[kwlug-disc] pfsense ---best hardware recommendations and experience if you use pfsense

[Jason]

I've seen a lot of different devices that can run pfSense.  I agree
that if you're going to switch devices, you may want to consider
Opnsense due to some of the most recent decisions by Netgate
(Especially around pfSense Plus)
That said, they are still committed to the Community Edition, so for
now it should be fairly stable, but I'm always worried how they're
going to deal with other companies selling devices to run pfSense.

I run pfSense on an Intel NUC and it works great.  I do have to use a
switch with some VLANs to get multiple network interfaces to work, and
I'm probably bottlenecking some of my intra-network traffic because of
that, but overall I don't see a huge difference in performance.

I also have a couple of Sophos SG230 Rev1 that are able to run
pfSense.  I am going to test these out, and I'm looking to see if I
can get a FlexiPort adapter for SFP+ for 10Gbps LAN traffic.  If
you're interested in one of them, send me a direct email.

Another option I'm really interested in is the Minisforum MS-01.  It's
got dual SFP+ 10Gbps ports, dual 2.5Gbps Ethernet, and a lot of other
connectors.  It looks really promising as a pfSense device and I don't
think it would have any problems.

I've seen a number of dedicated firewall appliances designed to run
pfSense, some with fans, some fanless.  I'd suggest checking some
reviews on ServeTheHome to see how they stack up:
https://www.servethehome.com/

Hope that helps!
Jason

On Mon, Mar 4, 2024 at 2:02 PM Nickle, Brian <brian at nickle.ca> wrote:
>>
>> I have installed opnsense on a old barracuda web gateway without issues.  I haven't put it in production at home yet.  Any particular reason to stick with pfsense?  When I was comparing opnsense and pfsense seems like pfsense had made some boneheaded moves lately.  I don't  remember all the details but I know there were changes made to their free offering. Also there was a whole debacle about implementing wireguard in a very poor manner.   It was several months ago when I made the decision but it seemed at the time for a home implementation opnsense was the way to go.
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