Build pfsense router

[Ice_Black]

I want to build a pfsense router.

I want something small and quiet.

I need a Mini ITX, two Ethernet ports and with WiFi support. I don't need a powerful spec.

My budget is £150-£200.

What hardware do you recommend?

[Ice_Black]

Anyone?

[dave87]

Alix 2D5 + Wireless AP of your choice?

http://linitx.com/product/12868

Only downside is it has 10/100 ports rather than GbE.

[Ice_Black]

Nah I don't like Alix 2D5.

Looking through at Scan, I have come up with this:

Scan: £110.12 - Intel BOXDQ77KB Intel Q77 Socket 1155 Mini ITX Motherboard

Scan: £74.34 - Passive Mini-ITX Case Euler

Scan: £52.36 - Intel CPU Pentium G630 Socket 1155 Dual Core Processor

Scan: £24.82 - Corsair Memory Desktop 4GB DDR3 1600 MHz CAS 11 Dual Channel Desktop

overclockers: £46.99 - Intel 525 Series 30GB mSATA Solid State Hard Drive

Total: £308.63

Could anyone help me how to price down to £200 with similar spec and case?

[peterb]

Not sure why the board is an issue, it is a turnkey embedded solution.

Linitx sell a kit - even adding a wireless AP it would be well within your budget.

http://linitx.com/product/12647

[Ice_Black]

Not sure why the board is an issue, it is a turnkey embedded solution.

Linitx sell a kit - even adding a wireless AP it would be well within your budget.

http://linitx.com/product/12647

It wont work well if you have have more than 50Mbit internet connection.

[peterb]

Fair enough,

Have a look at this...

http://linitx.com/product/13613

[DeViTTo]

@ Ice_Black

I guess you don't want to use the Microserver then? I am going down the same route as you similar components, but I want to go ESXI route. I just wonder if I can boot off a usb stick and use the msata for VM's along with other drives.

I don't really think you can down the spec price wise.

How about one of these I have been looking at have to import though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16856205007

Good Broadcomm adapters as well.

[Ice_Black]

@ Ice_Black

I guess you don't want to use the Microserver then? I am going down the same route as you similar components, but I want to go ESXI route. I just wonder if I can boot off a usb stick and use the msata for VM's along with other drives.

I don't really think you can down the spec price wise.

How about one of these I have been looking at have to import though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16856205007

Good Broadcomm adapters as well.

What components are you going to get?

I already have Microserver with ESXI installed. I use it for UnRAID and other linux operating systems. You can boot from a USB stick and use sata disks for VM's.

I am going to try pfsense on VM (ESXI) but I need to buy Intel network card first from Scan tomorrow. I am to play around with it and if I like it then I will get a dedicated server just for pfsense only.

Newegg only ship within the US and Canada.

[DeViTTo]

Its on Ebay as well works out at around £165, but not sure if this would incur much other duties going through customs.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Giada-Syst...213de8a6#sp_cr

This is the network card I have in my Microserver.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel...er-oem-version

I wasn't sure not about the microserver booting. I was talking about the Intel Motherboard, because with the Euler case all that is exposed is teh USB3 ports, and I am not sure if it will boot. That is my main concern. Also as you know with ESXI it takes up the full drive. Something I do not want to do with the Msats I want to use it as the VM' disk.

I am getting I think the Board, Euler Case, 16GB, Intel 525 msata unsure drive size. Also unsure processor if going down the Esxi route might go i5 dual or maybe quad i5 or i7 or even Xeon.

Might go a larger case though as I could turn this into a bigger Microserver. I had thought about replacing the microserver motherboard with this Intel one as I have raid cards available. It might need a bit of modding but it is feasable if I can find a way to cool the CPU within the hieght constraints.

[Ice_Black]

Its on Ebay as well works out at around £165, but not sure if this would incur much other duties going through customs.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Giada-Syst...213de8a6#sp_cr

This is the network card I have in my Microserver.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/intel...er-oem-version

I wasn't sure not about the microserver booting. I was talking about the Intel Motherboard, because with the Euler case all that is exposed is teh USB3 ports, and I am not sure if it will boot. That is my main concern. Also as you know with ESXI it takes up the full drive. Something I do not want to do with the Msats I want to use it as the VM' disk.

I am getting I think the Board, Euler Case, 16GB, Intel 525 msata unsure drive size. Also unsure processor if going down the Esxi route might go i5 dual or maybe quad i5 or i7 or even Xeon.

Might go a larger case though as I could turn this into a bigger Microserver. I had thought about replacing the microserver motherboard with this Intel one as I have raid cards available. It might need a bit of modding but it is feasable if I can find a way to cool the CPU within the hieght constraints.

Thanks for the link (Ebay), very interesting!

Why do you want to build a new server when you got a microserver? Are you going to run pfsense and what else on Esxi?

[DeViTTo]

I might run pfsense on the Microserver in a virtual as it works great and then Untangle I want level 7 filtering on the Intel board. Also a few Linux Distro's and Nexenta. Probably Win2008 server and if I can get USB passthough working to full potential dvbviewer. I am just expanding my options for the various things I want to achieve.

[abaxas]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GENUINE-De...029#vi-content

Save yourself a few quid on the network card. Fully esx supported too and comes 100% with a low profile bracket.

[spoon_]

It wont work well if you have have more than 50Mbit internet connection.

Nonsense. Alix 2D3 runs 500 MHz AMD Geode LX, which is the same CPU as my Cisco ASA 5505. CPU will bottleneck somewhere in region of 150Mbps LAN to WAN traffic excluding encrypted VPNs etc. My previous router (ZyXeL ZyWALL 5) had Intel XScale CPU (IXP422 @ 266MHz) and fair enough was bottlenecked at about 35Mbps. Geode LX will be more than enough for 50Mbps LAN to WAN traffic.

I might run pfsense on the Microserver in a virtual as it works great and then Untangle I want level 7 filtering on the Intel board. Also a few Linux Distro's and Nexenta. Probably Win2008 server and if I can get USB passthough working to full potential dvbviewer. I am just expanding my options for the various things I want to achieve.

I don't think HP Microserver supports VT-d? (Can't confirm as I sold mine some time ago...)