pfSense E-Rate Purchase Feedback Needed

Networking & Firewalls
1

Hello Lawrence Systems Community,

I am the Technology Director for a smaller school district (500 avg. users), and I am going to be switching to a pfSense Netgate box from a SonicWall TZ400.

Currently, the SonicWall chokes and throttles our 500Mb line down to 100Mb when running all security services on max settings.

The box I had in mind was the Netgate SG-5100, which would cost ~$210 through E-Rate. I saw Tom’s review on this, and it seemed to run Suricata just fine at line speed.

I can see that I do not get a processor upgrade until I make a huge $1,000 jump in price, to the 1537, so I am just seeking some feedback from those of you who have used this device in a higher user environment.

I was planning on using Suricata, PFBlocker, etc…

Let me know if you all think that the SG-5100 would make do.

Thanks!

2

The SG-5100 should work, but I would talk to their sales team to confirm

1 Like
3

Related to this, is there a recommended vendor for Netgate, or should I just buy it direct from the Netgate website? Does it matter?

4

Not sure, try buying from them directly.