More like lack of resources in general... ARM platforms then were comparatively weak computationally. That's no longer the case... but we're not quite where we can all just go buy generic ARM based routing platforms.
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I’m wondering with the m1 chip and the new snapdragon versions if we will begin to see some higher end chips capable. Nvidia is putting out a data center chips. I could see some lower wattage appliances being more suitable in the near future.
Anyone aware of any protectli type devices with 10G interfaces on them?
OPNSense has some based on the Netboard EPYC system, but can't find anything out there.
Cheap is relative, $1k for the opnsense box is cheap if you ask me.
Agreed, I remember paying $800 for a UTM for home and then a $300 yearly subscription 10 years back. Unfortunately that DEC840 is coming up as $1200 US in their store as I write this, if it was below 1k I might be able to consider it. I think you can duplicate the performance with a Supermicro M11SDV-4CT-LN4F. Same processor and 4 1GB ethernet ports (i350) and x16 slot to add 10GB ports in later when you need it, for about $400 - $500 less. IPMI also. Definitely not fanless and won't look as slick though as the opensense box though, but how often are we really looking at our firewall at home anyway?
I purchased Intel X550-T2 and installed it in Dell Optiplex 7040 SFF PC Intel Core i5-6500 CPU 16GB RAM NVMe 256GB SSD
Untangle is recognizing it as 10GbE link with my Netgear switch. Modem is auto-negotiating to 2.5GbE and I'm getting 1.4 Gbit/s from Xfinity on the speedtest.
I decided to go this route, with a M11SDV-4CT-LN4F. For anyone interested in a similar build, as of this writing, works well. CPU meter never increments with most features on under full load although I only have a 200 circuit. In a short depth rackmount case with Noctua fans, silent. If booting/running off the nvme slot, you do need to have the BIOS set for UEFI (or the drive either doesn't show up or disappears in the middle of the install), luckily Untangle does support this (it didn't the previous time I installed it). If you don't want to do UEFI, use a SATA drive and one of the SATA ports. The x16 PCI slot should enable above 1GB when the time comes, so hopefully this is a long term solution (greater than 5 years). Great having IPMI once it's setup; I used the 1.5U case and power supply I had planned to use for a different home project, I would estimate total cost was $700-$800 at the time I write this. A little more than some of the small (protectli, etc) boxes I was considering, but this is arguably better hardware with a slot for expansion (I'll need to add a riser card to use the slot in the 1.5U case).
This is very similar to my build, except i went with a Supermicro MBD-A1SRI-2758F-O with the Atom C2758 8 core cpu. Ordered 16 gigs of DDR3 Ecc SoDimm memory for it. Ram was 10$ more for 16gigs over 8 gigs so.. I'm currently running Opnsense but REALLY REALLY thinking about dropping the 150$ for Untangle Home Pro Again.