[SOLVED] I am looking for an old computer to put build a firewall on, help with the right choice.

Solitario

Solitario

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 23, 2015
Posts
403
Location
Argentina.
Hi all, I am looking for help in finding a second hand pc that I can use to build a firewall from Pfsense or Sophos XG Firewall. I'm on a low budget but I'm hoping you can help me find what I need. Well, I am attaching the link to the store where I usually shop. Thank you very much in advance. Best regards.

Pc Usada | MercadoLibre 📦
 
Corday said:
Unless you have specific needs, any old unit can do what you asked for in Post #1.
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This is not so, I already made a mistake once buying a pc with a 32 bits processor and no modern firewall was working and I don't want to make a mistake again, that's why I ask here.
 
Yes but it has to be a 64 bit processor and also for the sophos firewall I don't know how much ram it needs. That's why I was attaching the link to the store, too bad those boxes are not available in my country. Thank you very much.
 
From Sophos:

What you need​

  • Intel compatible computer with dual network interfaces. (Any previous OS or files on the computer will be overwritten when installing the XG Firewall Home Edition)
  • Home Edition is limited to 4 cores and 6 GB of RAM. The computer can have more than this, but XG Firewall Home Edition will not be able to utilize it.
 
Solitario said:
Computadora Hp Core2duo+8gb Ram Ddr2+windows 10 - $ 10.000

This pc should fit all modern firewall distributions, right? Thank you very much.
Click to expand...
That's not a good choice for pfsense for a few reasons...

Modern PFSense requires a CPU with AES-NI extensions: pfSense hardware 2021 (3 router recommendations). You can check if a Intel CPU has AES-NI on Intel's ARK listing. Core2Duo CPUs are much too old.

The other reason is power. If you want to use this as your actual router, it's is going to be running 24/7, and a Core2Duo machine is going to draw a lot of power whilst running, even at idle.

Ideally you want to be looking for something with a fairly modern Atom/Pentium CPU that can utilise low-power idle states. Not sure what it's like in your country at the moment but here energy prices are crazy and paying more for a lower-power CPU will payback itself quickly.

PFSense doesn't require much CPU or RAM for a basic install, it really depends on your bandwidth and what you plan on doing with it (IDS such as Snort/suricata will use a lot more CPU, as will VPN tunnels)

Solitario said:
but it only has 2 cores so it won't work.
Click to expand...
Sophos Home is limited to a max number of CPU cores - less cores will work.

But the same guidelines for PFSense apply to basically any other router distro such as Sophos XG, OPNSense, Untangle, IPFire etc...
 
Tekno Venus said:
That's not a good choice for pfsense for a few reasons...

Modern PFSense requires a CPU with AES-NI extensions: pfSense hardware 2021 (3 router recommendations). You can check if a Intel CPU has AES-NI on Intel's ARK listing. Core2Duo CPUs are much too old.

The other reason is power. If you want to use this as your actual router, it's is going to be running 24/7, and a Core2Duo machine is going to draw a lot of power whilst running, even at idle.

Ideally you want to be looking for something with a fairly modern Atom/Pentium CPU that can utilise low-power idle states. Not sure what it's like in your country at the moment but here energy prices are crazy and paying more for a lower-power CPU will payback itself quickly.

PFSense doesn't require much CPU or RAM for a basic install, it really depends on your bandwidth and what you plan on doing with it (IDS such as Snort/suricata will use a lot more CPU, as will VPN tunnels)


Sophos Home is limited to a max number of CPU cores - less cores will work.

But the same guidelines for PFSense apply to basically any other router distro such as Sophos XG, OPNSense, Untangle, IPFire etc...
Click to expand...
PC, hasta $ 12.000 | MercadoLibre.com.ar

Thank you very much for the input, then what would be your choice? Attached link. Thank you again.
 

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