Spare computer - third FreeNAS box, or pfSense, or...?

[SilverJS]

So I've got my two FreeNAS boxes churning along just fine. I also have recently remembered that I have a complete spare computer that was stowed away in the box from the move. It's a bit older, but still pretty capable :

MSI 785GM-P45 (with two of the six SATA ports damaged from some previous "tinkering"....=))
Phenom X3 720 BE
Seasonic SS300-ET Power Supply
8 GB Non-ECC Kingston RAM
Scythe Big Shuriken cooler
Samsung 64GB SSD
WD Blue 500GB HD
All in a Silverstone ML03B slim HTPC case.

(This was in my bedroom - before I got married! lol)

I was thinking of two ways to use this :

1. Set up a third FreeNAS box, to replicate what I would call critical data (kid pictures, etc.). I've already set up my main pool into several datasets that would allow me to replicate only those specific ones. For that, however, I'd need to buy at least a second hard drive, and also a case - as it is, I've had to raise the SMART critical temperature to 50 so I wouldn't get alerts all the time, as it seems to sit at 46 steady in the ML03B. Was thinking the Cooler Master N200 or something like that;

2. Running pfSense. But, do individuals, in normal home setups, that aren't network engineers or something by day, actually benefit from something like that...?

3. Any other suggestions!

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

 

[DifferentStrokes]

I'd say pfsense.

 

[BigDave]

2. Running pfSense. But, do individuals, in normal home setups, that aren't network engineers or something by day, actually benefit from something like that...?

pfSense as a default install has been a good addition to my home network. It has a ton of much more advanced features
that I will probably never concern myself with, but has worked as a secure firewall/router without issue for me.
Wireless seems to be the most difficult thing to set up with pfSense, but again, it was not hard for me to learn enough
to get that aspect working.

FYI, I'm not an IT or other computer related professional ;)

 

[Tywin]

Wireless seems to be the most difficult thing to set up with pfSense, but again, it was not hard for me to learn enough
to get that aspect working.

I've been eyeing pfSense for a while, but am reticent to buy dedicated hardware for it at this point. I intend to farm out the wireless to dedicated access points, leaving pfSense to manage the authentication via RADIUS. It will almost certainly end up as a virtual machine, possibly alongside FreeNAS *ducks*.

 

[SilverJS]

pfSense as a default install has been a good addition to my home network. It has a ton of much more advanced features
that I will probably never concern myself with, but has worked as a secure firewall/router without issue for me.
Wireless seems to be the most difficult thing to set up with pfSense, but again, it was not hard for me to learn enough
to get that aspect working.

FYI, I'm not an IT or other computer related professional ;)

Thank you for this. :). So if the computer I use has a WiFi card, it can also function as a wireless router?

And for those that vote pfSense : what's the average home user to gain over the normal consumer stuff?

 

[Tywin]

Thank you for this. :). So if the computer I use has a WiFi card, it can also function as a wireless router?

This is one area where a bunch of terms have been mashed up by consumer devices. Typical consumer WiFi "routers" are actually three devices in one: a router/gateway (doing NAT (network address translation), DHCP, subnet routing, etc.), a firewall (port blocking, QoS, etc.), and a wireless access point (WiFi, WPA2, etc.). You'll want a router/gateway regardless of whether you have WiFi or not. In principle, if pfSense supports the WiFi card, you should be able to setup pfSense to be a wireless access point as well.

And for those that vote pfSense : what's the average home user to gain over the normal consumer stuff?

Honestly, the fun of it :) It can also be useful if you have a very fast internet connection, as most consumer devices will choke well before gigabit speeds. This is not a problem for me, since Canada is a third-world country when it comes to telecommunications =/

 

[SilverJS]

This is one area where a bunch of terms have been mashed up by consumer devices. Typical consumer WiFi "routers" are actually three devices in one: a router/gateway (doing NAT (network address translation), DHCP, subnet routing, etc.), a firewall (port blocking, QoS, etc.), and a wireless access point (WiFi, WPA2, etc.). You'll want a router/gateway regardless of whether you have WiFi or not. In principle, if pfSense supports the WiFi card, you should be able to setup pfSense to be a wireless access point as well.

Actually, I DID know that - pardon my maladroit terminology. Regardless, a good distinction to bring up. Where in Canada, if I may? I'm there myself.

 

[Tywin]

It's not always obvious, but I'm somewhat of a pedant ;) Toronto.

 

[HoneyBadger]

This is not a problem for me, since Canada is a third-world country when it comes to telecommunications =/

That's because you have to send every TCP packet in both official languages. ;)

 

[BigDave]

So if the computer I use has a WiFi card, it can also function as a wireless router?

Yes, if the card is supported and wireless card support is really the difficulty with pfSense. I have my verizon gigabit router
plugged into my switch (on a static IP) providing TV set top box connections and wireless access to the network and the internet.

And for those that vote pfSense : what's the average home user to gain over the normal consumer stuff?

Consumer wireless units are made up of poorly configured/manufactured/designed hardware and the firmware
is in most (but not all) cases just junk! So I'd say that building your own with pfSense is by far going to be more
hardware reliable and the "firmware" is far better.
To give you an idea about what I mean, since setting up my pfSense box, the only time it's rebooted is when
it has version updates, of which there has been three so far. I don't even think about it anymore, it just works!

 

[Ericloewe]

Wi-Fi on FreeBSD really is a lost cause. A nice Asus RT-N66U (or one of the AC models) makes for an excellent access point and is nearly plug and play.

 

[hansmuff]

pfsense is pretty damn fantastic. Like many/most, I am far from a network engineer, but over the years I've looked into the advanced topics one by one. Today I have it filtering traffic with snort, giving me my own VPN home and defending my network from a huge number of spam and threats. It's a lot of tinkering, but I've found it to be well worth it.

 

[Jailer]

pfsense is pretty damn fantastic. Like many/most, I am far from a network engineer, but over the years I've looked into the advanced topics one by one. Today I have it filtering traffic with snort, giving me my own VPN home and defending my network from a huge number of spam and threats. It's a lot of tinkering, but I've found it to be well worth it.

Exactly. Just install it run a package such as Snort or pfblockerng (or both) and take a look at how much garbage gets blocked.