Custom pfSense Box

[Shylidi]

Okay, so I have a gigabit net connection, and I'm really tired of D-Link being my router. So. Stinking. Tired. Of. Network. Collapse.

 

So I hit my head on the wall for a couple hours and realized... I could build my own router.

 

So off to PCPartPicker.

 

Here's the current design, http://pcpartpicker.com/p/LX9FD3 and I'm curious if some of the network experts around here could take a look and beat me over the head for my mistakes.

 

My goal is simple and small. I want to use one of my thousand dell power adapters to power it, and I was hoping to use a half height msata drive as the boot disk. I'm not sure if it will support the msata drive, PCPartPicker doesn't think so, but I read a couple reviews that said it did.

 

If you have thoughts, thanks!

[The Official Czex]

Okay, so I have a gigabit net connection, and I'm really tired of D-Link being my router. So. Stinking. Tired. Of. Network. Collapse.

 

So I hit my head on the wall for a couple hours and realized... I could build my own router.

 

So off to PCPartPicker.

 

Here's the current design, http://pcpartpicker.com/p/LX9FD3 and I'm curious if some of the network experts around here could take a look and beat me over the head for my mistakes.

 

My goal is simple and small. I want to use one of my thousand dell power adapters to power it, and I was hoping to use a half height msata drive as the boot disk. I'm not sure if it will support the msata drive, PCPartPicker doesn't think so, but I read a couple reviews that said it did.

 

If you have thoughts, thanks!

 

• 1 additional mSATA slot is needed.
• MyDigitalSSD Super Cache 2 32GB mSATA Solid State Drive and ASRock AM1H-ITX Mini ITX AM1 Motherboard are not compatible.
• If PCPartPicker says "no," just go with it.

[Shylidi]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/n6vmMp

Okay, V4 boot drive it is then.

[tt2468]

Looks good! You will want to use the onboard lan for the WAN port, and the intel nic for the LAN port. This is because realtek would be the first card to fail, if any.

[pspfreak]

Looks good! You will want to use the onboard lan for the WAN port, and the intel nic for the LAN port. This is because realtek would be the first card to fail, if any.

I would recommend a dual Intel nic tho, they are awesome

[tt2468]

I would recommend a dual Intel nic tho, they are awesome

They are about 50 bucks on amazon too!

[pspfreak]

They are about 50 bucks on amazon too!

Really? I got one on eBay for like $23...

[pspfreak]

They are about 50 bucks on amazon too!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/INTEL-Dual-Port-Gigabit-Server-Adapter-8492MT-32-bit-PCI-1000M-Network-Card-NIC-/201218198950?hash=item2ed98a0da6

[Ymac]

Why not just: http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-Edgerouter-Router-ERLITE-3/dp/B00HXT8EKE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1442877325&sr=8-2&keywords=edgerouter+lite

a PC will be much more expensive. but it's a fun project if you have the money and you want to mess with some hardware.

[Shylidi]

Why not just: http://www.amazon.com/Ubiquiti-Networks-Edgerouter-Router-ERLITE-3/dp/B00HXT8EKE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1442877325&sr=8-2&keywords=edgerouter+lite

a PC will be much more expensive. but it's a fun project if you have the money and you want to mess with some hardware.

 

Well, I have 3 desktops, 2 smart tv's, 3 consoles, 7 laptops, 2 phones, and a number of "internet of things" devices, and I don't like the network failing 24/7, especially when it is device specific failings. (Every device my wife uses "fails")

 

At work we have pfSense routers and I really like the reliability and flexibility of such a system.

 

Besides, I need projects to sink money into, haha

 

So yeah! I think this system can handle that many devices on a gigabit up/down right?

[Ymac]

Do some research about the EdgeRouter Lite, it's no crappy consumer grade router, it's a hardware accelerated vyatta running "PC" with 1ghz cpu and 512mb of ram

It's enterprise level

I got it two days ago, rock solid. About 10 active clients: desktops, laptops, set-top-boxes (ott vod) and smartphones (through a WDR4300 running openWRT configured as an AP)

But, as you said, it's a nice project, and you get yourself an overkill ballin' router that can handle everything you throw at it

[dzonidev]

-snip-

 

Nice config, but the SSD is pointless in your environment. Not to mention if not configured properly, pfSense can kill your SSD very quickly.

 

Resource: https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=34381.0

[Zergom]

Nice config, but the SSD is pointless in your environment. Not to mention if not configured properly, pfSense can kill your SSD very quickly.

 

Resource: https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php?topic=34381.0

 

That's a four year old forum post, and by the end of it most people are saying it's ok to use, but it might be better to look for SSD's that feature specific technology or apply some software settings tweaks.

[BryanDavis]

depending on the packages you install , you want fast read and write time. pfsense works with switchs

 

Well, I have 3 desktops, 2 smart tv's, 3 consoles, 7 laptops, 2 phones, and a number of "internet of things" devices, and I don't like the network failing 24/7, especially when it is device specific failings. (Every device my wife uses "fails")

 

At work we have pfSense routers and I really like the reliability and flexibility of such a system.

 

Besides, I need projects to sink money into, haha

 

So yeah! I think this system can handle that many devices on a gigabit up/down right?

would a setup like this work, you can put the access point higher in the house. dont mind the freenas and the 2012 server , this is my network setup

 

 

[.:MARK:.]

I would not run a routerOS on PC hardware to begin with, I would get a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter or EdgeRouter Lite.

But if you really want to build a router (really not as good as EdgeRouter OS) then I would go for the OPNsense OS.

pfSense kinda sucks now.

I would also run only one larger switch than 2 seperate ones, this increases network performance between clients.

Running seperate switches means that you will get bottlenecked by the uplink of each switch.

And Xclaim APs are rubbish, go ubiquiti APs.

[MariusJS]

I agree, get either a mikrotik or UBNT router, they will be more reliable than your planned setup...

[Dautin]

If you do end up building a custom box, I noticed that the build that you linked does not have a PSU.

 

That might be a small problem if you don't already have one.

[Shylidi]

The motherboard in the build has a 19V in, i will use a 19v adapter to power it.

 

I'm going to build this later, I got ahold of a relatively old Dell Optiplex and installed pfSense, it is working great!

 

I have multiple switches because there is a wire running from the living room and all of it's devices, to my office and all of it's devices, and that one wire is within the WAP (Wife Approval Rating) If I add another wire, and break the rating, all hell will break loose and I will die along with the entire network.

 

[Shylidi]

Here's the final network map