Linksys E3000 gave up the ghost after 5 years of loyal service...building pfSense box

T

twelveparsex

[H]F Junkie
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I've got a lot of spare hardware laying around including a pair of intel 1GBE NICs, 4GB (overkill I know but it's not in use), Netgear GS108 gigabit switch and an z68 mATX board. I picked up an old pentium off ebay.

Here's what the home network consists of:

wired connections:

Main PC
FreeNAS/Plex server
Smart TV (1080) in the living room
Home Audio Receiver (internet options hardly ever get touched)
XBone

wireless connections:
Roku
Laptop
Tablet
2 iPhone 6s

Typical max load is with two people watching two separate streams

I've never dabbled with pfSense before but it seems as straightforward as setting up m FreeNAS box. Any pitfalls to look out for? What's the best wifi card to use? I don't absolutely require an AC card
 
Get a separate AP or flash a router using OpenWRT, it'll work much better.
Decent WiFi support is pretty much only available in -CURRENT.
You might also want to have a look at OPNsense even though I wouldn't really recommend to use a PC for such light load.
 
my suggestion:
if you are not using VPN, those motherboard LGA1155 with pentium is mucho power :D

for regular home user router that based on very low power x86, low power SoC mini ITX with additional dual giga ethernet(get genuine OEM i340/i350 for sure, due on low power consumption) is more than enough for pfsense. the SoC Mini ITX can be: j1800, q1900, N3050, or N3150..

I see last wekk ecs N3050 was ~$20 after rebate, this .
N3050 and NN3150 has AES hardware support in processor :D.


if you want to plan to use your motherbard, get Intel NIC minimally dual port, i340/i350.
and instal baremetal and create pfsense in VM environment.
you can add another VM in the future in your baremetal

I would pick Pfsense compared with OP..... due on many reasons.
check both site and their forums..
 
cantalup said:
my suggestion:
if you are not using VPN, those motherboard LGA1155 with pentium is mucho power :D

for regular home user router that based on very low power x86, low power SoC mini ITX with additional dual giga ethernet(get genuine OEM i340/i350 for sure, due on low power consumption) is more than enough for pfsense. the SoC Mini ITX can be: j1800, q1900, N3050, or N3150..

I see last wekk ecs N3050 was ~$20 after rebate, this .
N3050 and NN3150 has AES hardware support in processor :D.


if you want to plan to use your motherbard, get Intel NIC minimally dual port, i340/i350.
and instal baremetal and create pfsense in VM environment.
you can add another VM in the future in your baremetal

I would pick Pfsense compared with OP..... due on many reasons.
check both site and their forums..
Click to expand...

Well, it's free hardware I have laying around. If I were building one from scratch I'd probably get one of these.
 
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prometheum said:
Well, it's free hardware I have laying around. If I were building one from scratch I'd probably get one of these.
Click to expand...

since you do want to use spare hardware, you can do your plan by assuming using celeron is wasting power consumptio and processor processing.


you link is not good hardware in $, I would get low power N series processor from SuperMicro with dual NIC, and dual SODIMM memory slots, the price is $200 (new) range :D
ebay link *used* http://www.ebay.com/itm/SuperMicro-...eron-Mini-ITX-Motherboard-RR3-E-/131666410834 $140...



as I said, you ca make cheap router pfsense with cheap consumer miniitix Soc low power N3050 (that is popping out with rebate.. the lowest was $25 after rebate)
you just need get free/spare 2G-4G SODIMM, and single intel NIC pcie 1X (cheap on ebay)..
you will get very low power intel SoC, (can be compare with ARM/MIPS solution in power consumption and more processing power on intel low Power SoC).

at the end

do whatever you prefer since I just give a suggestion :D
 
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diizzy said:
The witi board just got official support in OpenWRT, go for it :)
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/WiTi..._82_80_62,searchweb201644_0,searchweb201560_5
Click to expand...

low processing power :p
if the price is $40 , I would take it.
RISC SoC solutuion is getting cheap :D especially equipped with MIPS 1004Kc , this a classic processor tha has been used than 10 years ago and remarketing again to compete with ARM solution..

Intel SoC low power will beat in every corner, power consumption is very comparable with risc SoC :p

just wait the deal shown up, and go for it

you will can upgrarde max 8G RAM, mini-pci expess, and 1X pci express (mostly occupied by 2nd nic card)..
 
Last edited:
Not really, I'd love to see you push 500+ using a Atom Z****-CPU.
//Danne
 
diizzy said:
Not really, I'd love to see you push 500+ using a Atom Z****-CPU.
//Danne
Click to expand...

iwould love to see your hardware link can push 500+......

my suggestion is more reasonable than crappy classic mips solution.
the price is equally in cost when intel Soc motherboard got bought during the deal as I mentioned before.

at least. my solution can push more than your solution...
 
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