BYO network appliance

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celerate

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Feb 13, 2010
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Where I work we're trying to put together our own network appliances with 4 or more gigabit ethernet ports and Intel x86 compatible processors. A few manufacturers like Axiomtek and FabiaTech have caught my attention, but getting their equipment in Canada isn't easy. I've also noticed Jetway boards, while larger, would still manage to do what we want while keeping the size small, and I'm currently the process of finding out who their distributors are in Canada.

If anyone else here has tried doing something similar, what hardware did you use for the project?
 
celerate said:
Where I work we're trying to put together our own network appliances with 4 or more gigabit ethernet ports and Intel x86 compatible processors. A few manufacturers like Axiomtek and FabiaTech have caught my attention, but getting their equipment in Canada isn't easy. I've also noticed Jetway boards, while larger, would still manage to do what we want while keeping the size small, and I'm currently the process of finding out who their distributors are in Canada.

If anyone else here has tried doing something similar, what hardware did you use for the project?
Click to expand...

whats the os of flavor ? what exactly are you doing with 4 ports ?
 
dashpuppy said:
whats the os of flavor ? what exactly are you doing with 4 ports ?
Click to expand...

The OS right now is going to be something like Endian community edition; however, we have also been looking at other Linux distributions for different feature sets. In some situations we may be building small cache servers, or possibly using custom router distributions for special features. As for the 4 ports, that might be used to provide multiple LANs or perhaps just to avoid having to install a network switch for smaller networks.
 
Might be worth taking a look at Logic Supply; I bought some SFF stuff from them a while ago (mini-ITX atom), and they seem knowledgable; I just got parts and put everything together myself, but they also offer design services.

I think Jetway is probably going to be the easiest way to get a smallish x86/amd64 system with 4 ports without huge costs. There are options to use full sized expansion cards in some of the mini-ITX cases, but my experience was that made things super cramped, the jetway expansions seem much nicer.
 
I can take some picks of one if you like, but we've got about a dozen of these running pfSense:
http://www.lannerinc.com/x86_Network_Appliances/x86_Desktop_Appliances/FW-7535

5 deployed so far and we're quite happy with them. We use them for remote offices and home offices that need VOIP to our central office or IT folks who need to be able to work from home.

We typically have 4gb of ram and when we need any packages we put a 40gb ssd in them, there is plenty of room and mounting for a 2.5" HDD.

Lanner makes core-based units that are similar if you need more horsepower.
 
A barebones unit cost us about $375 direct from Lanner, with RAM/4GB CF/Tax/Shipping I think we paid closer to $550/ea

I'm a fan of the Supermicro 1U units too when a rack is going to be used and/or you dont need so many interfaces, but these units are nice to send to peoples houses and offices without IT since they're fanless, smaller, and we can mark ports for specific uses (IE plug your Ubiquiti AP here, your VOIP phone here, and PC/Switch here... and we can have them all pre-configured with proper rule sets).
 
obrith said:
A barebones unit cost us about $375 direct from Lanner, with RAM/4GB CF/Tax/Shipping I think we paid closer to $550/ea

I'm a fan of the Supermicro 1U units too when a rack is going to be used and/or you dont need so many interfaces, but these units are nice to send to peoples houses and offices without IT since they're fanless, smaller, and we can mark ports for specific uses (IE plug your Ubiquiti AP here, your VOIP phone here, and PC/Switch here... and we can have them all pre-configured with proper rule sets).
Click to expand...

looks like this,

http://www.untangleappliances.com/next-gen-appliances/ng-50.html

however 500$ to 900$ is a huge leap...
 
dashpuppy said:
looks like this,

http://www.untangleappliances.com/next-gen-appliances/ng-50.html

however 500$ to 900$ is a huge leap...
Click to expand...

Yea, I think most of the vendors who sell pre-build Untagle, pfSense, etc resell the Lanners.

Buying direct saves money, no surprise. It's a bit of a PITA to install on the boxes, especially if you're only doing one at a time. Lanner also doesn't provide basically any tech support, so the resellers are charging for that too.
 
obrith said:
Yea, I think most of the vendors who sell pre-build Untagle, pfSense, etc resell the Lanners.

Buying direct saves money, no surprise. It's a bit of a PITA to install on the boxes, especially if you're only doing one at a time. Lanner also doesn't provide basically any tech support, so the resellers are charging for that too.
Click to expand...

Yuk,
 
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