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Post by knightmb on Aug 7, 2015 12:17:51 GMT
Hi Everyone,
While I will miss the retirement of m0n0wall as a very long time user and contributor, progress moves forward and I am glad someone has taken the torch. I have plenty of m0n0wall machines to look at upgrading, but I am not sure if I missed it on the front page or here.
What are the minimum requirements for hardware to run SmallWall now? I saw some bits and pieces like memory 256MB (at least or recommenced?) 32MB of hard drive space? Thanks everyone!
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Post by Lee Sharp on Aug 7, 2015 20:33:08 GMT
Depends on your performance needs. You can use VIA C7 or Geode CPUs for up to 45 meg of bandwidth with ease. (Old thin terminals with a dual port nic added work very well) If you want gigabit bandwidth, you will need hardware that will push it. Most current Atom motherboards will do this.
As for memory, there is one guy running it on 128meg! I am not sure how long that will work, however... And some things take up memory, like large arp tables. But a gig is plenty for most people. I know one person using more than a gig, but they have 5 networks, and several hundred users. My home router is 256 meg...
For nics, I like Intel. They are the only ones that fully support all vlan options, and full jumbo frames. They also do more in hardware, and cause less CPU load. Others will work, but they can cause "surprises" in some cases.
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Post by knightmb on Aug 9, 2015 20:51:20 GMT
Performance targets aside, mainly what is the minimum needed. So, if I wanted to setup one for personal use, can it run with 500 MHz processor, 128MB of RAM, and 32MB of HDD space to hold the OS or is there more to get started? Does it need more, less, etc?
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Post by mikael on Aug 10, 2015 9:30:12 GMT
Hi,
I'm one of those crazy ones running SmallWall with only 128MB RAM.
It's an old Alix board.
I don't really understand Lee's comment about not knowing for how long 128MB is going to be enough. The SmallWall project started off as a continuation of m0n0wall, so I could only presume SmallWall will still work very nicely on systems with only 128MB RAM.
The latest SmallWall (today v1.8.3) shows memory usage 33% on this hw. CPU usage is 0%.
This is right after boot up with no users.
I really hope SmallWall will continue to work on smaller hw with only 128MB RAM. With more RAM I have more options today (opnsense, pfsense) but with small amount of RAM only SmallWall work. Please keep this in mind.
If 128MB RAM is holding development back, then please consider having a "mini" download option with less features for us with only 128MB RAM.
Thanks!
Mikael
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Post by Lee Sharp on Aug 10, 2015 20:20:21 GMT
Well I can answer what I meant about how long it will be enough.  First, the image is only about 15 gig, and that is in ram. To make the image larger, we need more ram... That is not a real problem right now, but... FreeBSD 10 is larger. And not everything is even ported correctly yet. I am still keeping it small, but at some point that may get hard. All log space is in the ram disk. One some heavily used systems, that has already been a problem as the "drive" fills up. Of course going from 15gig to 20gig would make a world of difference here, and should still fit in 128 meg. In short, I want to keep 128 meg on the table. Now, the the question of minimums... A 500mhz CPU will run SmallWall. But it will not push bits too fast. Depending on the nics, you may only get about 30meg. As for HD, it is designed to run on 16meg sticks, including those 16meg using odd units that are really one 15.5 meg. So anything with 15meg on it. Memory, you might even get 64meg to work, but I would not count on it. |
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Post by knightmb on Aug 14, 2015 4:49:40 GMT
Well I can answer what I meant about how long it will be enough. First, the image is only about 15 gig, and that is in ram. To make the image larger, we need more ram... That is not a real problem right now, but... FreeBSD 10 is larger. And not everything is even ported correctly yet. I am still keeping it small, but at some point that may get hard. All log space is in the ram disk. One some heavily used systems, that has already been a problem as the "drive" fills up. Of course going from 15gig to 20gig would make a world of difference here, and should still fit in 128 meg. In short, I want to keep 128 meg on the table. Now, the the question of minimums... A 500mhz CPU will run SmallWall. But it will not push bits too fast. Depending on the nics, you may only get about 30meg. As for HD, it is designed to run on 16meg sticks, including those 16meg using odd units that are really one 15.5 meg. So anything with 15meg on it. Memory, you might even get 64meg to work, but I would not count on it. So, SmallWall can run on a system that has a 16MB hard drive (I know, where do you find those?) I have a lot of systems in the field that run m0n0wall with a lot of RAM but only 16MB of HDD because that is all that was needed to boot everything into memory. Can SmallWall also be installed on a system that has plenty of CPU/RAM but lacking in HDD? |
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Post by Lee Sharp on Aug 14, 2015 7:58:12 GMT
Yes. It will run just fine on a 16meg CF Flash. (If you can find one) But when we go to 10, it might take a 32meg flash. Not sure yet...
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Post by knightmb on Oct 9, 2015 9:16:29 GMT
Yes. It will run just fine on a 16meg CF Flash. (If you can find one) But when we go to 10, it might take a 32meg flash. Not sure yet... Thanks for clarifying, I was looking for an upgrade path from m0n0wall to SmallWall using existing systems that were still using the 16MB flash drives to boot. Not that I couldn't find some bigger drives if needed, but being able to go from m0n0wall to SmallWall without having to crack open the case and change out hardware is mighty convenient. |
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Post by Lee Sharp on Oct 9, 2015 19:50:05 GMT
Yes. It will run just fine on a 16meg CF Flash. (If you can find one) But when we go to 10, it might take a 32meg flash. Not sure yet... Thanks for clarifying, I was looking for an upgrade path from m0n0wall to SmallWall using existing systems that were still using the 16MB flash drives to boot. Not that I couldn't find some bigger drives if needed, but being able to go from m0n0wall to SmallWall without having to crack open the case and change out hardware is mighty convenient. I totally agree! I have a few older systems out there myself! |
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Post by knightmb on Jan 24, 2020 19:33:52 GMT
Thanks for clarifying, I was looking for an upgrade path from m0n0wall to SmallWall using existing systems that were still using the 16MB flash drives to boot. Not that I couldn't find some bigger drives if needed, but being able to go from m0n0wall to SmallWall without having to crack open the case and change out hardware is mighty convenient. I totally agree! I have a few older systems out there myself! Nice, I can start looking at the upgrade paths for these other systems, thanks for all the help! |
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