Julianweber
@comcast.net
| reply to luma
Re: pfsense recommended NIC
Yes it will work but I believe they made the embedded version specifically so that it would not make frequent writes to the card and cause early failure. I have heard reports of around a year before failure using non embedded versions on compact flash. Do a Google search and see for your yourself, but it is not generally recommended. |
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luma
Premium
join:2004-08-17
Ottawa, ON
 ·surpasshosting
 ·Rogers Hi-Speed
| reply to sporkme
I am going to use the full version of pfsense and use a CF card that is large enough to support it.
I am not going to use the "embedded" version.
I could be wrong but it should work  only one way to find out.
Luma |
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sporkme
drop the crantini and move it, sister
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-01
Morristown, NJ | reply to luma
Don't quote me on this, but you might want to look at using the hard drive as I *think* that some of the add-on packages and long-term stats are not available on the flash version of pfsense. |
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luma
Premium
join:2004-08-17
Ottawa, ON
·surpasshosting
·Rogers Hi-Speed
| reply to luma
Here is what I am planning:
3x Intel pro 1000 desktop adapters (will arrive thursday) 33 bucks each.
Athlon 2200+
1 gig of ram
20 gig HDD (won't be using it)
for the OS I am going to use a IDE to CF adapter with a 2 gig Compact Flash card.
OS: Pfsense
Wan1: 8megabit cable
Wan2: 8megabit cable
Lan1: gigabit to gigabit switch.
the computer is a old desktop I have in the closet not being used so yes it is overpowered for a router but it works, it is stable and it only uses about 200 watts of power MAX so won't hurt the electrical bill.
I think this setup will be great for my use.
Luma |
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ddrmanxbxfr
join:2007-05-10
Quebec
 ·Bell Sympatico
1 edit | reply to luma
I've used 3x Dlink DFE 530TX here working nice and an 24 ports 10/100 switch on them.
First card : Internet Modem adsl
2nd Card : to my wifi AP
3rd Card : To my switch
getting around 9 mbps on local transfer using the switch sometimes 11 mbps depending on the pc used.
The server was an Pentium 2 350 Mhz with 512 Meg of ram and 6 gig of scsi hard drive 15K Rpm |
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luma
Premium
join:2004-08-17
Ottawa, ON
·surpasshosting
·Rogers Hi-Speed
| reply to DaSneaky1D
thanks everyone,
I pretty much made my decision to go with the pro/1000 from intel at 33dollars.
I won't bother going with 100 because it is almost the same price.
DaSneaky1D I have a netgear router with 4x gigabit ports and a SMC switch with jumboframe (not using the jumboframe) that has 5x gigabit switches. all my computers have gigabit except for one or 2 which are on a 10/100 dlink switch.
Luma |
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DaSneaky1D
one wall to block them all
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-29
The Lou | reply to luma
Curious, what sort of switch are you using? |
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index1489
Premium
join:2004-03-12
Chino, CA
clubs:   | reply to sporkme
go for the intel cards the cheaper nic put a strain on your cpu reducing throughput. |
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sporkme
drop the crantini and move it, sister
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-01
Morristown, NJ
·Optimum Online
| reply to luma
said by luma  :I think I am going to go for the intel a lot of folks seem to really like them. The fxps are, and as long as I've been using FBSD (2.1.6), have been rock-solid. Agreed that that rls are 'teh suck'. The other cheapies are good for an application like this, but under real load the hardware is really lacking.
There's some very interesting reading in many of the manpages for the cheap-o chipsets. |
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BosstonesOwn
join:2002-12-15
Everett, MA
clubs:
·Comcast
| reply to luma
I used old rev netgear fa311's I have a total of 2 lan adapters that one incoming is my comcast cable the other is out to my switch.
With 4 wireless cards each connected to my neighbors (1 t-1 2 cable , 1 sprint evdo card) and even with powerboost and a download accelerator I never hit the full 100 mbit speeds of the nic's.
Id go 100 mbit to keep down costs.
--
"It's always funny until someone gets hurt......and then it's absolutely friggin' hysterical!" |
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Aidens Daddy
join:2006-01-30
Tampa, FL | reply to luma
I use Intel, 3com 905's and I think I have an Netgear FA311 in there. |
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deblin
Dark Side of the Moon
Premium,MVM
join:2001-09-01
Middletown, DE
| reply to luma
Oh, I'd also recommend against rl cards, if you don't go with em or dc.
