Initial Setup Questions

[VictoryHighway]

Hello!  I’m new to the forums, and I’m planning on a complete rebuild of my home network, which was first set up about 20 years ago.

I’m considering OpnSense for my new firewall/router.  I have Verizon Fios for my ISP (fiber-to-the-premesis) and my bandwidth is 100Mb/s symmetrical).  I have four users with about 60 or so active devices.

I’d like some advise on hardware for an OpnSense system.  I’d like to have Intrusion Detection, Intrusion Protection, VPN, and possibly QOS and squid.

Question, would any of those features be overkill for my needs?  I suppose squid would be overkill, but I’m thinking that it might help speed up access to commonly used web sites.

In any case, I’m considering using something like https://protectli.com/product/fw4b/ for my OpnSense box.  Does this look like it would fit my needs?

[Antaris]

Hi VictoryHighway,

First of all, try to avoid CPUs affected by Intel Erratta LPC bus degradation. It's very widely spread among low energy 14nm intel CPUs. If you want to stick with Protectli, try an i3-5 variant with at leas 8GB ram. If you have more space, my advice is to take an refurbished branded desktop SFF PC like HP or DELL etc., with Haswell or newer i3-5, 8GB ram, new SSD and decent dual or quad port PCIE Intel NIC. You will get way more performant machine with lots of room for upgrades way cheaper.
You can check Hardware and Performance section https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?board=21.0

[marjohn56]

Or go for one of the Qotom i3,i5,i7 series. They use  i211 ports but I've never had an issue.

[VictoryHighway]

Thanks!  I'll research those options.