Hardware Recommendation

**Mr. Moderator- please disregard my same post that is up for approval under Installation- this seems to be a better place for it.**

In another post under networking I was told that my test box was underpowered for the office I am using it in (P4 2gigs of ram 80gig HDD with 10/100NIC cards)- that was for an office of 20 pc's.

I am wanting to install a box in one of our other offices as a test and I am willing to purchase a PC to run it on. I am not looking for the best of the best blade server or anything like that, I am simply wanting to get what is needed to ensure throughput without bottlenecking the network performance.

The office I am wanting to install this in has just been completely rewired with all new cat6 wiring and HP Procurve switches with a Cisco ASA 5505 and 3 servers- one for files, one for printing and one for AD and DHCP/DNS.

The office has about 70 networked pc's and about 30 of them use a vpn type connection to remote into another system and that same 30 use salesforce as well. Another group of about 5 usually handle heavy attachments (6-9 meg range pdf or tif's).

I am thinking of getting something like the barebone deal on tigerdirect's front page today- MSI 785GTM-E45 Mobo, AMD Phenom X4 9850 CPU, CPU Fan, Patriot 4GB DDR2 RAM (2x 2GB), Seagate 1TB HDD, 24x DVDRW, Radeon HD 4350, PowerUp Case, 500W PSU (I would post a link but I have yet to reach my 5 post count yet) and adding in an additional nic card. Would I need a 10/100/1000 NIC (or 2 of them)? Our ASA is 100MBPS and the untangle box would be placed between it and the switches.

Do you foresee any issues with the above plan? I like the software and the reporting is great. I just want to make sure I don't waste money on something that won't meet our needs. Since this is a test project I really don't have a budget for hardware. Thanks for any suggestions or thoughts.

It sounds like you are talking about this deal
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...Id_31_B69-0328

That should have more than enough of everything to handle the office. The motherboard does have a Realtek NIC which is software based and basically junk for Untangle. Intel NICs are recommended but with this much horsepower you can compensate for the softNIC. Intel NICs are more efficient and probably more stable so I would recommend adding either 2 Intel NICs or 1 dual-port Intel NIC.

The only other potential problem that I can think of is the *remote* possibility of some obscure incompatibility with Linux. However, that should be highly unlikely but might be worth a few minutes to research before you purchase. Happy Untangling!

It was probably me that said you were underpowered. My only complaint with your existing box is the single core processor. For any serious work, you really want at least real dual core system (and not just a single core + hyperthreading). Depending on what kind of motherboard you have, you might just be able to drop an older (but still on sale) core 2 duo right into the board.

Here's an option for $70 that with a bit of luck might just drop into your existing system:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...087&CatId=2851

Thanks guys for the help. I am learning that NIC cards are an important factor for untangle. What I think I am going to do is purchase the above mentioned components, piece it together and add two NICs (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ore-_-33180026) in the two PCI slots and use those instead of the built in NIC.

Thanks for being so helpful here.

I did a search on the MOBO and Debian and found this: http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=51291

It lets me know that Debian can be installed and used with the chipset on this MOBO, but the guy was having display driver issues. It seems that the recommendations given should have resolved the issue, but I am not so much concerned with the display looking correct as long as I can remote into the machine and it looks correct there.

Thanks again for the heads up.

Question along these lines. Untangle Lite box suddenly went slow. Internet access became spotty and the VPN becam unusable. all the settings were the same. I suspect hardware. I will check the NIC for Intel. If I get a kit with dual / quad core, is there a setup or driver issue? I plan to move the HD from old box to new one. Is this Naive to hope it will work in the new box?

@DocCountry - I would advise you start a new thread! However to answer your question, before removing the drive from the old box I would do a backup of the config to your system, then move the hard drive, IF there are any issues with all of the changes of the new hardware (and I suspect you will see this), the easiest way I have found is to pave the system with the current UT version and then do a restore. This can be accomplished in less than 1hr time (last time I had to do it about a month ago I was able to do it in 45min, with a full HDD failure).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by j.razz1

I am learning that NIC cards are an important factor for untangle. What I think I am going to do is purchase the above mentioned components, piece it together and add two NICs (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ore-_-33180026) in the two PCI slots and use those instead of the built in NIC.

---

I just looked at the link that you posted for replacement NICs. I have not confirmed this but the probability is about 99.5% that these are also software NICs - for $8 each. Replacing software NICs with software NICs does not get you anywhere. You need hardware NICs which are much better and also more expensive. As proactivens or sky-knight said "go Intel or go home". That pretty well covers it but it makes the selection process much simpler.

You need something like this instead
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833106121

your untangle firewall is a server. use server hardware. that tiger direct deal is for desktop hardware to play games on. a cheap gaming box doesn't really fit in with a cisco asa 5505 and procurve switches, does it?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813182242
(or for $25 more you can get the -F version it with the IPMI remote access controller - full keyboard/video/mouse via ip - VERY useful)
1.8ghz, dual core + hyperthreading on each core; good intel nics on-board.

and it's also networking equipment, so stick it in a rack

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811152131

just add a HD and a couple of 2GB DDR3 SO-DIMMs and you're done. yes, you'll have to hook up a DVD drive to one of the sata ports to do the initial install, or do the whole install via iKVM if you pony up the extra $25... worth every penny.

all in with proper hardware that won't embarass you and you're still right at $400 - same as if you put 2 $30 intel nics in that gaming box.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by johnsonx42

all in with proper hardware that won't embarass you and you're still right at $400 - same as if you put 2 $30 intel nics in that gaming box.

---

I don't think I would use that atom for an office of 50. We are running premium and with ~70 users, lunch time can spike our cpu queue intermittently up to 3 with a 6 core Opteron. Slow downs here cause people to wah wah alot.


If I was just starting out and had no clue, I would buy a used/refurb 1U server, or a desktop with some Intel NIC's try it out for a few months then buy a dedicated setup after you know what your load is. Then you can price out a good quality setup or build one that will last for a few years.