4 ms·

> Are additional RAM gigabytes anything important for a switch? Especially one that delivers on the parameters? For a switch, probably not. But it does open up

> Are additional RAM gigabytes anything important for a switch? Especially one that delivers on the parameters? For a switch, probably not. But it does open up a bunch of possibilities for some constrained environments. I would use such a thing combined with a few other services aside from pure network switching. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking running pi-hole and Home Assistant. Why? Because I live in a studio apartment, and it would be a single, small and quiet box. I'm currently doing this on a mini-ITX J3455, and while the setup is broadly OK, I'd love to be able to remove the switch I have lying around. Also, the integrated Realtek controllers suck, and I can't replace them with anything better (there's no PCIe port). Of course, your other points absolutely matter, and are the reason why I'm still looking around for quiet x86 machines that I could expand.

salmo 5y ago
I did this for a few years in a genero small router passively cooled form factor PC from China. Celeron with discrete Intel NICs. Ran PfSense. Worked great until it died a few months back. Now it’s less expensive to just buy the equivalent Netgate appliance. It’s been great.
NortySpock 5y ago
I didn't quite determine if you have a solution or are looking for a solution, but a Raspberry Pi 4, 4GB with a passive fanless heatsink case can run Pi-Hole and Home Assistant without breaking a sweat. I use a FLIRC case.
- vladvasiliu 5y ago
  I'm still investigating possible solutions. I also want to do some routing on a gigabit link, so the RPI doesn't scratch that itch. I'm also not comfortable with the various horror stories I've heard about SD cards dying in Pis (although I've run one with home assistant for several years with no issues). I'd also like to avoid running external drives, the goal being to have a self-contained unit. I'd rather have a larger unit instead of multiple small ones that require cabling (mostly for esthetic reasons) and various dongles.

salmo 5y ago

I did this for a few years in a genero small router passively cooled form factor PC from China. Celeron with discrete Intel NICs. Ran PfSense. Worked great until it died a few months back. Now it’s less expensive to just buy the equivalent Netgate appliance. It’s been great.

NortySpock 5y ago

I didn't quite determine if you have a solution or are looking for a solution, but a Raspberry Pi 4, 4GB with a passive fanless heatsink case can run Pi-Hole and Home Assistant without breaking a sweat. I use a FLIRC case.

vladvasiliu 5y ago
I'm still investigating possible solutions. I also want to do some routing on a gigabit link, so the RPI doesn't scratch that itch. I'm also not comfortable with the various horror stories I've heard about SD cards dying in Pis (although I've run one with home assistant for several years with no issues). I'd also like to avoid running external drives, the goal being to have a self-contained unit. I'd rather have a larger unit instead of multiple small ones that require cabling (mostly for esthetic reasons) and various dongles.