This is the Future of Routers. Fanless, 10GbE Ports and CPU power and RAM to spare.

[L&LD]

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With this piece of kit, I could see myself wading into the pfSense end of the pool again (at least to test it), even if it is a very inefficient routing OS.

Expensive? Yes.

But for some, the features will offset the disadvantages by a considerable margin.

 

[coxhaus]

I like it. I bet it will run Untangle as an UTM. I would like to here how much heat it gives off.

And I just ordered a Cisco SG300-10P L3 switch to test low power draw for me.

 

[L&LD]

What OS is Untangle installed to?

 

[K-2SO]

What OS is Untangle installed to?

It installs as an OS, Debian Linux based. For graph lovers and network monitoring freaks. Advanced GUI and tons of features. Made easy to use for non tech people. Google Untangle Demo. Awesome, but not free. Licence starts from $50/y for home use. There is a limited free version, but some key features are missing. Content filtering, for example.

even if it is a very inefficient routing OS.

It’s not for you. No need to reset pfSense and not user friendly for non tech people.

 

[L&LD]

As you may remember, I had to reset pfSense many times when I tried it about 18 months ago.

It is an in-efficient OS though requiring 70W at idle and 80W at full load (quote below is from the article I linked to).

pfSense / FreeBSD is not a particularly power-efficient OS. Having observed the idle power consumption of both Windows Server 2019 and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on the same system to be in the high 40s, the inefficiency of pfSense was slightly disappointing.

 

[K-2SO]

It is an in-efficient OS though requiring 70W

It depends what you run it on and what you need it to do. SG-1100 units use 3.5W at idle. Waiting for my SG-5100 unit to arrive (7W) I was running it on a spare hp 800 mini PC (30W). This Supermicro hardware above has >20Gbps routing capacity. Not really needed for home use.

 

[L&LD]

Not needed, yet.

 

[K-2SO]

Not needed, yet.

This type of devices pack muscle for running many clients. Router OS distros are software. The faster the hardware, the faster they run. If you need that router (in fact, x86 computer) for your 200+ clients network you won't look at power consumption much. This is a pure performance oriented device. I'm sure you can build something similar from available PC components cheaper.

 

[K-2SO]

BTW, hp 800 g1 mini PC i5-4590T with 8GB RAM and a simple AX88179 chip USB 3.0 to LAN adapter works with pfSense very well. The USB was my WAN, the integrated Intel NIC my LAN. No ill effects observed. It was an experiment and a temporary solution, but really fast and usable. I did not want to reconfigure pfSense as router on a stick. pfSense can run on a single NIC machine.

 

[L&LD]

Running pfSense on a single NIC machine when a 'mere' script can do what it would be able to, is nonsense, no?

(By 'mere' script here, I mean vs. a full-fledged OS and hardware to do what some very clever coding can do on a low powered router, in addition to everything else the router does, like route, for example).

 

[coxhaus]

Router on a stick is not a good firewall solution.

 

[K-2SO]

Running pfSense on a single NIC machine when a 'mere' script can do what it would be able to, is nonsense, no?

I don't understand the above text. Routing between VLANs... no?

Router on a stick is not a good firewall solution.

L3 switch with what I have in spare parts box and you're complaining? I just needed to plug my WAN somewhere.

 

[avtella]

I feel like cost wise the SuperMicro’s E301-9D is a better one (granted not fanless, probably about the same size or close if counting the fins on the E302) with a more powerful AMD Epyc 3251 with less power draw on similar loads, only down side is you need your own add in card if you want a 10Gb nic. (Intel X710-T2L) in my case.

I think pfsense may have been that horribly ineffecient
vs Win OS on your machine probably because you may not have enabled PowerD in advanced settings page (usually off by default), that allows clocks to drop and rise depending on usage.

Regardless I do agree this would still be overkill for home usage and would still draw a lot more power than a standard consumer WiFi router.

 

[L&LD]

@avtella, the pfSense inefficiency was pointed out by the article (not by my own testing).

With 2x 40mm fans (screaming), the E301-9D would be in the recycle bin within 10 minutes at my home.

The article states also that the fan-cooled version of the same hardware would be significantly less expensive, but that is why this is worthy of consideration, dead-quiet 10GbE network routing.

 

[distilled]

Wow, that E302-9D is so very cool that it is tempting. Think of all the beautiful charts and graphs!

I will restrain myself though, because I do not want to contribute to the overcrowding problem at the local hospital. Which is where the wife would send me. By punching me repeatedly, with a closed fist, in the face.

**Domestic abuse is NOT a joke. (which is why I won't buy that Supermicro server )

 

[avtella]

@avtella, the pfSense inefficiency was pointed out by the article (not by my own testing).

With 2x 40mm fans (screaming), the E301-9D would be in the recycle bin within 10 minutes at my home.

The article states also that the fan-cooled version of the same hardware would be significantly less expensive, but that is why this is worthy of consideration, dead-quiet 10GbE network routing.

I use 8500 RPM that are currently running at 1,600 RPM, there is a power save function in BMC for fan control. You don’t need 11K RPM fans for this and that too at full tilt. The fans I use if I manually set at peak 8K I think would be 34 decibels. So imagine how quiet they are at 1,500-1,600 RPM.

 

[L&LD]

8K RPM @ 35 dB? Those must be very high-quality fans.

 

[avtella]

I’m also using a short but full width 1U SuperMicro case similar to Netgate’s XG1541 but with ports on the rear, rather the more compact one in the E301, mine has the PSU integrated in the case. The fan spacing seems better in the E301 though more direct I mean in relation to the CPU heatsink. On mine I have to use the given covering to divert the second fan airflow to the CPU.

 

[coxhaus]

8K RPM @ 35 dB? Those must be very high-quality fans.

That is what I am thinking. I always used 3 U in my rack at home to have quiet fans with a big heat sink. All the 1U I have heard are loud but I have to say I have not been in a data center for many years.

 

[avtella]

These are the fans I use:

Supermicro 40mm Axial Fan (FAN-0100L4)

Nidec Axial Fan - 40 x 40 x 28mm Compatible with CSE-111, CSE-119TS, CSE-505, CSE-510, and CSE-819TS Series Chassis Fan Speed: 8,500 RPM Supermicro Certified

store.supermicro.com