Hardware Recommendations for 1Gbps

[cpmiller22]

Hi all,

I'm currently running a Unifi USG, and I'm looking to switch over to OPNsense.  There are many reasons, but I definitely would like to be able to run NGFW services like IDS/IPS.  I'd ideally like to have something with a small form factor that can fit in my wiring cabinet, and be under the $500 price range.  I have a gigabit cable modem connection, so I know I'll need some power to keep up with that.  I've looked at Protectli, Qotom, fitlet2 and there seem to be lots of options.  I suppose one of the big questions is will one of these types of boxes with a celeron or atom processor handle that, or do I need something with an i3, or i5 in it.  So many options out there I'm hoping someone can help point me in the right direction.

Thanks!

[giffordj]

The big factors are CPU, memory, and network adapter. I looked at going with the smaller form factor installs, but ended up repurposing an old dell T1700SFF PC. I have it running an Xeon CPU E3-1225 v3, 32GB Memory, with a Dell Intel 350 4 Port NIC Card.

I actually get my 1GB/1GB internet with it, that's without IDS/IPS of course. When I add that it goes down to 700/700.

[cpmiller22]

Thanks for the response.  I really wish that was an option for me, but I just don’t have the space for a bigger form factor.


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[Yameless]

I am running a second hand thin client, HP T730, very affordable, it has a single card slot populated with a Intel I340 4 port Nic (you want the I350 if you want to virtualize)  it routes my near 1gig connection (850-950 cable depending on the day)  with with the CPU hardly breaking a sweat.

But I am not running any packet inspection or intrusion detection, from my understanding that is a more CPU intensive task.

[Mundan101]

I run Qotom i7 / 16gb memory / 12gb SSD / run IDS/IPS / Sensei / Geo Block/ VLAN / -- been running this now for about 2 years with any hiccups...Constantly get anywhere between 800-900 speeds on 1g line.

Run business out of my house with 4 employees and we stream everything.

[cpmiller22]

I run Qotom i7 / 16gb memory / 12gb SSD / run IDS/IPS / Sensei / Geo Block/ VLAN / -- been running this now for about 2 years with any hiccups...Constantly get anywhere between 800-900 speeds on 1g line.

Run business out of my house with 4 employees and we stream everything.

Thanks for the reply.  I have a few questions for you-
What generation i7 are you running? 
What does the processor utilization look like?
Did you end up needed the 16GB ram or would 8gb suffice?


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[sp33dy]

not sure what qotom cpu he is using but i have the i7-7500u in my box
i also have a hp t730 which is also real good value for the money.

[rungekutta]

Qotom with i5-5250U (1.6GHz, 4 cores) here and no problem saturating 1Gb WAN with Suricata and a bunch of rules enabled. CPU load is around 50% when I max out, where Suricata represents most of it.

[Antaris]

You need at least 3GHz Haswell or newer Intel Core i CPU. At least 8GB RAM depending on simultaneous device count. SSD or 10-15K rpm HDD is a must. The best bang for the buck is a brand SFF PC with 4 port pcie Intel NIC. But it's 2U high...

[Mundan101]

not sure what qotom cpu he is using but i have the i7-7500u in my box
i also have a hp t730 which is also real good value for the money.

   Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7500U CPU @ 2.70GHz (4 cores)

8gb should be fine but i got 16gb to future proof.

CPU is usually hover up down around 20 percent.

[cpmiller22]

Thanks for all the input.  I ended up going with i5 7200u qotom with 16GB and 120gb msata.  It’s pretty much a beast and rarely breaks a sweat.


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[oneplane]

Always nice to see the end result. Did you also wall mount it? Or do you have it sitting on a shelf somewhere. I'm curious how other people have their airflow done; for me it mostly doesn't seem to matter in my climate but other places in the world probably need to pay more (or even less) attention to it.

[cpmiller22]

I have mine mounted behind the wire panel in my house.  I’ve mounted a pair of 120mm fans at the top and bottom of the panel (one blowing and one blowing out) to keep the equipment cool.  I also adjusted the bios settings to automatically start when power is restored.


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[ahnj]

My 1Gbps hardware setup is also Qotom 555 i5 as described here: https://jimahn.com/posts/opnsense-att-gateway-bypass/.  It's been running flawlessly since last year and idles between 20% to 40%, memory usage at ~50% or ~4GBs.