DarkFoon wrote:
I am curious if it is possible to "merge"-for want of a better word-pfSense with a FreeBSD install. Why? Well, I have a client who wants to integrate everything into 1 box if possible. I told him its not possible, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't check to see if I am wrong.
You could of course snag the pf rules out of a pfsense box and put in a *bsd box if absolutely required.
The "god box" is always a bad idea. Generally does everything poorly (think of what a fantastic pair of scissors are included in a swiss army knife). I have very very large clients that think the same of optical long haul gear, routers, and switches and how they all belong in one box. Invariably, they get burned by lousy functionality and cost overruns. (yes, think US DoD...)
boxen sufficient for a pfsense firewall are $100 or so from many sources (I paid $109 on ebay for the first one, then $100 for a rack mount job that fit in my cabinet better). Same size/capacity box should do for an SMB server (sans Big Fantastic Disks of course).
if that's too much $$, then the client likely can't afford you ;-) But, isn't that what they pay you for in the first place?
Good luck, andy
