{"id":921,"date":"2014-08-13T01:56:23","date_gmt":"2014-08-13T01:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/poojanwagh.opalstacked.com\/techblog\/?p=921"},"modified":"2014-08-13T02:42:35","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T02:42:35","slug":"i-get-my-wish-a-pfsense-router","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tech.poojanblog.com\/blog\/unix-linux\/i-get-my-wish-a-pfsense-router\/","title":{"rendered":"I get my wish (a pfSense router)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remember back when I was considering a pfSense build<\/a>? Well, it turns out it was a lot easier than I though.<\/p>\n

I realized I could buy (for about $7) an Intel dual-PCI Ethernet card (HP NC7170), and the $6 riser card would allow me to fit it into my case. (I had to do a little bit of metal cutting with a Dremel, since there are no PCI slots in the back of the computer.)<\/p>\n

So, that allowed me to get full gigabit speeds off the pfSense. In addition, I’m now* using Intel cards to do so, so that should be better in terms of offloading the CPU.<\/p>\n

Here is a picture of this build:<\/p>\n

\"pfSense<\/a>

pfSense build with Intel NIC wedged in<\/p><\/div>\n

Note that the Intel NIC is sort of resting on the ac\/dc adapter (which I also stuffed into the case, since I had removed the PSU that came with the case). I later reinforced it (sort of) with zip-ties.<\/p>\n

This is something I meant to post earlier, but forgot for a long time. I finally have a free night (where I’m not working), so I thought I’d catch up.<\/p>\n

* And since I built this, I’ve changed my setup. I noticed that the PCI card was drawing about 10 watts\u2014meaning, when it was plugged in, I’d see 35 Watts total, and when I removed it, it was 25 watts total. (This is steady-state power, after the router booted up.) So, I went to vlan tagging with a openWRT router, and am using the single gigabit Ethernet that is built-in to the motherboard. At first, I worried about using a Realtek NIC, but I haven’t had a single problem with them. The point with the Intel cards was to offload the CPU, but the higher power doesn’t seem worth it. Finally, I notice that the Alix boards all have Realtek NIC’s.<\/p>\n