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Comment by raincom | Hacker News Reader

What kind of hardware do you use to install OPNsense? Please don't suggest to buy some old Dell optiplex from ebay. Hardware that can beat any commercial vendor, is better.

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Look at the CWWK n100 mini pc’s https://cwwk.net/collections/frontpage/products/intel-12th-g... .

A big thread on serve the home https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/cwwk-topto...

Alternatively the Protectli’s https://protectli.com/vault-4-port/ . Protectli gets you support and coreboot, next day Amazon shipping but more expensive and older hardware.

These are great devices for running Opensense bare metal or virtualised in Proxmox. I use Proxmox on a protectli so can run unifi controller and ad guard home in lxc containers with Opensense in a VM. I’d buy a cwwk if buying again, I just didn’t know about them at the time.

Can you coreboot the cwwk?

I went with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X and I run OPNsense virtualized for a 25gbit uplink with 10gbit hosts. No traffic inspection or anything fancy however. [1]

[1] https://sschueller.github.io/posts/wiring-a-home-with-fiber/...

There’s this class of devices: https://www.servethehome.com/cheap-intel-pentium-n6005-4x-2-... I have one of them, they’re great. I haven’t checked hardware support on FreeBSD as I run Linux so please do your own research.

Old thinxlients are great for this. I'm running my setup on a Fujitsu Futro. They can be had for <50 euros and you can buy an additional network card if you need more ports. They are quite energy efficient (~5W) and have enough grunt for a home system.

Here is a post with some more details. https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/fujitsu-fu...

I just got a Protectli Vault FW4B to run it on. I wanted something small and fanless. Didn't even realize Celeron's were still made. Been running it 2 years now with no problems. Even that hardware (8GB RAM / 32GB msata) is overkill for home network.

Protectli was nice to buy from, but I do think there's a lot of similar options.

https://protectli.com/product/fw4b/

OPNSense runs very well on their boxes. You can even have it with Core boot.

I think they should upgrade their NICs to 2.5G and 10G though. 1G is no longer future proof.

Most of the boxes sold here support 2.5G. No mention of Coreboot, unfortunately, but could be worth asking if they can install it as they already offer OpnSense or other firewall software installation as a service.

https://www.ipu-system.de/

Installing it isn't really enough, you want updates. Protectli provide instructions to compile it yourself, so even if they stopped providing binary releases, you could DIY it; well worth the premium for the security conscious in my opinion.

I also run one of these but the 6 port version.

The jest part about Protectli is the Coreboot and they provide instructions to compile your own, so it even feels open.

That said, fully configured with RAM and storage mine cost roughly £600.

Given electricity prices in the UK, and my requirement for an as-open-as-possible software stack, it was well worth it. If it outlasts the EdgeRouter it replaced (7yrs before power circuitry died) I'll be very happy.

That said, my main concern, as a reply to you pointed out, is that I'll want more than Gigabit in that time; my street is getting 10Gb/10Gb in the next couple of years.

Some thing like this is what I have: https://www.amazon.com/QOTOM-celeron-Processor-Fanless-pfSen...

I had one availability blip a few months ago, don't know what it was but a full hardware reboot fixed it.

I have it running proxmox, with a debian pivpn/pihole + op lnsense VMs. I believe I have 12 gb ram in it.

I own a DEC3840 [1] appliance and I'm happy with it so far. I was also on the search for a proper commercial vendor after running it in a VM for years.

[1] https://shop.opnsense.com/product/dec3840-opnsense-rack-secu...

I run mine on HP’s version of an optiplex with a 2nd hand pcie 1Gb quad nic, but if you wanted nicer “real” hardware with a proven track record, an HP microserver gen10 or gen10+ can be had on eBay for very little. A gen10+ should even come with iLo, which is nice.

Yeah, parent commenter is being a crank. If you want "real" hardware, but (insert 1U hardware from Lenovo, HP, Dell, or Supermicro here.)

I've had it running on a dell SFF desktop for years.

