Which PC is better for a file server/firewall?

Charly

Charly

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Hi, I want to get a pfSense firewall setup but I can't decide which of these 2 PCs to buy. What would you guys say?

Option 1:
Gigabyte GA-M55PLUS-S3G
AMD Athlon 6000+ 3.0Ghz (dual core) (from 2007, is that fine?)
2x1GB DDR2-800 Kingmax RAM
Cooler Master Elite 360 Midtower
80GB Sata Seagate HDD
Netgear PCI Wireless card
Nvidia GT210

Option 2:
Intel Pentium 4 660 3.6GHz CPU (single core)
Intel D945GTP board, 2*1GB
DDR2-667 Kingmax RAM
Zalman CNPS9500 AT non-LED copper air cooler
Nvidia 6200LE 128MB AGP graphics card
Seagate 7200.9 160GB hard drive
Antec NSK3300 microATX case with 300W PSU
Asus LightScribe DRW-1814BLT optical drive
Logitech Cordless Desktop EX110
Vantec PDW card reader
 
imranpanji said:
No
Click to expand...

My Pi handles NAS (as samba host), FTP, acts as a firewall, automates torrents and usenet AND acts as a proxy gateway to house network so I can do thinks like watch security cameras over the internets, and barely consumes 1 watt.

So why can't OP?
 
Can't run pfsense from a Pi. Why not get a Proliant microserver? Install ESXi, and run two virtual machines. Will need another NIC.
 
The_Librarian said:
Why not? It is small, does not guzzle power...
Click to expand...
It is way underpowered and has too little RAM . While its GPU punches above its weight, in my opinion it is not suitable for networking operations, but ideal for a small media player

Please note that most devices that have open source wrt firmware loaded have 2mb+ of memory.
 
imranpanji said:
It is way underpowered and has too little RAM . While its GPU punches above its weight, in my opinion it is not suitable for networking operations, but ideal for a small media player

Please note that most devices that have open source wrt firmware loaded have 2mb+ of memory.
Click to expand...

Makes sense.

Running Smoothwall on a 800MHz AMD Geode. It works, but pulling up logs etc takes a little while due to the clock speed of the CPU. Not bothering me, as long as it's filtering out bad traffic and protecting my home network, all is well.

If you want to have more add-ons, then it is advisable to have a stronger CPU and more RAM.
 
agentrfr said:
My Pi handles NAS (as samba host), FTP, acts as a firewall, automates torrents and usenet AND acts as a proxy gateway to house network so I can do thinks like watch security cameras over the internets, and barely consumes 1 watt.

So why can't OP?
Click to expand...

Maybe OP doesnt like/know how to use linux.
 
Rickster said:
Maybe OP doesnt like/know how to use linux.
Click to expand...
I have some experience with Linux and I also have a Pi. I'll look into the idea of using my Pi for a firewall but for now I'm going to go with a desktop PC.
 
Get cheap secondhand Cisco switch, create VLANs and trunk them to a Minnowboard.
Minnowboard is 64bit, to be released soon starting at $99.
 
nand said:
Get cheap secondhand Cisco switch, create VLANs and trunk them to a Minnowboard.
Minnowboard is 64bit, to be released soon starting at $99.
Click to expand...
Can the op borrow your time machine to go and buy one?:D
 
])ragon_\/oid;13178868 said:
Can't run pfsense from a Pi. Why not get a Proliant microserver? Install ESXi, and run two virtual machines. Will need another NIC.
Click to expand...

You can run nagios from a pie ?
 
Option 1 for sure. Option 2 probably sounds like a dust buster or hair dryer by now, gulps energy and may have swollen caps on the board, even though it's an Intel board. Make sure you have a second NIC that's well supported by pfSense, you don't want to have to troubleshoot crazy issues because some el cheapo Realtek card is not 100% compatible.
 
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