a better VPN throughput.

pfcode

@BlueKobold:

Something on top to upgrade this board would be the option to insert a
Soekris vpn1401 PCI card to get a better VPN throughput.

Can't find this card at North America Market. Anyway, I have ordered Supermicro A1SRi-2558F board, 1 x Kingston ValueRAM 8G ECC ram here in Canada, and a mini ITX box from China, going to build a new box next month. So far the old machine is running very well with 250/20 internet

Guest

Can't find this card at North America Market.

Soekirs engineering

I have ordered Supermicro A1SRi-2558F

Yup this sounds really good to me!

So far the old machine is running very well with 250/20 internet

Good to know what we can expect from the hardware, thanks.

pfcode

@BlueKobold:

Can't find this card at North America Market.

Soekirs engineering

Thanks.

pfcode

@BlueKobold:

I have ordered Supermicro A1SRi-2558F

Yup this sounds really good to me!

BTW, Should I need to turn on PowerD in pfSense using this mobo?

Guest

On a board such the Supermicro A1SRi-2558F I would be trying out some
tunings points or tips be sure on this! But this is not a must be for me
but if this is something, the system gets a benefit from or runs more liquid
or stable I will use them all or only some. How I said I test them all out and
not inserting them all plain.

pfSense:

enabling Trim support - Supermicro SATA DOM SSD or SATA-DOM or SSD
PowerD adaptive or high adaptive mode - Intel SoC
increasing mbufs sizes - GB LAN Ports

I would be writing it to a local.loader.conf file because after a reboot this changes would be gone if not done so,
if not I would them make backwards to the default configs.

Squid:

Giving Squid more RAM for caching (4 GB RAM) - (cache_mem 4000 MB)
changing memory cache mode (always, disk or network) - (memory_cache_mode disk)
set the allowed maximum object size in memory cache to 1 MB - (maximum_object_size_in_memory 1 MB)

There are many many more things such as this for sure, but I really don´t need that stuff at all
and this some points making sin in my eyes to come closer to the point that I only want a stable
and fast system.

Here are some of the websites I get my stuff from if you are interested in:
Squid Package Tuning
Tuning and Troubleshooting Network Cards
SQUID PROXY SERVER: FINE TUNING TO ACHIEVE BETTER PERFORMANCE