[kwlug-disc] PFSense and USB 2.0 NICs

[Paul Nijjar]

On Mon, Jul 11, 2016 at 09:43:57AM -0400, Colin Mackay wrote:
> Looks as if I'll just have to stick with my backup plan.  Turn the atom
> into a low powered Asterisk box, to clear the VM off my other box.  For the
> moment, I'll stick with my old router running DD-WRT. :)
> 
> 
> Any recommendations on a low powered box with dual NIC that I can get in
> Canada, specifically for pfsense?
> 
> Note that this is for home / tinkering use...  not a company.

If you have been on the pfSense forums, you might have seen
recommendations for PCEngines boards: 

http://pcengines.ch/apu.htm

We bought an ALIX kit (the previous version) for one of our firewalls
and it still is working, but is showing its age and probably will not
be supported in the next version of pfSense . There appears to be a
Canadian supplier of PCEngine stuff here: 

http://corpshadow.biz/bizstore/technologybrand/pcengines/

but honestly the prices for APU boards look pretty expensive (since
you would want a case/power supply/SD Card along with the board.
Still, we are considering this as a replacement for the ALIX board we
were using (but I am interested in Charles's suggestions and other
things people find as well). 

One big disadvantage of pfSense is that it is x86/amd64 only, as far
as I know. There were noises about pfSense being ported to ARM, but I
do not think that went anywhere. 

If I was in your position I would probably take Bill's suggestion of
using your DD-WRT box as a VLAN-capable switch, and then use a
low-powered single-NIC card for pfSense.

- Paul