According to the rl man page, that means avoiding these cards:
quote:
o Accton ``Cheetah'' EN1207D (MPX 5030/5038; RealTek 8139 clone)
o Allied Telesyn AT2550
o Allied Telesyn AT2500TX
o Belkin F5D5000
o BUFFALO (Melco INC.) LPC-CB-CLX (CardBus)
o Compaq HNE-300
o CompUSA no-name 10/100 PCI Ethernet NIC
o Corega FEther CB-TXD
o Corega FEtherII CB-TXD
o D-Link DFE-528TX
o D-Link DFE-530TX+
o D-Link DFE-538TX
o D-Link DFE-690TXD
o Edimax EP-4103DL CardBus
o Encore ENL832-TX 10/100 M PCI
o Farallon NetLINE 10/100 PCI
o Genius GF100TXR
o GigaFast Ethernet EE100-AXP
o KTX-9130TX 10/100 Fast Ethernet
o LevelOne FPC-0106TX
o Longshine LCS-8038TX-R
o NDC Communications NE100TX-E
o Netronix Inc. EA-1210 NetEther 10/100
o Nortel Networks 10/100BaseTX
o OvisLink LEF-8129TX
o OvisLink LEF-8139TX
o Peppercon AG ROL-F
o Planex FNW-3800-TX
o SMC EZ Card 10/100 PCI 1211-TX
o SOHO (PRAGMATIC) UE-1211C
--
Hello...is there anybody in there? |
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dot_null
Premium
join:2004-06-28
Kennesaw, GA
 ·Callcentric
·Comcast
·VoiceStick
·AT&T Southeast
| reply to luma
I have a couple of cheapie 100Mbps cards in my pfSense box. I believe one is a Netgear NIC and another is a Motorola with an intel chipset (?).
Can't remember for sure because I deployed it around 2 years ago and haven't opened the case in probably a year. 
Here are what my system logs ID the NICs as:
ADMtek AN985 10/100BaseTX
NatSemi DP8381[56] 10/100BaseTX |
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luma
Premium
join:2004-08-17
Ottawa, ON | reply to Cabal
Thanks Cabal,
Appreciate the info!
I think I am going to go for the intel a lot of folks seem to really like them.
Luma |
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Cabal
Premium
join:2007-01-21
Boston, MA
| reply to luma
I recommend the $33 Intel 1000GT (em) cards, I've bought a bunch recently and their performance and support is great. The driver is also regularly updated and the maintainer is an Intel employee and a mailing list regular.
I've been happy with the 3com 905-series (xl) cards in the past, but had some problems with watchdog timeouts under recent 6.x release of FreeBSD with otherwise good hardware (no connection problems, just daily log spam).
--
Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru? |
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luma
Premium
join:2004-08-17
Ottawa, ON
·surpasshosting
·Rogers Hi-Speed
| reply to sporkme
Sporkme thanks for the reply.
as I said in my main post I did take a look at the Freebsd hardware page but because it support sooo many cards I wanted to know what people are running.
thanks for letting me know that you run the dc/xl and sis without problem. will look into those.
Luma |
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sporkme
drop the crantini and move it, sister
Premium,MVM
join:2000-07-01
Morristown, NJ
·Optimum Online
| reply to luma
FreeBSD 6.x (which pfsense is based on) supports pretty much all of the $15 Staples ethernet cards. My box has a dc(4), xl(4) and an sis(4). Other than the 3com, those are all just $10-$15 cheapies.
Hardware list is here:
»www.freebsd.org/releases/6.2R/ha···ETHERNET |
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luma
Premium
join:2004-08-17
Ottawa, ON | reply to deblin
I can live with 33 dollars compared to the lovely DFE570 (which would be nice to have though!)
I will talk to my computer guy in town and see if I can get a deal (need 3 after all)
Luma |
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deblin
Dark Side of the Moon
Premium,MVM
join:2001-09-01
Middletown, DE
| reply to luma
Hrm the prices are more expensive than I remember paying, so perhaps these cards are better than what I have. But here's what I'd recommend from newegg:
»www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a···33106123
--
Hello...is there anybody in there? |
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luma
Premium
join:2004-08-17
Ottawa, ON
·surpasshosting
·Rogers Hi-Speed
| reply to deblin
ya I am going to use the desktop adapters as well
my server (if you remember the chat we had about performance with freebsd 7 and mysql) has 3 intel pro/1000 server adapters. they are super nice but I rather not pay the price just for a cheap router.
Luma |
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