I am looking for advice. In February 2023 I purchased an SG-4100, because I thought the higher price meant better quality control and I could support Pfsense.
I had some random issues on Thursday (Pfsense stuck during boot), but after a reinstall to an SSD it solved the problem. Today I halted the device from the UI to install a heatsink to the SSD. (The built-in MMC died because I couldn’t format it. Failed multiple times during boot.)
After I reassembled I got an orange light and nothing else. The “power button” on the side doesn’t help. I talked with Netgate support and they said - that since I don’t get a console output, not even with USB - it is a possible hardware failure.
I feel cheated because $600 is a lot for my home firewall. I want to keep using pfSense, but I am afraid of spending money on an SG-4200 with soldered MMC. Do you have any recommendations for a mini PC or something that can have my pfSense? (4x2,5 GbE port, low powered).
I feel - with the $129/year subscription - and a mini PC with modular parts, I might have a long-term solution.
(Netgate said no for RMA, because my warranty period is 5 months over the 1 year. )
Thanks. I did order the N5105, but then I realized the N100 uses lower power and I have DDR5 sticks at home, so I switched it.
Even though I like Netgate, I lost my trust in the hardware. At least with these devices, I can swap the SSD.
With the $129 subscription and the $140 price, still better than the $550 for an SG-4200.
There may be some oddities with the n100 and the BIOS. I know there is talk about changing some settings to get full throughput, this is on another forum. Something about ASPM needs to be set to disabled. Not sure if this applies, but better be warned now than struggle later if it really is an issue. Also something about an updated BIOS from CWWK which seems to be the real builder of many of these firewall like devices. Again, may not apply to you, but forewarned incase you have issues.
Thank you for the heads up. I will check the BIOS.
Also, my other concern: Is there any unwanted software (malware) installed or hidden? But for the price, well worth the money.
Netgate doesn’t really care about the customer or the customer experience. They said: just buy the SG-4200. They even quoted the MAX version (even though I mentioned the price). I think a reasonable solution from their end is if they offer me 3 years of extended warranty as a bonus. That would indicate that they trust in their own hardware.
The only place they might be able to hide stuff is in the BIOS or EFI, not sure how to check for this. Generally speaking, doing this and then having it get found could destroy the company. Anyone buying AceMagic stuff lately? I know I won’t even consider it now, if you don’t know, worth a search.
i have an inbound V1410 to replace my old ZOTAC ZBOX CI323.
I had a look at netgates own offerings but the price compared to protectly was too high for my taste. After reading your post i am glad i went with protectli (:
Part of the price buying the hardware from PFsense or OPNsense is to help cover the costs of making the software, as does buying the Plus or Business version of the software.
For what you get, I kind of like the OPNsense hardware better than the PFsense hardware, but they both should be pretty dependable.
That said, right now I’m running on an old Supermicro server while I budget for the provider’s hardware. The way I look at it, if I’m buying new hardware, I’m going to pay around $1000-$1500usd for enterprise class stuff anyway, so the price is not that bad for my use case.
For home or messing around in a lab, HP T740 with a 4 port i350 card is just fine. Cost me around $250 with the extra RAM and bigger SSD.
@DS_DV Thank you for the recommendation. Good to have something that could ship quicker.
I ordered the N100 version from Topton.
I know the hardware supports Netgate, that’s why I want to go with TAC Lite for this. For me heat and power usage is important, also changing SSD + RAM is a requirement.
Another thing: SG-1100 (I am using it currently) and SG-2100 has the same CPU. The next step is SG-4200. For a home with 400/20 internet, I would go in between the two.
if you are interested i can give you power measurements when it arrives (:
but they are not accurate and only from a tasmota smart plug ^^
But i plan to power it via USB C pd adapter so i can plug it into the powerbank i use for my AP and Switch where i use the same USB C pd to DC adapters (:
I do not much care about support hotlines and tickest since its only home use.
But i care about “secure” products and fast patches which is why i went with coreboot and probably pfsense+
Yes, I am curious about the power draw. I have a few Tasmota (Sonoff S31) plugs too.
My rack is connected to a UPS, usually, it does the job well.
One way to test Topton if the firmware does any shady things, is to plug in a network cable and see if it reaches out anywhere. Not too scientific, but could eliminate a few things.
I have a topton unit and a King Novoy 5 port 2.5Ghz unit – both i5. I would get single channel 32Gb DDR5 RAM as a dual channel unit of mine finally bit the dust and I think its hardware related. I also bought 2 2Tb NVME sticks to create a mirrored zfs installation. Anyway, when I bought each unit I connected each unit to router for a week blocking everything from the unit and logging the block activity. Unless I screwed up with the logging, neither device phoned home. I suppose that’s not too scientific but I figured if after a week the devices didn’t reach out , I guess they wouldn’t. I really like the AliExpress units but you’ll get virtually no support from Topton or the whatever vendor you end up going with. I figure this is OK for a home lab.
Thank you! I think we can’t do more than that.
Yes, I hope I don’t have to deal with warranty support or anything like that. Maybe that’s why Amazon is an alternative to buying these products. It could be more expensive, but there is a slight chance of having a warranty.
A little update on my Topton device. It was running hot ~70C, so I took it apart and repasted the CPU. I used Honeywell PTM7950 (from LTT Store) and the CPU temp dropped to 45-50C.
I don’t think just because of the pad, but rather the way it was assembled. But the two worked together.
)
