So I plan on doing a pfsense box and would like a second look on what I have put together. I know the minimum requirements are 256 MB for RAM, Pentium II for CPU and 1 GB for hard drive space. I do not want to just go with the minimum requirements and I would like to have some headroom.
Is this build too much for a pfsense box? If so please give some feedback.
I would do something like this for a home user:
Throw 4 GB of ram in it and a small SSD in it and boom a nice pfsense box for under $200
Check the power supply you may want to update it (laptop power supply)
I like this option, There is no reason to spend 400 bucks on a PFSense machine.
I agree with Qain on this, this build is quite expensive for its intended purpose.
I would personally (if you want to build one) looking at the AM1 platform (so cheap dual or quad) and use a PCI-e dual port card (loads can be acquired via eBay cheaply). I know the Intel build has wireless on the board, but pfSense doesn't exactly like wireless cards and you will have far better performance from a separate Access Point.
I quite like that machine linked on Alibaba. If you want a larger unit, a particular favourite of many pfsense users (and myself) is using a WatchGuard Firebox x-core-e series.
I thought I remembered that pfSense was bad for an SSD...
Other than that yes I second the Celeron option, I've got a similar thing here at home and it works great
Not sure why most guides recommend CF and msata cards. The only reason I could think of would be if you used Squid for catching. Then that would be a lot of writing
I really appreciate all the feedback from everyone. I'll be looking into that mini pc. As far as storage goes, would it be best to just get a laptop size HDD or an SSD? I think I might want to go with a small HDD. I might look into using Squid.
You said something about the power supply. Just a regular 12V would work?
They come with a power supply but the quality varries so just be aware of that.
You can fit a laptop drive in the box if you whish to do catching. Do some read up on squid if that is something you want to do.
Ok awesome. I'll definitely be doing some reading on Squid. I am really considering on getting this mini pc. thanks for the links and info.
The other option is one of these. It runs about $150, but you would also need to get a case, wifi, and other fun stuff. Great for a project, not so much for turnkey type solution.
oh nice. thanks for the link. As I was looking around I came across another site. So many different options.