I use a Dell R220 with dual ssds and a sata boot key. If you need 10gig, there an expansion slot.

They actually have their own brand of routers:

https://shop.opnsense.com/product-categorie/hardware-applian...

I use an old mac mini which has onboard gigabit ethernet (lan side) and an apple thunderbolt to gigabit ethernet dongle for wan. I am using 900/300 fibre and it has been rock solid. No need to buy expensive stuff for this task.

You say "don't suggest to buy some old Dell Optiplex from eBay" but I did exactly this.

I spent $43.97 (which included shipping) for the Optiplex, added a 2 port NIC for $16.37, and it's been running my house great since then.

The main issue I see with that option is space and power, the micro-form factor (NUC-sized) clone systems that people are discussing in here are quite nice for that. Functionally an old Dell tower should be fine.

Sure, but those tend to be much more expensive, so depending on the actual cost of electricity in your area, it may take a long time for you to break even.

However, if you want to have a really small appliance-like pc, then yeah, the NUC-sized ones are much better.

The low-power AMD based systems everyone recommended a couple years ago were indeed great, until the ebay resellers realized what was going on and started slapping "opnsense pfsense AES-NI" etc on their listings and doubled their prices. The systems went from selling at $40-50 to over $100.

Also, the AMD processor in those systems is getting extremely long in the tooth.

This really isn't viable in somewhere like the UK.

At our current electricity prices, if that machine ran at 100W, you'd be spending the equivalent of what you paid for it EVERY month in electricity.

I've always seen Americans, who typically have more space and cheaper energy and fuel suggest people grab 1U servers for $40 etc, and respond just like you did when people ask them _not_ to.

My car also does 50mpg, and I still pay more pay mile for fuel.

In Europe, we need to spend more to buy efficient tech because the running costs require it.

It's perfectly viable in the UK. The Optiplex 7050 is available for under a hundred pounds and the PSU tops out at 65W. It idles under eight watts. This is comparable with any other router capable of handling gigabit traffic.

I think the misunderstanding is the assumption about form factor. The 7050 series is available in a case the size of a paperback book.

I'm willing to accept your point if you or they, can confirm that they are in fact talking about an optiplex that idles at 8W, which I doubt, for 43 dollars.

Despite DELLs willingness to slap the same series number on everything from an ATX tower to a "paperback book", they are far from the same thing.

I'm willing to accept I may be wrong, so let's see.

power consumption is a strong point. there are a lot of old desktops that idle >10W but there also are some (not as old typically) that go below.

if you want to be sure, use an old (skylake and above) laptop and give it a usb3-eth plug. my latitude e7470 idles at around 3W (powertop)

Here you go. https://i.dell.com/sites/csdocuments/Shared-Content_data-She...

First page, the one on the right. I don't see why you'd doubt an 8-watt idle, since it's basically a laptop processor and chipset. Please note that these models are available with both 35W and 65W TDP processors; I'm talking about the (generally cheaper) 35W models, of course.

I hear you. But we're crossing wires here.

I doubt the original poster is talking about the small "book" sides micro form factor at ~$40.

I expect that one to cost at least double, if not more (a quick eBay search outs the micro form factor at closer to a £200 average), and the tower form factor, with it's 240W PSU is likely to be drawing much more than ~8W in a typical configuration.

My point stands; if you want to spend £35 on an x86 machine, youll pay in electricity costs, spend ~£200+ and overall youll likely save money overall if it lasts a decent period.

Where do you see those being available for under 100gbp!?

Available in plenty of second hand computer vendors: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225601831181

It probably doesn't run at 100W, although I'd be quite curious to know whether someone actually measured the consumption, since I have the HP version of this.

The reason why I don't expect it to draw as much is because I have an 8-core xeon with 2x10k RPM + 4*7200 RPM drives, a dedicated raid card, integrated BMC, and it reports ~100W power draw when booting up. When sitting around doing nothing but with the drives spinning, it reports a draw of about 80W.

edit: The BMC alone draws 11W, judging by the reported power consumption when the server is off, but plugged in.

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