[Rhino1]

Any advice would be welcome have one built right now but looking to build a smaller more energy afficant one. Like DuckieHo but can't find it by searching.

The one i have is running untangle.

Thanks for your time.

 

[ez12a]

pfsense requires much less resources and can do almost what Untangle does, including anti virus scanning, intrusion detection, web caching, web filtering, etc.

with less resource usage comes the ability to run it on low end systems (thus power saving).

 

[DuckieHo]

What do you have today?

Also, do you want mATX or mITX?

I'm actually moving to either ClearOS or Endian... I want load balancing and Squid.

 

[Rhino1]

I have an old P4 rig that has been doing the job for the last year but it is starting to give out. And i have been wanting to build something smaller like the one you built. I run an x box 360, PS3 and 4 other computers off of it.

mATX or mITX does not matter. what do you suggest, mitx would be nice because i would like to put it in my server case a big rocketfish full tower case running off the same power like the way you had yours previously setup

 

[DuckieHo]

You could use an Atom mITX plus a NIC....

However, Atoms are worse than P4 clock-for-clock (but are way more energy efficient). Your best bet is check eBay for a mITX deal. There are plenty of industrial/project mITX boards for less than $100.

 

[Rhino1]

What do you think about this board MSI FUZZY945GM1. The only thing i don.t know is where to get a cpu socket M for it, it looks like a good option for like 90 bucks. Or this one Intel GME965 a socket P. I know you said atom where , but how about this one Asus AT5NM10-I.

 

[Rhino1]

You guys have any suggestion on the options i have listed.

Thanks for your time.

 

[ez12a]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckieHo What do you have today? Also, do you want mATX or mITX? I'm actually moving to either ClearOS or Endian... I want load balancing and Squid.

off topic, but i just tried ClearOS in a virtual environment with 2 client virtual computers in the same "network"

a few faults i'd like to point out, is that the content filter, anti virus, and associated services that require definition updates do not work, nor is there any intuitive way to force update the definitions. I dont know if you have to let it just sit and download definitions by itself..The antivirus and content filter failed to prevent the client computers from accessing known compromised sites and downloading eicar test files. To my knowledge, Untangle behaves the same way..you either need to reboot the router or restart/delete the "rack" to get it to download definitions in the background.

and in my particular ClearOS install, DHCP was not enabled by default on the LAN network...a static IP had to be set for a client computer to connect to the web gui and enable DHCP. And when the DHCP was enabled, it took a few minutes to get an IP address to my virtual computers.

pfsense was able to block all of these with Squid + SquidGuard and HAVP packages installed and updated. Also you can actually see whether or not the database is up to date and manually update them if necessary. with pfsense 2.0, they will add L7 QoS.

just some thoughts

 

[KoolGuy]

Building a router.. Hmm im interested any guides?

 

[DuckieHo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rhino1 What do you think about this board MSI FUZZY945GM1. The only thing i don.t know is where to get a cpu socket M for it, it looks like a good option for like 90 bucks. Or this one Intel GME965 a socket P. I know you said atom where , but how about this one Asus AT5NM10-I.

Go with the FUZZY945GM1. I am using a different model myself. These are industrial board (so they're built to last) and use laptop/mobile components (to save power).

You can find Socket P CPUs on eBay for less than $20. Just make sure you can get a heatsink.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ez12a off topic, but i just tried ClearOS in a virtual environment with 2 client virtual computers in the same "network" a few faults i'd like to point out, is that the content filter, anti virus, and associated services that require definition updates do not work, nor is there any intuitive way to force update the definitions. I dont know if you have to let it just sit and download definitions by itself..The antivirus and content filter failed to prevent the client computers from accessing known compromised sites and downloading eicar test files. To my knowledge, Untangle behaves the same way..you either need to reboot the router or restart/delete the "rack" to get it to download definitions in the background. and in my particular ClearOS install, DHCP was not enabled by default on the LAN network...a static IP had to be set for a client computer to connect to the web gui and enable DHCP. And when the DHCP was enabled, it took a few minutes to get an IP address to my virtual computers. pfsense was able to block all of these with Squid + SquidGuard and HAVP packages installed and updated. Also you can actually see whether or not the database is up to date and manually update them if necessary. with pfsense 2.0, they will add L7 QoS. just some thoughts

Good to know.... more to think about.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KoolGuy Building a router.. Hmm im interested any guides?

Build computer. Get two NICs. Install router OS.

The only "hard" part is making sure your NICs are supported.

 

[KoolGuy]

router os.....

Like DDwrt?

 

[DuckieHo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KoolGuy router os..... Like DDwrt?

DD-WRT is for embedded routers.

Try one of these instead:
www.pfsense.com
www.endian.com (Online demo at http://www.endian.com/en/products/demo/)
www.untangle.com

Burn to CD and boot to install the OS.

 

[KoolGuy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckieHo DD-WRT is for embedded routers. Try one of these instead: www.pfsense.com www.endian.com (Online demo at http://www.endian.com/en/products/demo/) www.untangle.com Burn to CD and boot to install the OS.

I bookmarked this thread. If i ever see a old PC at work ill give it a try thanks.

 

[ez12a]

DDWRT has an X86 version to install on PCs, but at that point it lacks severely in features it seems...if it's anything like the router versions. Better go with the suggestions that Duckie listed. Good luck! you can have a pretty robust router for as low as free (depending on where you get your hw)

 

[IBuyJunk]

I think this is where the Atom really shines. An Atom booting from a persistent USB flash drive would be ideal ... extreme low power consumption.

 

[KoolGuy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IBuyJunk I think this is where the Atom really shines. An Atom booting from a persistent USB flash drive would be ideal ... extreme low power consumption.

Yea but it would be real slow.

it would still probably be faster then anything netgear has to offer... Psshh a 1.6 Dual core processor.. That rthing would boot in a second.

 

[IBuyJunk]

For running network stuff it would be fine, no problems. I was running PFSense with 4 interfaces on a PIII machine 500mhz and it handled it great.

Some of the cisco stuff used to run lower clocked Pentium 4 machines and they work well also - although, generally, Cisco is RISC units.