Fanless firewall based on Astaro/Sophos UTM

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HaxNobody

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Nov 20, 2012
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I'm looking to save on some hardware, and was hoping someone might be able to suggest a solution. Right now the cheapest I can find for the SG105 appliance is about $350, although for that price you do get a very capable machine. I'm hoping the folks here might be able to help me pick out a cheaper system with enough horsepower for this application and come in around the $100-$250 mark.

The thing I'm looking for would ideally be fanless. It's going to need a platter drive to hold logs and dual network ports (one wan, one lan). Probably should have 2 GB of ram, might be able to shoehorn an install into 1GB. The software is free for home use, so that doesn't add to the cost. Use case is for a fairly slow internet connection (18 mbps DSL) and about 10 devices on the network. Any suggestions?
 
One of those Intel Atom C2000 series (formerly Avoton/Rangeley, especially the Rangeley line) would be great for this. But even the cheapest one of those is out of your price range.

If price is no option, I suggest you start with either one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157419 (less expensive - avoton)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813182855 (best for networking - rangely)

For things in your price range that I could recommend, and I wouldn't recommend those past gen Atom devices, I would like to ask what you currently have first to see what parts we could salvage.

Cause you could obviously go for one of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128720
And add that Pentium Pentium G3258 Anniversary Edition for $70 or below

but it's probably will not be as good as the Rangeley for networking and power consumption, and possibly not going to be fanless...
 
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I don't really have any parts on hand that would be suitable for a small fanless build. From what I've been seeing, I may not be able to get what I want unless I go with the pre-packaged solution. It comes with a little current gen atom, 320 GB drive, 2 GB ram, VGA port, and at least 4 network ports. So far in all my Googling I haven't come across comparable generic hardware for a similar price range.
 
I built my fanless Sophos UTM machine using generic hardware, but that was two years ago so the cpu is of course not current generation:

Intel D2500CC (with two integrated Intel nic's), 4GB ram, 40GB ssd and a Jetway ADMPEIDLA mini-pci-e card with two extra Intel I350 nic's. Put it in a Morex T3460 case which has a built-in psu.

Works just fine, running the 64-bit kernel.

I'd suggest skipping a rotating rust bucket due to noise and heat, and I don't really see the need for massive storage space just for log files.
 
Ended up buying the SG 105. Might replace the spinner with an SSD, will see how quick it fills up when I enable statistics on web usage.
 
Ok. As a reference, the hardware I chose only cost me about $250 total (including Swedish 25% tax, so it should be even cheaper elsewhere).
 
Just switched from ClearOS to Sophos on my router box.

While not fanless it is inaudible even with everything else turned off. Even when my ear is right next to it, I cannot tell if it is even on without looking at the power switch light. So for something like this, fanless is not necessary.

It is an old Dell AM2 socket tower that I put a HE dual core Opteron in. Also just switched it from a HDD to an old SSD.

The dual port NIC and the CPU are the only thing I bought. Total cost was less than $50. The system itself was given to me when I built a system for somebody to replace it.
 
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