Home router

JanFrode · June 19, 2015

Hello there..

Me and my brother are gonna rent an old house very soon, and I've gotten abit interested in trying pfSense out when we get fiber.

We're most likely gonna get 100/100 connection. If the price is low, and they offer higher, we might try it out. Did someone say 1000/1000?

I'm currently looking on a refurbished Dell Optiplex 760 SFF E7500.

Specs are:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 @ 2,93 GHz

Memory. 4GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM

HDD: 160GB SATA 7200 RPM

If I add a second NIC into it, will it become a nice beginners router/firewall?
Never tried out pfSense before, and want to "experiment" abit

Cheers for any replies/feedbacks.

Redportal · June 19, 2015

If you have personally not used pfsense before I would not recommend you use it to start with, as can take some getting use to.

You will need some knowledge with both dhcp and dns servers in order to configure it correctly for a working router setup.

If you are still wanting to use pfsense, I suggest you purchase the machine you listed above well in advance of you renting the property. This will give you time to experiment and come back here if you have any problems with it.

dzonidev · June 19, 2015

Hello there..

Me and my brother are gonna rent an old house very soon, and I've gotten abit interested in trying pfSense out when we get fiber.

We're most likely gonna get 100/100 connection. If the price is low, and they offer higher, we might try it out. Did someone say 1000/1000?

I'm currently looking on a refurbished Dell Optiplex 760 SFF E7500.

Specs are:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 @ 2,93 GHz

Memory. 4GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM

HDD: 160GB SATA 7200 RPM

If I add a second NIC into it, will it become a nice beginners router/firewall?

Never tried out pfSense before, and want to "experiment" abit

Cheers for any replies/feedbacks.

If you have any experience installing a linux OS and if you ever setup a router, you shouldn't have a hard time setting it up.

A side note, you will want to run gigabit NIC's so you can reach the full 100Mbps and so you can expand in the future. Also, you might be able to find fiber PCI cards on the cheap, another option to consider.

.:MARK:. · June 19, 2015

I would advise against running a system like that for a router/firewall.

The thing is likely old, big and power hungry.

Also on a side note, check out OPNsense, I prefer it over pfSense

d3sl91 · June 20, 2015

I would advise against running a system like that for a router/firewall.

The thing is likely old, big and power hungry.

Also on a side note, check out OPNsense, I prefer it over pfSense

+1.

Possibly look into a router that can run an open source solution, or, MikrotiK router. If you dont care about electrical bills heat and noise, go for it. But it is quite impractical.