Cheap Pfsense conversion

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May 1, 2020
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I run a HP 6300 Pro for my opnSense box. Uses about 25w with an extra dual port and single port NICs added in. I have a 4 post rack, I just have a shelf for the PC to sit on and am in the process of making a custom blanking plate to go around the front to keep airflow proper in the rack. Either just gonna get a piece of Plexiglas or something similar. I'm also in the process of figuring out how to hook the rack up to an outside air duct that I have. I want the heat to go out it in the summer but reverse it and bring in the cool air in the winter while dumping the heat to the house. Fun projects.
Nice at the moment, I just am using cardboard cut to size to blank out places to focus the airflow. I think with this addition, I might rearrange my rack to redirect air through the new box. Once I get my hands on it, I'll better be able to think about how I might do that, I might actually go as far figuring out a 3D print rackmount adapter for it to make sure the hot air gets exhausted properly.

I also would love to find an easy way to mount some fans along the front of a section of my rack to force more air into the case.
 
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Jason Antes

Active Member
Feb 28, 2020
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Twin Cities
Get some Plexiglas the width of the door, sufficient height for the fan quantity and size, make some fan cutouts, paint and connect to the rack door. If you are sound proofing the rack too, then you could potentially hide it with some screen of a color that matches your soundproofing on the door.
 

mTek

New Member
Nov 18, 2018
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Let's not forget about the Watchguard XTM5's... I run two of these in my DC with HA. I've upgraded the CPU to core2quad Q8200's and 4Gb ram. I also added SSD's to boot from and run the system in the embedded way as to put the logs in ram so I don't wear out the cheap ssd's. I'm currently low bandwidth but do latency-sensitive applications at about 40k packets per second at 20% cpu.

watch guard xtm5 | eBay
 
May 1, 2020
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I just got my t730 but I'm having a weird issue. The power button seems to detect ghosts; translation: The touch-sensitive button will detect touches on different parts of the case and sometimes from adjusting wires or USB devices.

Is this a common issue and do you guys know of a way to fix it? I can't really have my pfsense box turn itself off because the spirits get a little excited.
 
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Falloutboy

Member
Oct 23, 2011
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I just got my t730 but I'm having a weird issue. The power button seems to detect ghosts; translation: The touch-sensitive button will detect touches on different parts of the case and sometimes from adjusting wires or USB devices.

Is this a common issue and do you guys know of a way to fix it? I can't really have my pfsense box turn itself off because the spirits get a little excited.
That sounds like a short, the power buttons on PC systems now aren't just a simply click on off, they are a momentary make switch. If you have a short somewhere then you could potentially be emulating the momentary make action through the actions you are describing.