I would add that for "data center" workloads the apu's may not be the best 
choice ... Those 8 core atoms are plenty for multi 1gig feeds and the nic's are 
solid.


Sent from my iPhone

> On Feb 5, 2015, at 12:38 PM, Jeremy Bennett <[email protected]> 
> wrote:
> 
> Jason is correct. Those Supermicro boxes are awesome. Be careful when 
> ordering though... they want ECC memory. 
> 
> The APUs from Netgate are nice too–the year of bundled support has already 
> saved my bacon a number of times. Well worth the cost.
> 
>> On Thu, Feb 5, 2015 at 9:19 AM, Jason Whitt <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Ive ran as vm's using vmxnet3's as well as physical on these 
>> http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=16-101-837
>> 
>> Both are viable options.
>> 
>> Jason
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>>> On Feb 5, 2015, at 11:11 AM, Walter Parker <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I've used pfSense in a VM on my ESXi application server. This is mostly to 
>>> firewall the Windows VMs from the Internet. 
>>> 
>>> If you want fail-over, I'd suggest getting one of the new Netgate 
>>> (http://store.netgate.com/NetgateAPU2.aspx or 
>>> http://store.netgate.com/1U-Rack-Mount-Systems-C84.aspx) or pfSense 
>>> (https://www.pfsense.org/hardware/#pfsense-store) embedded systems with an 
>>> SSD. Then you can run a full install that supports package installs with a 
>>> power budget of ~10-15 Watts for the APU units. Then you have a choice of 
>>> getting a second HW unit for an additional $400 to $1000, or setting up 
>>> pfSense in a VM (not on a separate VMware server, on an existing VM server).
>>> 
>>> The higher end HW systems on those pages are 8 core Atom systems built for 
>>> run pfSense (of course, the power requirements will be in the 100W range). 
>>> With an SSD, these systems should last for a long time with no issues.
>>> 
>>> How much firewall horsepower do you need? What are your constrains (time, 
>>> money, space)?
>>> 
>>> P.S. You can run packages on embedded in 2.2, you just want to be careful 
>>> not to run packages that would trash the SD card with too many writes. 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Walter
>>> 
>>>> On Thu, Feb 5, 2015 at 9:40 AM, Chuck Mariotti <[email protected]> 
>>>> wrote:
>>>> Have been using pfSense for years at our datacenter, very happy with it 
>>>> running on old dedicate hardware with failover. The hardware is overdue to 
>>>> be retired and I’m wondering what people are doing/recommending for a 
>>>> datacenter setup. We want to use OpenVPN Server, IDS, dBandwidth, etc… so 
>>>> need to keep out option open for the ability to run packages... behind it 
>>>> we are running multiple servers and vCenter/ESXI servers.
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>> What’s the go-to setup for a datacenter these days?
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>> Do we stick with two dedicated boxes?
>>>> Since we pay for power, nice to have lower power… So do we go as low as 
>>>> using embedded hardware? It used to not be recommended for packages… still 
>>>> the case I assume?
>>>> 
>>>> So I’m leaning towards some of the newer SuperMicro Atom boxes (quad core, 
>>>> or 8 core!!??! etc…).
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>> But then I see so many people running pfSense in VMWare and I wonder if we 
>>>> should consider this. Then I think about the hardware needs and VMWare 
>>>> Licensing (would like to avoid)… and what else can I run on the hardware 
>>>> along side without hurting pfSense from running properly, etc…
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>> If pfSense is setup to failover, that means the hardware can be cheap…. No 
>>>> RAID needed.
>>>> 
>>>> If dedicated, do I go with Hard Drives/SSD drives? USB? We need packages… 
>>>> can I run it off of USB stick then or do I still need HDD/SSD?
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>> If setting up new hardware so can run pfSense as Virtual Machines… I would 
>>>> need two VM Hosts running pfSense as VM’s so would have the failover... 
>>>> What should we consider for the hardware in this case… should I go with 
>>>> RAID w/HDD/SSD on ESXI? If pfSense is setup for failover, do I really need 
>>>> RAID? But I assume I would need something reliable if I’m going to run 
>>>> other non-pfsense VMs on the same hardware… so I would need RAID w/HDD/SSD 
>>>> and it would need to be larger… what are other people running in 
>>>> datacenter setups along side the pfSense? I don’t want to put it onto our 
>>>> existing vCenter infrastructure, licensing/costs and isolation needed. Do 
>>>> I setup one hardware as basic, no RAID running ESXI and pfSense, and the 
>>>> other more robust setup (RAID, more memory).
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>> I’m really interested in what people are using in production 
>>>> environments/datacenters.
>>>> 
>>>>  
>>>> 
>>>> Regards,
>>>> 
>>>> Chuck
>>>> 
>>>>                                                                            
>>>>    
>>>> 
>>>> 
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>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of 
>>> zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.   -- Justice Louis D. Brandeis
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>> 
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