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I think it’s OpnSense or PFSense but requires hardware that it can run on. Not consumer grade firewalls. The days of a $50 router in the home having great soft

I think it’s OpnSense or PFSense but requires hardware that it can run on. Not consumer grade firewalls. The days of a $50 router in the home having great software seem to be over.

generalpass 7y ago
You can run them on an old computer. Used mini-towers and desktop form factor can be had for close to free. The next major release of pfSense will require hardware encryption support (e.g., AES-NI). OPNSense is very reliable, but has fewer features though is in active development. Haven't used it in around 18 months or so. I picked up an HP 4-port 1gbps PCIe card for $40.
- chopin 7y ago
  However a router is energy sensitive as it runs 24/7. I wouldn't want to run a desktop for this.
  - generalpass 7y ago
    Just install a low power CPU. You can get one on eBay delivered for a little more than USPS 1st class shipping. Most of my devices, including my NAS, consume 25-35w, so up to 15w additional consumption, as checked with Kill-A-Watt. Ever do a tiny load of laundry to get one shirt clean? You've just used something like a year of computer running. Do you run your air conditioning while your refrigerator exhausts into your kitchen? I call that a kitchen heater. You're heating a cooled space. I find for whatever reason, tech people all worry about the energy consumed by tiny devices.
    - edgineer 7y ago
      There are other power usage concerns beyond cost. For example, if a small room can't have air conditioning you might want only very low power devices to keep from heating it up.
      - zrm 7y ago
        ~35 watts isn't actually all that much heat load, and that's what you get from the likes of a business-class Core i5 at the loads routing packets would put on it (i.e. basically idle). Something like Atom or AMD Bobcat is <15 watts. Another thing to keep in mind if you're worried about power/heat is that 3.5" spinning rust can pull >5 watts per spindle. I've seen 15K drives pull close to 20. But an SSD is close to nothing and so are most 2.5" laptop spindles.
        generalpass 7y ago
        I'll concede that a small closet can get pretty warm from even lower power devices. However, as long as the CPU isn't overheating and the space is clean and dry, it doesn't matter.

I think it’s OpnSense or PFSense but requires hardware that it can run on. Not consumer grade firewalls. The days of a $50 router in the home having great software seem to be over.

generalpass 7y ago

You can run them on an old computer. Used mini-towers and desktop form factor can be had for close to free. The next major release of pfSense will require hardware encryption support (e.g., AES-NI). OPNSense is very reliable, but has fewer features though is in active development. Haven't used it in around 18 months or so. I picked up an HP 4-port 1gbps PCIe card for $40.

chopin 7y ago
However a router is energy sensitive as it runs 24/7. I wouldn't want to run a desktop for this.
- generalpass 7y ago
  Just install a low power CPU. You can get one on eBay delivered for a little more than USPS 1st class shipping. Most of my devices, including my NAS, consume 25-35w, so up to 15w additional consumption, as checked with Kill-A-Watt. Ever do a tiny load of laundry to get one shirt clean? You've just used something like a year of computer running. Do you run your air conditioning while your refrigerator exhausts into your kitchen? I call that a kitchen heater. You're heating a cooled space. I find for whatever reason, tech people all worry about the energy consumed by tiny devices.
  - edgineer 7y ago
    There are other power usage concerns beyond cost. For example, if a small room can't have air conditioning you might want only very low power devices to keep from heating it up.
    - zrm 7y ago
      ~35 watts isn't actually all that much heat load, and that's what you get from the likes of a business-class Core i5 at the loads routing packets would put on it (i.e. basically idle). Something like Atom or AMD Bobcat is <15 watts. Another thing to keep in mind if you're worried about power/heat is that 3.5" spinning rust can pull >5 watts per spindle. I've seen 15K drives pull close to 20. But an SSD is close to nothing and so are most 2.5" laptop spindles.
      - generalpass 7y ago
        I'll concede that a small closet can get pretty warm from even lower power devices. However, as long as the CPU isn't overheating and the space is clean and dry, it doesn't matter.