pfsense questions

atxcyclist · December 29, 2017

I've got an aging router that I want to replace with one of the many computers I have sitting around. I know basically nothing about this, but it seems like a neat project and I have the hardware lying around so why not try? Currently I have an older HP system configured with:

-Phenom II X3

-4gb RAM

-Gigabit built-in to the board

I have two PCIE-1X slots and a standard PCI slot available on this board.

So I know I need another NIC, and will be going for gigabit as I have a 300mbps internet connection. One question I have is whether or not I can run a standard switch to distribute to all my ethernet devices, or is something more specific required? I also want to have wireless, but don't know what type of card would be best for this. Wireless speed isn't extremely important, as aside from my N laptop everything else is an older wireless standard like G. I would like N capability, but anything newer/faster isn't necessary. My guess is that I need to go PCIE for the gigabit, and I could probably go with either for the wireless. They are low-profile cards as well.

Moving further in, I know the space requirements for the software are minimal, like 1gb or something similar, is there any point in using an SSD for storage, or will a spinning platter drive work fine? Does the software need drive space for "paging" or running any tables? I'm only going to have maybe a half dozen devices run on this router in the worst case, is the 4gb of ram I have enough?

Any insight would be helpful.

IrwinAllen13 · December 29, 2017

I personally don’t have a ton of experience with PFSENSE, but my understanding is that the OS can pretty much run on anything with amd64 or i386.

you will need at least two physical Ethernet connections. 1 for a WAN connection and another for a LAN. You could use a hardware based Switch or you could use a PCI expansion card that has multiple NICs.

With Wifi, you will pretty much need to get a PCI WiFi adapter as a USB WiFi card will just over heat.

Off the top of my head, I don’t believe there is a “live” build to run off a Flash Drive, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. You will need memory as there are tables and configuration settings to be stored. As time goes you may want to add functionality to the machine so this would be another reason for hard drive space (I would personally go after a SSD).

atxcyclist · December 29, 2017

4 minutes ago, IrwinAllen13 said:

I personally don’t have a ton of experience with PFSENSE, but my understanding is that the OS can pretty much run on anything with amd64 or i386.

you will need at least two physical Ethernet connections. 1 for a WAN connection and another for a LAN. You could use a hardware based Switch or you could use a PCI expansion card that has multiple NICs.

With Wifi, you will pretty much need to get a PCI WiFi adapter as a USB WiFi card will just over heat.

Off the top of my head, I don’t believe there is a “live” build to run off a Flash Drive, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. You will need memory as there are tables and configuration settings to be stored. As time goes you may want to add functionality to the machine so this would be another reason for hard drive space (I would personally go after a SSD).

I actually meant an SSD for the system drive, not sure why I wasn't more specific there. Good to know about the USB wireless device, I have some sitting around and was tempted to use one.

jj9987 · December 29, 2017

While pfSense does have support for WiFi cards, it is not very recommended. Better get an access point, for example from Ubiquiti UAP series.

Donut417 · December 30, 2017

17 hours ago, atxcyclist said:

I actually meant an SSD for the system drive, not sure why I wasn't more specific there. Good to know about the USB wireless device, I have some sitting around and was tempted to use one.

PFSense has shit WIFi support. Only a few adapters are supported. If you need WiFi get a Wireless Access Point. You might also want to get a switch so you can connect other devices via Ethernet.

dmaes · December 30, 2017

No matter the OS, get an AP. You can place it wherever you want (if you can get a cable there) to have better coverage. With a wifi card, you would have lower speed and coverage, just because you hide that old computer somewhere in a closet. (because, who want's a noisy computer in their living room?).

Also, WiFi cards aren't meant for this. They are made to connect 1 pc to an AP, and to do that as good as possible. An AP is made to handle multiple clients in the most efficient way.

Also, go for a switch, instead of a multiport nic. An unmanaged switch is just plug-and-play. A multiport nic wil give you multiple interfaces (which is useful if you want separate networks) and will require software tweaking to have all devices in the same network.