Cheapest way to run pfSense?

[mingsoup]

How cheap can I put together something that will run pfsense in a lower power way? ITX style minimal buid? Prebuilt something?

Main focus is low price.

Thanks!

 

[dawks]

I built a box two months ago for Untangle, which is very much like pfSense.

I built it for ~$400.

Popped in an Athlon Dual Core at 3.2ghz (Athlons are plenty fast for this workload) with 4gigs ram, and two Intel NICs. I like the Intel NICs because not all other brands do checksum offload (which can help performance quite a bit), and tend to have better driver support. Untangle really likes Intel NICs.

If you have the choice, I'd recommend going with a faster clocked dual core then a lower clocked 3 or 4 core. Unless you have a huge load, then go with a high clocked quad core.

Also load it up with ram.. I'd recommend 4gigs at a min since its so cheap, and you want the system hitting the HD as little as possible. Grab a cheap HD, but a decent case. We reused an old case with no fans and its too hot in the box, so it locks up. We have a fan in there now which has resolved the issue mostly.
Hope that helps.

 

[weovpac]

One of the ways would be: http://store.netgate.com/Indoor-Build-Your-Own-Kits-C142.aspx and/or from http://www.pcengines.ch/alix.htm. From Netgate you will get it sooner. These would do for pfSense, without running extra packages.

Or if you have an old computer with a good nic and smart switch that can do vlan.Like this switch: http://netgear.dk/Products/Switches/SmartSwitches/GS108T-200.aspx?detail=Specifications they go for ~$100.

I'm currently looking into doing this myself. I decided to use an old laptop and the switch above. Have not set it up as I don't have the switch yet.

EDIT: Yes, buy Intel nics!

 

[ccbadd]

Get the Alix 2D3 from pcengines, they work great for PFSense.

 

[mingsoup]

I was thinking about first testing out pfSense on a VMWare setup, before diving for hardware. However, 135$ for the Alix isn't bad.

I was thinking about trying to pick up an older miniITX platform with an older Athlon Proc and cheap ram, integrated video. However that got me thinking about how one would do storage for the distro. Would just a USB stick boot work? Or would a hard drive be required. Maybe I could find a cheaper setup in the Buy/Sell or on Ebay. Problem is that the thing would have to be on for all time.

 

[alfa147x]

I would use a CF card as a HDD

 

[Jimmah]

Older embedded Via Epia's are fantastic for this purpose. Dual LAN, DDR support, 500-933mhz cpu's, PCI slot for more LAN ports. Add a CF card like Alfa mentioned and maybe an Ebay special pico ITX psu and shazam! you've got a snazzy little machine you can stuff into a toaster.

Mine is currentl at 223 days of uptime, last reboot I think was a when I cleaned it out.

That ALIX board looks very cool, I may have to get one for an outdoor AP.

 

[notposting]

I use a P3-450 and a CF card. Going to eventually revamp and virtualize it.

 

[Mugenx]

My PfSense:

on a lowly 2.4 Intel Celeron 478
512MB Ram
2 PCI Gigabit Ethernet

....basically a 2001 computer!

WIN!!! and flawless!

 

[darkamulets]

I picked up a Soekris mini computer, 133mhz & 64mb of ram with a CF drive from Ebay for about 140. It has 3 network interfaces. https://www.soekris.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=75 is the link to the device but that's also the "new" price.

 

[Modelworks]

I used a p3-900 , 512MB ram + 4GB CF card .
The older pc use less power than most people are aware. I think the p3-900 was around 40 watts on average.

I'm moving everything to embedded chipsets now. Working on getting pfsense to work on the new renasas chips. That would bring power usage down to about 5 watts total.

 

[weovpac]

One of the ways would be: http://store.netgate.com/Indoor-Build-Your-Own-Kits-C142.aspx and/or from http://www.pcengines.ch/alix.htm. From Netgate you will get it sooner. These would do for pfSense, without running extra packages.

Or if you have an old computer with a good nic and smart switch that can do vlan.Like this switch: http://netgear.dk/Products/Switches/SmartSwitches/GS108T-200.aspx?detail=Specifications they go for ~$100.

I'm currently looking into doing this myself. I decided to use an old laptop and the switch above. Have not set it up as I don't have the switch yet.

EDIT: Yes, buy Intel nics!

I set this up recently and it is working much better than my old wrt54gl. I see a ~20-30 through output increase down and up; without making any other change. I'm using the wrt54gl as an AP. If you have an old computer laying around and sometime, it is well worth the effort. IMHO