Any pro's of using official hardware?
On Aliexpress you can get a intel N150 with 5x 2,5G and 2x 10G SPF+ ports for about 200$.
Which is even faster then a DEC750 which is 5X the price.
Can anyone tell me why one should buy a DEC750?
Guaranteed compatibility with OPNsense?
If the network interfaces on that box from China are Realtek, for example, your firewall might not work at all.
Quote from: Patrick M. Hausen on July 16, 2025, 04:26:54 PMGuaranteed compatibility with OPNsense?
If the network interfaces on that box from China are Realtek, for example, your firewall might not work at all.
Almost all of them advertise specifically to be compatible with OPNSENSE and are Intel NICS.
Thanks for your reply.
I have used both. I replaced an i7 based 6-port (1 Gb) CWWK with a less powerful Dec 697. I gained 2.5 Gb ports, a smaller form factor and less heat, with less immediate benefits of purpose-designed hardware including memory and storage and greater confidence in the BIOS state.
I also supported Opnsense, and gained product support with assurance of compatibility.
I still use a 4-port (2.5 Gb) N100 CWWK internally, serving as a functional pre-test before upgrading the Dec697 to new releases, and have an older J3160 box (4 x 1 Gb) for exploration on the side.
Yes, the Chinese boxes usually work. Having the Deciso box lets me more easily forget about the critical router to get on with other things. It also offers an avenue for support other than donations, firstly buying the box and then if you wish renewing the business licence.
In my view it is possible to be too concerned about CPU speed and memory capacities. The Dec 697 load factors show it copes easily with its tasks, as did the J3160 prior to the i7 box which was gross over-kill. In fact the J3160 is my hardware backup in the unlikely event the Dec 697 should fail.
HTH
Depends on your use case and your budget.
I recycled a server at work for my OPNsense box, it had been in service since 2016 (I think), not an ideal choice, but it allowed me to buy 3 years of Business. For the upcoming budget I asked for a DEC 2770 which is probably way overkill, but is "comparable" to the old Supermicro server I'm currently using. I'm only gigabit for the foreseeable future, my network won't be refreshed for at least another 6 years and probably closer to 7 years (we try for at least 10 years on this stuff).
For home or lab, old HP T740 are my go to. But you can save precious watts with some of the newer devices, the T740 will idle around 25-30 watts and boost up to 60 with a moderately heavy load (load with a hypervisor running at least one VM doing work). I never saw much above idle when I had a T740 in use for production testing (with 50 clients doing class assignments which might involve downloading videos from youtube, copyright is excused for items used only in class projects and not for public view).
I also have an old HP T620+ with old Pro1000 card that I'm installing OPNsense onto, this may be enough for my lab so I can keep my spare T740 doing other harder work. Eventually I will probably need to buy one of these 4x i226-v "cheap" devices to play around and use for my lab stuff, but not today or tomorrow since I have alternatives and really nothing that needs 2.5g or faster right now (personal use).