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Author Topic: Router and firewall options please  (Read 2394 times)

aty

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Router and firewall options please
« on: February 04, 2021, 08:10:41 PM »

Hi,

I have started to replace my BT UK FTTC VDSL FTTC all in one system with separate parts.


So far I have a TP Link Poe switch 8 with/ 8 without.
Wireless is done by 4 Ruckus R500's running Unleashed firmware.

This has been running fine so far.

So now I've started to replace the other end.

I have now purchases a Huawei HG612 3B, so the modem is sorted.

So now I need to get a router and firewall.

I'd like to be able it to handle 2 VPN's and ad blocking.

I'd like it to be able to handle a Gigabit eventually in 18 months time.

Budget is tight, but I'm open to options.

Sometimes it's worth paying more.

Thanks
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Alex Atkin UK

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Re: Router and firewall options please
« Reply #1 on: February 05, 2021, 03:27:18 AM »

Personally I'd go pfSense (well I DID) on a low power (but high performance) x86 PC for all that, Gigabit can be tricky on consumer hardware and VPNs just further worsen the overhead for that.

I'm really curious how my current unit will handle Gigabit.
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Switches: Netgear MS510TXUP, Netgear MS510TXPP, Netgear GS110EMX My Broadband History & Ping Monitors

skyeci

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Re: Router and firewall options please
« Reply #2 on: February 05, 2021, 04:36:49 AM »

Qotom units are good. Got a couple of those running opnsense.

Alex Atkin UK

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Re: Router and firewall options please
« Reply #3 on: February 05, 2021, 09:32:18 AM »

Qotom units are good. Got a couple of those running opnsense.

Mine was one of those Kettop units off Amazon but it seems it IS a Qotom manufactured unit (my model seems to no longer exist but seems to be this one https://teklager.se/en/products/routers/tlsense-i5-7200U but it was WAY cheaper than that), took ages to arrive but I deliberately chose the highest specced one I could find that wasn't an arm and a leg.

Unfortunately the availability and prices seem to have gone mental, I can't find a Gigabit capable unit that isn't about twice what I paid (£333.30 in December 2018).  Also if that website is anything to go by, I seem to have hit exactly the right CPU to get Gigabit over a VPN (still not expecting it tbh).

The important thing is to keep note of the CPU and make sure it has AES acceleration as otherwise the VPNs have much more overhead and could impact routing speed in general.  Also at the time pfSense were making AES mandatory although this has been delayed indefinitely, its still worth having CPU support for its benefits with VPNs.
« Last Edit: February 05, 2021, 09:55:49 AM by Alex Atkin UK »
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DaveC

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Re: Router and firewall options please
« Reply #4 on: February 05, 2021, 10:49:39 AM »

If budget is tight, and you don't mind putting in the work to learn how to configure and get the most out of it, Mikrotik offer some very powerful devices very cheaply - e.g. the RB750GR3 for around £50, and claims around 450Mbps IPSEC (VPN) throughput.

With any router, you will need to check carefully that it's compatible with whatever VPNs you want to connect to - there are many different protocols, and many different variants of each protocol.

I don't know if it does ad-blocking, but for that I just use u-block in my browser. 
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meritez

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Re: Router and firewall options please
« Reply #5 on: February 05, 2021, 01:42:34 PM »

I'm using a RB750GR3 as the router/firewall and a rasperry pi running pihole for ad blocking.
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Chunkers

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Re: Router and firewall options please
« Reply #6 on: February 05, 2021, 04:32:12 PM »

I am also a pfSense on x86 fan, I also wanted low power so I opted for a APU2 device but I am pretty sure that it would not handle gigabit speeds, mine reportedly maxes out at around 600Mbit/s WAN, probably less in my case as it is load balancing / dual WAN.

So I would guess going for a x86 based cheap Gb capable system is probably not going to be very power efficient

The nice thing about pfSense is that it is free to install for home use and you can try very easily on x86 hardware (or virtually), you could buy a server-pull second hand gigabit quad NIC PCIE card on ebay for £20 and give it a go, might not be very power efficient but could easily handle Gb speeds with the right CPU.

Of course the same could also be said of OPNSense (which I also like) and OpenWRT (personally I am less keen on this one).

Good Luck
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Alex Atkin UK

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Re: Router and firewall options please
« Reply #7 on: February 05, 2021, 08:23:15 PM »

The nice thing about pfSense is that it is free to install for home use and you can try very easily on x86 hardware (or virtually), you could buy a server-pull second hand gigabit quad NIC PCIE card on ebay for £20 and give it a go, might not be very power efficient but could easily handle Gb speeds with the right CPU.

Unfortunately not as it seems I got really lucky and hit on exactly the minimum spec for that, even there its WAY more power efficient on OpenWRT (Linux kernel has better power management than FreeBSD) but I far prefer the flexibility of pfSense.

So you either pay in the up-front cost, or long term in your electricity bill.  Although if you live in a cold climate, you're not really wasting electricity as such as the waste power comes out as heat.  A little fact they never mention when they talk about "don't leave things on standby/turned on as it wastes electricity".
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Ronski

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Re: Router and firewall options please
« Reply #8 on: February 05, 2021, 10:03:02 PM »

My server and networking equipment is in my cloakroom, in the colder months I always shut the door at night, and then it's nice and warm when I put my boots and coat on in the morning. There are also some zone valves for the heating in there, so not all the heat comes from the electrical equipment though.
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Formerly restrained by ECI and ali,  now surfing along at 390/36  ;D

Weaver

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Re: Router and firewall options please
« Reply #9 on: February 05, 2021, 10:44:21 PM »

> A little fact they never mention when they talk about "don't leave things on standby/turned on as it wastes electricity".

Indeed so, often overlooked.
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Jon21

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Re: Router and firewall options please
« Reply #10 on: February 06, 2021, 01:27:50 PM »

Untangle maybe? I personally prefer the UI to pfsense (which I find a bit too in depth for myself). Although it does have a subscription and I think they've changed the number of devices you can have on the cheapest home option now. I only tried it out for a couple of weeks as for some reason, it makes the Qotom unit I have, produce some really annoying coil whine. Hearing 'eeeeeeeeeee' all the time does start to grind. I can also get pfsense to do it, if I leave the power settings on HiAdaptive. But that's just down to the particular unit I have. I'm half tempted to try a Unifi Dream Machine but that has a fan in it, which might be annoying as well, depending on how loud it is.
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skyeci

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Re: Router and firewall options please
« Reply #11 on: February 06, 2021, 01:45:52 PM »

My i5 qotom is fanless..

Jon21

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Re: Router and firewall options please
« Reply #12 on: February 06, 2021, 01:54:16 PM »

My i5 qotom is fanless..
Ah yeah, so is mine. I think all the Qotom's (and the various different named ones) are?
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Alex Atkin UK

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Re: Router and firewall options please
« Reply #13 on: February 06, 2021, 04:10:15 PM »

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Broadband: Zen Full Fibre 900 + Three 5G Routers: pfSense (Intel N100) + Huawei CPE Pro 2 H122-373 WiFi: Zyxel NWA210AX
Switches: Netgear MS510TXUP, Netgear MS510TXPP, Netgear GS110EMX My Broadband History & Ping Monitors

aty

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Re: Router and firewall options please
« Reply #14 on: February 10, 2021, 12:02:13 PM »

HI,

How does the RB750GR3 compare to something like a ubiquiti er-x ?
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