Low end, cool CPE.

Fri Nov 12 09:24:47 UTC 2010

On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 05:41:00PM -0800, Leo Bicknell wrote:
> 
> I've run into a number of low end CPE situations lately where I
> haven't found anything that does what I want, but I have to believe
> it is out there.  I'm hoping NANOG can help.

An ALIX with pfSense 2.0 (BETA4 at the moment) would fit most
of the above. IPv6 support is coming (is mostly there in the
kernel, but interface only alpha).

If you want to run the snort package I'd however pick a
Supermicro Atom system with 2 onboard NICs and add a dual-port
Intel NIC, and run pfSense from a small SSD or an USB stick.
Albeit a rackmount, the system would be quiet enough for SOHO.

There are multiple recommended hardware vendors
http://www.pfsense.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=44&Itemid=50
and also commercial support
http://www.pfsense.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=62&Itemid=73

> Basically think about a sophisticated home user, or a 1-5 person
> small office.  Think DSL, Cable Modem, maybe Cell Card or ISDN as
> backups.  Looking for an "appliance", very much fire and forget. I
> probably won't get all the features that I want, but in no particular
> order:
> 
> - Able to load balance over 2 links (probably via NAT).

Check.

> - IPv6 support, native or tunnel to tunnelbroker.net type thing.

Requires hacking at the moment, but is coming fast.

> - Able to deal with "backup" connectivity, eg. Cell Cards which you
>   only want to use if the primary is down.
> - User friendly features, e.g. UPNP, NAT-PMP, etc.
> - Good manageability.  ssh to a cli would be a huge bonus, at least
>   the ability to backup a config.

Very well supported. http(s) and ssh both.

> - Able to handle decent througput, probably 20Mbps/sec min, 50 would
>   be nice.

ALIX does about 70 MBit/s, an dual-core Atom can probably handle 500 MBit/s.

> _ Nice firewall features.
> - IDS features are cool.
> 
> WiFi is not strictly required, but would be cool. Things like "guest"
> WiFi would be an added bonus.
> 
> Something a NANOGer might want at home would be a good baseline.
> I realize the exact product may differ depending on DSL/Cable/Cell/ISDN,
> that's ok, let's get some various good solutions going here.
> 
> What is the state of the art, and who has it?

I run pfSense both at home (6/100 MBit/s DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem)
and in the colo (GBit Ethernet, failover cluster). Very happy.

> 
> -- 
>        Leo Bicknell - bicknell at ufp.org - CCIE 3440
>         PGP keys at http://www.ufp.org/~bicknell/

-- 
Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org
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