Hi all,
I've got some very basic experience with routers. About 5 years ago, I purchases a small Qotom machine and installed pfSense on it, configured and maintained a basic router for home usage. I tried out various plugins and set myself an OpenVPN server, for instance. Some of the things I was really interested in doing, but never really got into it enough were IDS/IPS and also DPI visualisations/policies.
Unfortunately, my box died last year. It had had a few issues in the past, but this time was the end. I think it was a hard drive issue, as I could reinstall pfSense, but it just wouldn't boot off the internal hard drive...I've fallen back to a consumer router that I had spare for now (which has actually been far too long).
So then wtih the new Ubiquiti Dream Machines, I was thinking of just grabbing one of these:
- less of a worry for me
- I already have a Ubiquiti Access Point
- IDS/IPS feature
- some DPI features as well
- boost my wifi
- quite affordable
But I've read about some people having performance or other issues with them, and also many people recommending Ubiquiti internally, and pfSense at the edge.
So then started looking at what's currently available out there:
- pfSense still seems to be the most extensible, reliable and popular option
- Untangle, but limited free features
- OPNSense, looks really interesting with the addition of Sensei
But I guess, once bitten, twice shy with these prebuilt appliances, I have had a look around and they are still available and probably around the same pricing as the UDM (but without Wifi).
So apart from a general introduction, and welcome to have any general feedback on the above, I'm probably wondering if anyone has any experience with these Qotom or other "black box" appliances out there? I'm probably leaning towards giving OPNSense a go, if I can convince myself to give another box a go
Thanks for reading.
I've got some very basic experience with routers. About 5 years ago, I purchases a small Qotom machine and installed pfSense on it, configured and maintained a basic router for home usage. I tried out various plugins and set myself an OpenVPN server, for instance. Some of the things I was really interested in doing, but never really got into it enough were IDS/IPS and also DPI visualisations/policies.
Unfortunately, my box died last year. It had had a few issues in the past, but this time was the end. I think it was a hard drive issue, as I could reinstall pfSense, but it just wouldn't boot off the internal hard drive...I've fallen back to a consumer router that I had spare for now (which has actually been far too long).
So then wtih the new Ubiquiti Dream Machines, I was thinking of just grabbing one of these:
- less of a worry for me
- I already have a Ubiquiti Access Point
- IDS/IPS feature
- some DPI features as well
- boost my wifi
- quite affordable
But I've read about some people having performance or other issues with them, and also many people recommending Ubiquiti internally, and pfSense at the edge.
So then started looking at what's currently available out there:
- pfSense still seems to be the most extensible, reliable and popular option
- Untangle, but limited free features
- OPNSense, looks really interesting with the addition of Sensei
But I guess, once bitten, twice shy with these prebuilt appliances, I have had a look around and they are still available and probably around the same pricing as the UDM (but without Wifi).
So apart from a general introduction, and welcome to have any general feedback on the above, I'm probably wondering if anyone has any experience with these Qotom or other "black box" appliances out there? I'm probably leaning towards giving OPNSense a go, if I can convince myself to give another box a go
Thanks for reading.