Current User of Pfsense looking to migrate

t4thfavor
New Member

Posts: 1

Current User of Pfsense looking to migrate Mar 3, 2017 16:19:46 GMT jrronimo likes this

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Post by t4thfavor on Mar 3, 2017 16:19:46 GMT

I used M0n0wall years ago on Soekris platforms, I've since fell out of networking as a career. Currently I'm only supporting a few homes, and two business networks.

My home installs are test beds for my few businesses, so they are relatively complex (multiple vlans, wireless with guest access, and separate interfaces for users and services). Basically I'm not happy with the way things are moving in the Pfsense world (it's getting slow on low powered and affordable hardware), and was looking to return to M0n0 until I saw the notice... OPNSense seems like less of an option than staying with Pfsense.

I noticed the forums are not very active, so that's either a testament to how well the software works, or an indicator that it's not being adopted. I'd like to stick around a bit, and hopefully contribute something back as I believe platforms like these need all the help they can get to survive.

I'm going to do my first install of SmallWall on Tuesday, I'll let you all know how it goes

-Chance

Lee Sharp
Administrator

Posts: 522

Current User of Pfsense looking to migrate Mar 3, 2017 17:58:53 GMT

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Post by Lee Sharp on Mar 3, 2017 17:58:53 GMT

Stability is a problem when no one asks questions.

But I can tell you that the image is being regularly downloaded, so I believe it is being used well.

But you did remind me that I have a lot of submitted patches to go through and roll out. That darned job keeps taking all my time.

jrronimo
Full Member

Posts: 37

Current User of Pfsense looking to migrate Mar 28, 2017 22:18:55 GMT Lee Sharp likes this

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Post by jrronimo on Mar 28, 2017 22:18:55 GMT

Welcome, t4thfavor!

I've been running the b11 release for quite some time on my network at home, and I haven't had any stability related problems that weren't the hardware's fault. I think Smallwall is really great. I was running it on a Pentium 4 up until a couple of months ago when I started noticing hardware lockups; now I run it on a Core 2 Duo. Both, using SmallWall, handle my home's gigabit fiber line with ease.

I was a refugee from OPNSense, actually -- OPNSense updated to something that caused my P4 box to be unsupported. Nowadays, I don't see a need to go back, really... I don't do VLANs and I handle my wifi through Ubiquiti's UniFi software, so my SmallWall instance is really just a DHCP/Firewall/NAT box, but it runs pretty great. I hope you enjoy it!

okibcn
New Member

Posts: 4

Current User of Pfsense looking to migrate Apr 2, 2017 0:10:21 GMT

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Post by okibcn on Apr 2, 2017 0:10:21 GMT

I have been using m0n0wall for some months as a VM inside a Windows 10 host. The only problem is the lack of support for virtualized network cards and I was working with the Legacy cards. THey are limited to only 100Mbps. Now I need to upgrade to something faster. DD-WRT and OpenWRT is not an option, it can't support fast site2site VPN and it is too complicated. It reminds me to those CISCO routers. fpSense and OPNSense are too heavy for being working in a virtualized enviromnent in my Windows 10 "server". smallwall seems to be my savior since it has the Hyper-V drivers for FreeBSD integrated. However I am still unable to use the virtual network cards.

smallwall has its place in the universe. It is the only lightweight router out there currently supported. It works, it is fast, IPv6 works perfectly and has many many hours behind it.

I was really impressed on how easy it is to build a site2site IPSEC tunnel!!!!! I miss some kind of AES hardware acceleration support. It seems that it is still using only software for handling all that, at least it says so in my Xeon server.

Regards

Lee Sharp
Administrator

Posts: 522

Current User of Pfsense looking to migrate Apr 3, 2017 20:43:56 GMT

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Post by Lee Sharp on Apr 3, 2017 20:43:56 GMT

Okibcn,
You might try t1n1wall. It is essentially SmallWall and we share a lot of code, but Andy is more cutting edge then I am. Stability is my focus. But the key is that he is on a later version of FreeBSD and has some Hyper-V synthetic card support. However, for stability, I still like the emulated Intel Gigabit cards.

Current User of Pfsense looking to migrate

Post by t4thfavor on Mar 3, 2017 16:19:46 GMT

Post by Lee Sharp on Mar 3, 2017 17:58:53 GMT

Post by jrronimo on Mar 28, 2017 22:18:55 GMT

Post by okibcn on Apr 2, 2017 0:10:21 GMT

Post by Lee Sharp on Apr 3, 2017 20:43:56 GMT

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