PFSence build questions

Computer Hardware & Server Infrastructure Builds
1

I’m looking at building a new work station this spring, making my current one a Linux machine, and taking my current Linux machine and turning it into a PFSence box. I have 10 gig LAN throughout my house, yes overkill I know. The specs are as follows:
AMD 8350
ASUS tough MB
32 gig non ecc ram
I have a spare 250 gig ssd
for the NIC ports I was planning on using a Intel X550-T2 for WAN and CHELSIO T520-SO-CR for LAN to go to my Unifi US-16-XG switch.

I was looking at the specs of the prebuilt units and it seams to me that these old parts will have more than enough power to be a Router and to do add blocking. Currently I run just an EdgeMAX EdgeRouter4 but it only has 1gig NICs on it and with DOCIS 4 looking at being available on comcast next year I want to make sure I am able to actually get my full gigabit signal and kind of future prof myself for a long time.

I also share my plex server on my FreeNAS box I didn’t know if I would have to watch for anything to make sure I can still share that.

2

As you mention I think the parts are more than enough but I would just check the pfSense compatibility list (https://www.freebsd.org/releases/11.2R/hardware.html) to be sure.

With the sharing, there is plenty of documentation out there to help you get that set up on the new system.

If the hardware is compatible, I would say it will last you a while to ‘future-proof’ yourself.

I go by a 3-5 year cycle myself for most things but again that might change depending on your needs or if something fails.

1 Like
3

Thanks for the quick reply. I just wanted to make sure my thinking was correct.

I will check that web sight to double check everything

4

Personally I’d always recommend a quad port NIC if you don’t already have the card, 1 for WAN, 1 for LAN then the remaining you can aggregate to your switch, which I do for my vlans. While strictly not necessary might be useful to have the ports now rather than adding another card later.

5

I’ve only ever seen 10 gig nic’s with 2 port max. and really aggerating 2 10 gig ports together would be plenty for anything I could think of for a long time and with how slow higher than 1 gig network is rolling out I don’t see us getting 10gig in the next 10 years of central mass for a decent price. Towns aren’t allowed to run there own networks because the cable companies have a monopoly over it. Hell we have places in town that still only have DSL as an option because the cable companies say it will be too expensive for them to service the area.