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I wish Intel or someone would get into the enthusiast firewall market. Very High GHZ 2 to 4 core CPU, 2 to 4 NICs, x86, <$250, 1-8GB soldered RAM, Simple M2, ve

I wish Intel or someone would get into the enthusiast firewall market. Very High GHZ 2 to 4 core CPU, 2 to 4 NICs, x86, <$250, 1-8GB soldered RAM, Simple M2, very basic video out, would be very popular for home firewalls and maybe even businesses with a decent IT department/person as a Firewall/VPN appliance.

jrockway 3y ago
I've been looking for such a home firewall, but the power usage of an Intel box isn't competitive with the dedicated devices. Something like this seems nice: https://www.tp-link.com/us/business-networking/vpn-router/er8411/ https://www.tp-link.com/us/business-networking/vpn-router/er... But I don't actually have >1Gbps service yet, and haven't needed to use my backup connection, so I have so far not taken the plunge.
- adrian_b 3y ago
  For the lowest cost, volume and power consumption, you can use a NanoPi R5C: https://www.friendlyelec.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=290 https://www.friendlyelec.com/index.php?route=product/product... This provides up to 4 x 2.5 Gb/s Ethernet ports, plus WiFi. The passively-cooled metal box has 2 x 2.5 Gb/s Ethernet ports, but you can add another 2 ports with Ethernet USB dongles. It has a slow quadruple 2 GHz Cortex-A55 CPU, but this is still very fast in comparison with the older Raspberry Pi models and its Ethernet and USB ports are much better than those of any Raspberry Pi, allowing full speed. The schematic of this firewall/router is public, which is good. Also, unlike for Intel or AMD CPUs, much more public documentation about the CPU is available, which makes it more trustworthy. The RK3568 CPU has good Linux support, but even so, an ARM-based computer can be recommended only to an experienced Linux user, because many problems can appear when attempting to install and configure various programs. For now, ARM-based computers can be recommended only when the cost of the computer, including the DRAM memory does not exceed $150. Starting at $150 for computer + DRAM, it is possible to find computers with Intel Alder Lake N CPUs (e.g. N100, N200 or i3-N305). These are much faster than any ARM-based computer, with the exception of those that are many times more expensive (like those sold by NVIDIA, MediaTek or Qualcomm).
  - jrockway 3y ago
    The NanoPi is quite reasonable. There is a bigger one that has the I/O I need and a RK3588S, which is a pretty impressive SoC. I have an Orange Pi 5 with that SoC and the performance is beyond my expectations. I generally prefer stock Debian to OpenWRT anyway; I never know how to do what I want to do in the GUI, but I do know what iptables rules I want to write, so that's all good. Of course not in stock, nothing good ever is, but someday...
giobox 3y ago
Devices similar to what you are asking for are out there now, in recent years the market for these devices seems to have exploded. I recently built something similar to this one with i7 of some generation or other and quad 2.5gbit NICs etc. They are available in all sorts of neat fanless configs and a range of CPUs, and generally have no issues saturating all 4 ports at peak speeds etc. I just pulled the first hit from Amazon for "vpn appliance": > https://www.amazon.com/SENSTUN-Firewall-Appliance-Fanless-Barebone/dp/B0BWVBVFT3/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=3APVAWU5WZH5T&keywords=vpn+appliance&qid=1689108984&sprefix=vpn+applian%2Caps%2C210&sr=8-1-spons&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.304cacc1-b508-45fb-a37f-a2c47c48c32f&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/SENSTUN-Firewall-Appliance-Fanless-Ba... Being that they are just PCs, you can install pfSense or whatever solution you want. They are silent and no larger than a typical network switch. If anything, the enthusiast firewall market has been well served recently - there are well over 20+ models on amazon alone right now intended for homemade firewalls or routers.
Havoc 3y ago
There are loads on aliexpress. 2.5gbe and powerful enough to virtualize a firewall and run a couple other light VMs.

jrockway 3y ago

I've been looking for such a home firewall, but the power usage of an Intel box isn't competitive with the dedicated devices. Something like this seems nice: https://www.tp-link.com/us/business-networking/vpn-router/er8411/ https://www.tp-link.com/us/business-networking/vpn-router/er... But I don't actually have >1Gbps service yet, and haven't needed to use my backup connection, so I have so far not taken the plunge.

adrian_b 3y ago
For the lowest cost, volume and power consumption, you can use a NanoPi R5C: https://www.friendlyelec.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=290 https://www.friendlyelec.com/index.php?route=product/product... This provides up to 4 x 2.5 Gb/s Ethernet ports, plus WiFi. The passively-cooled metal box has 2 x 2.5 Gb/s Ethernet ports, but you can add another 2 ports with Ethernet USB dongles. It has a slow quadruple 2 GHz Cortex-A55 CPU, but this is still very fast in comparison with the older Raspberry Pi models and its Ethernet and USB ports are much better than those of any Raspberry Pi, allowing full speed. The schematic of this firewall/router is public, which is good. Also, unlike for Intel or AMD CPUs, much more public documentation about the CPU is available, which makes it more trustworthy. The RK3568 CPU has good Linux support, but even so, an ARM-based computer can be recommended only to an experienced Linux user, because many problems can appear when attempting to install and configure various programs. For now, ARM-based computers can be recommended only when the cost of the computer, including the DRAM memory does not exceed $150. Starting at $150 for computer + DRAM, it is possible to find computers with Intel Alder Lake N CPUs (e.g. N100, N200 or i3-N305). These are much faster than any ARM-based computer, with the exception of those that are many times more expensive (like those sold by NVIDIA, MediaTek or Qualcomm).
- jrockway 3y ago
  The NanoPi is quite reasonable. There is a bigger one that has the I/O I need and a RK3588S, which is a pretty impressive SoC. I have an Orange Pi 5 with that SoC and the performance is beyond my expectations. I generally prefer stock Debian to OpenWRT anyway; I never know how to do what I want to do in the GUI, but I do know what iptables rules I want to write, so that's all good. Of course not in stock, nothing good ever is, but someday...

giobox 3y ago

Devices similar to what you are asking for are out there now, in recent years the market for these devices seems to have exploded. I recently built something similar to this one with i7 of some generation or other and quad 2.5gbit NICs etc. They are available in all sorts of neat fanless configs and a range of CPUs, and generally have no issues saturating all 4 ports at peak speeds etc. I just pulled the first hit from Amazon for "vpn appliance": > https://www.amazon.com/SENSTUN-Firewall-Appliance-Fanless-Barebone/dp/B0BWVBVFT3/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=3APVAWU5WZH5T&keywords=vpn+appliance&qid=1689108984&sprefix=vpn+applian%2Caps%2C210&sr=8-1-spons&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.304cacc1-b508-45fb-a37f-a2c47c48c32f&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/SENSTUN-Firewall-Appliance-Fanless-Ba... Being that they are just PCs, you can install pfSense or whatever solution you want. They are silent and no larger than a typical network switch. If anything, the enthusiast firewall market has been well served recently - there are well over 20+ models on amazon alone right now intended for homemade firewalls or routers.

Havoc 3y ago

There are loads on aliexpress. 2.5gbe and powerful enough to virtualize a firewall and run a couple other light VMs.