Any small-business smart switch, like the Netgear GS110EMX we reviewed, will do. You do not need an enterprise-class switch to do this, however. A special thanks goes to community member fohdeesha for putting all of the information we needed in one place. In order to accommodate this need, we worked with the STH community and got a managed 24-port Brocade ICX6450 up and running. Since managed switches allow us to tag VLANs on an interface, this is a requirement. We need a managed switch to accomplish the goal. We are limited to 1-gigabit of overall throughput, though, and we will not be able to build a LAG for redundancy. More importantly, it allows us to bring multiple networks (WAN/LAN) to our pfSense router over a single cable. VLANs allow us to have multiple, isolated, networks inside of a single switch. Since pfSense natively supports VLANs, we can use the HP EliteDesk 705 G3 in conjunction with a managed switch to accomplish our goal. That does not mean we cannot use this platform for pfSense, however. Still, we only have 1 NIC port which his challenging. However, the bge driver-based Broadcom NICs are well-enough supported at this point to proceed. Historically speaking, Intel drivers on FreeBSD (which pfSense is based on) has had better driver support. One of the first considerations to keep in mind is that the HP EliteDesk 705 G3 I will be using only has a 1-gigabit ethernet port. You may require an active support contract with a robust SLA for your firewall, but it is certainly worth exploring for some. For under $200, can I build a router that comes close to an $800 one? Of course, this may not be the solution for everyone. This build will be based on the low-cost HP EliteDesk 705 G3 Mini. When Patrick first announced Project TinyMiniMicro, one of the first things that came to my mind was pfSense. The purchase was made as a future investment, with gigabit internet in mind. Doing all that, I never hit over 50% CPU utilization. It allows me to saturate my 400/30 connection with traffic shaping, full IPS/IDS, DNS filtering, and even more services. In an extremely small footprint, these devices can perform many tasks that once required 1U servers to accomplish. One of my favorite tech purchases ever was a Netgate SG-5100 firewall. The Project TinyMiniMicro form factor represents an excellent opportunity for home-labbers and power-conscious small businesses alike to do something special.
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