Basic PFSense box

[flibberdipper]

I just got done watching Logan's video on PFSense, but I still have a couple of questions on it.

 

I was going to do a really basic PFSense box, but I'm not really sure if it will be quite up to snuff specwise. Right now I'm thinking about throwing my old Compaq with a 733MHz PIII and 256-512MB of RAM (can't quite remember how much it has right now and how much I can throw in it). Right now there isn't a hard drive in it.

 

Would it be good enough, or would I have to get an old Socket 478 board or even LGA 775 board and throw my 2.8GHz non-HT Prescott or 3.2GHz HT Prescott in with either 512MB or 2GB of RAM? I do have a couple of 10/100 PCI NICs I think (all the network would need since even internal transfers are at most 100Mbps).

[Ssoele]

A pentium III should do, you don't necessary need a harddrive, you can also run it off of a USB stick.

[AMICLG]

I'd work but if you have $90 I'd just get the ERLite-3 which is WAY more powerful.

[flibberdipper]

A pentium III should do, you don't necessary need a harddrive, you can also run it off of a USB stick.

What about the RAM?

 

BTW, I do plan on running the antivirus deal and snort at the very least, so not sure if that would change anything.

 

I'd work but if you have $90 I'd just get the ERLite-3 which is WAY more powerful.

Doing this on the cheap, hence the trusty PIII.

[AMICLG]

What about the RAM?

 

BTW, I do plan on running the antivirus deal and snort at the very least, so not sure if that would change anything.

 

Doing this on the cheap, hence the trusty PIII.

For basic functions it's fine but the anti-virus/firewall will likely be too much for the PIII.

[Atlantisman]

ERL's are nice, but pfsense is also nice, it all depends on your use-case.

 

You can setup Snort on a ERL, but i am not sure its little ARM processor will be able to handle it much, and the setup will be much less user-friendly than pfsense.

 

pfsense only requires higher-end hardware with very fast internet connections, because unlike an ERL pfsense does all of its routing through the software layer.

[flibberdipper]

For basic functions it's fine but the anti-virus/firewall will likely be too much for the PIII.

That's kinda what I was thinking. Do you think if I could find a cheap Socket 478 or LGA 775 board that I should go for one of those instead?

[AMICLG]

That's kinda what I was thinking. Do you think if I could find a cheap Socket 478 or LGA 775 board that I should go for one of those instead?

I found these.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/INTEL-DQ965GF-MICRO-ATX-MOTHERBOARD-WITH-I-O-SHIELD-HEATSINK-LGA-775-SOCKET-T-/301285761649?pt=Motherboards&hash=item462607e271

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-2-Duo-SLGTE-2-93GHz-3M-1066-Processor-E7500-/181502787715?pt=CPUs&hash=item2a4268c083

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-GB-2x1GB-Super-Talent-Memory-RAM-T800UB1GSA-DDR2-800-1GB-128x8-Samsung-/121419892793?pt=US_Memory_RAM_&hash=item1c45308839

[flibberdipper]

I found these.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/INTEL-DQ965GF-MICRO-ATX-MOTHERBOARD-WITH-I-O-SHIELD-HEATSINK-LGA-775-SOCKET-T-/301285761649?pt=Motherboards&hash=item462607e271

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-2-Duo-SLGTE-2-93GHz-3M-1066-Processor-E7500-/181502787715?pt=CPUs&hash=item2a4268c083

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-GB-2x1GB-Super-Talent-Memory-RAM-T800UB1GSA-DDR2-800-1GB-128x8-Samsung-/121419892793?pt=US_Memory_RAM_&hash=item1c45308839

I was just looking at that motherboard.

 

As for RAM and a CPU, I have a 2GB stick and a 3.2GHz Pentium 4 (pretty sure it's HT) laying around, so I could easily just throw those in. And I have the HP PSU out of my grandma's computer that I swapped out with my CX430M.