Another Build and questions :)

Thisisvv

Hi All,

I have been reading about Pfsense for sometime. Time has come that i put some time and resources into it. I am here to ask help

regarding my choice of components and my Network requirement. This is for for my Home only.

Here is the hardware i think i have zeroed in.

Mobo :

http://www.microcenter.com/product/442475/H97M-ITX_1150_mITX_Intel_Motherboard

NIC card :

need help with this looking for a quad port Card

CPU : I have zerod in 3 CPU

i3 4170 : http://www.microcenter.com/product/446260/Core_i3-4170_37_GHz_LGA_1150_Boxed_Processor

i3 4370: http://www.microcenter.com/product/436565/i3-4370_38GHz_LGA_1150_Boxed_Processor

i5 4590 : http://www.microcenter.com/product/432161/Core_i5-4590_33GHz_LGA_1150_Boxed_Processor

I Already have an 450W PSU , 128GB SSD , and i am planning to take 8GB DDR3 ram out of my desktop (24gb ram) which never goes above 6gb RAM

in usage.

For my network and requirements. I have attached the pics.

From Modem -> Pfsense ( 1 WAN 3 LAN interface)

Pfsense -> LAN ->OOM Voip (Step 2-3 ). This is our home phone and i need this . I can move this to my switch and put the Access

point here.

Pfsense ->router ( PIA Configured to Germany) ->Fire TV ( Step 2,4,6) . I keep this as sometime i watch netflix of another

countries. SO this router is only for FiretV VPN using PIA. THis router will have openvpn connected to Germany , which depending on my mood i will turn off or keep it on.

pfsense ->switch (steps2,6 other). Here is my main network.MY desktop , network hdd , access point, a wireless AC bridge in

different room connected to another dekstop .

What i want to achieve is first both my desktop and laptop should be able to access my network hard drive and NAS.

I need to configure a VPN for PIA for router only. Can i create a rule that anything that comes from this Router should go through the PIA VPN.

some open questions and services i want are.

Is the quad Nic suitable for the job.
Ability to use certain PC to go through VPN only.
Ability to run a router behind a pfsense .
Facetime from our iphones.
Skype video chat.
laptop goes through citrix connection to the office.
Some gaming on Xbox one . Connected to wireless bridge.

To reiterate , will i be able to keep on doing what i am doing now in our home network. Also is the hardware compatible enough. I dont mind spending few bucks to future proof (4-5 years).

Hopefully it was not a long boring post.

Thanks

V

network.JPG_thumb

Thisisvv

Bump Help please.

asterix

Don't over complicate your network. Run your entire network through a managed switch with simple VLANs. VLANs will keep it safe and secure once you get it configured correctly.

This is what I do.

LAN (10.a.x.1) –> All my laptops, desktops, printers
VoIP (10.b.x.1) --> All my VoIP phones, smart phones
Video (10.c.x.1) --> All Smart TVs, Blu Rays, Set top boxes
HVAC (10.d.x.1) --> All my HVAC thermostats .. you can omit this

My AP (Cisco Aironet 1142) uses the VLANs to route traffic to either LAN, VoIP, Video or HVAC subnets

Thisisvv

I need to have wireless Access point as my stuff is all over the home…

Do i really need a i3 , i5 or i can get through with this...

http://www.frys.com/product/8337457?

V

asterix

@Thisisvv:

I need to have wireless Access point as my stuff is all over the home…

That is what an AP means :D Access Point.. The Cisco Aironet is a wireless access point. Covers my entire house.

@Thisisvv:

Do i really need a i3 , i5 or i can get through with this…

http://www.frys.com/product/8337457?

Go for the i3.

Thisisvv

Went with this ,

AMD Athlon 5150 & MSI AM1I ITX Motherboard

http://www.frys.com/product/8337457?

NIC

Intel Pro 1000MT Quad Port Server Nic Card C32199

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261868324875?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

a 300 W PSU and 8 GB (4X 2 DDR3 1300) ram…120GB SSD drive lying around. All 3 are lying around.

should this be ok?

V

divsys

That MB/CPU combo is a fair performer, should be fine unless your looking for Fiber speeds (250Mbps +).

Unfortunately that NIC looks like it's a PCI-X 64bit.
You could use that NIC on a system with a PCI interface (but only in 32-bit mode), but that motherboard looks like it only has PCI-e x1, x16 slots.

You'll need a different NIC.

Thisisvv

@divsys:

That MB/CPU combo is a fair performer, should be fine unless your looking for Fiber speeds (250Mbps +).

Unfortunately that NIC looks like it's a PCI-X 64bit.
You could use that NIC on a system with a PCI interface (but only in 32-bit mode), but that motherboard looks like it only has PCI-e x1, x16 slots.

You'll need a different NIC.

Any interface card you can suggest??

V

divsys

There are any number of PCI-e Intel based Dual (and some Quad) port NICS around on Ebay, Craigslist, Newegg,etc.
I've had good luck with any I've bought, but you might want to do a search through the Forum to see if any particular card has caused people grief.
I seem to recall someone crying the blues everytime they had to use and Intel PRO - MT1000 card (I may have that model wrong) hunt in the Forums to check.

From what I remember, most of the issues seem to be with particular MB/NIC combos.
Often high speed/high performance setups w/server class MB's are more picky about what you plug in the slots.

Worst comes to worst, even a "Modern" (relatively new) Realtek card will work.
They have a (somewhat deservedly) bad rep but they do work with many systems and they're usually pretty cheap.

divsys

Please don't hijack threads.

If you want to start a new topic ( I would suggest the General Questions or Installation sections) you can copy your question there and I'm sure we can help.

Thisisvv

@divsys:

There are any number of PCI-e Intel based Dual (and some Quad) port NICS around on Ebay, Craigslist, Newegg,etc.
I've had good luck with any I've bought, but you might want to do a search through the Forum to see if any particular card has caused people grief.
I seem to recall someone crying the blues everytime they had to use and Intel PRO - MT1000 card (I may have that model wrong) hunt in the Forums to check.

From what I remember, most of the issues seem to be with particular MB/NIC combos.
Often high speed/high performance setups w/server class MB's are more picky about what you plug in the slots.

Worst comes to worst, even a "Modern" (relatively new) Realtek card will work.
They have a (somewhat deservedly) bad rep but they do work with many systems and they're usually pretty cheap.

got this card….will it work with the motherboard.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221764793718

Also i have an Z97 ud5h gigabyte motherboard with windows 7 desktop pc and windows was unable to recognize this card....

V

divsys

From what I see in the MB specs, it should work.

As always, the final test is to power it up and see….

As for Win7 not recognizing that card, there could be any number of causes - MB, Bios, Win7, rainy days, etc.

A more reliable test would be to try a boot CD w/pfSense 2.2.2 or even a USB stick.
Just run pfSense off the CD and see if it finds the NIC card.
FreeBSD is often much better than Windows at recognizing hardware.

In the end, you'll have to try it out on your new MB and let us know how it goes :)

Guest

I'm also building a pc, but it's for a slower internet connection so I can't comment about your gigabit requirement.

However, I did learn a bit about cases along the way. You are interested in a mini itx board. If you want to use the pci slot, you will need a case bigger than mini itx. It seems the standard mini itx case uses the area in front of the pci slot for the power connection. This means you will need a bigger case or a different motherboard if you want to use a mini itx case and have a sufficient number of intel lan connections. Supermicro makes a couple for the top of the line atom cxxx processors. They are a little expensive. Neither offer HDMI, in case that is on your wish list.