HP G800 Mini G3 (1 Ethernet) can it do PFSense?

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cesmith9999

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Mar 26, 2013
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no, in Amazon use this as your search "m.2 gigabit ethernet"

and you will see cards that can go in the Wifi A-E socket.

Chris
 
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diskdiddler

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Mar 3, 2017
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I think I'm stuck actually, real issue, bummer!?
(from Patrick video)

You can see the wifi slot is not M2? It uses this
"01AX702"
"G86C0007J510"



Therefore, I could get a 2.5" SATA SSD and dedicate the M.2 slot for Ethernet.
Except....


All the m.2 ethernet adapters which would go in the slot, have 'stuff' poking up which would make it impossible to put the 2.5" drive in?
Unless I can get a gigabit ethernet card which will go in that wifi slot?
 

diskdiddler

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Mar 3, 2017
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Ok I have learnt a lot in the last hour, the "wifi slot" is usable, it's an E-Key, apologies, Gigabit does exist for it.


3 options, RTL8111, nice and cheap, common. Rumour has it, terrible in PFSense?
&

Intel i210 solution, nearly 3x the price, around $55 US at best, looks like only "LR-Link" make it (almost looks fake like a copy of TPLink tho?)

Finally another solution also uses the Intel i210 but breaks it out into an SFP port. (extremely expensive)
 
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diskdiddler

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I have received an RTL card from Amazon, A+E key. Sadly the ethernet 'block' sans the metal bracket is still not quite fitting in.
So we have it hanging out the back. With soldering or bending of pins, I could make it fit but I'm ok with this.

The adapter is working and I need to continue significant testing before making it my router officially, opnsense appears to be reliable, albeit powerful and complicated. Also of note, USB adapters worked fine, for a short duration but obviously I'd prefer the internet remain up for months at a time. May consider scheduling a monthly reboot. (If I could turn the idiot beeps off)
 

asilverio

New Member
Sep 10, 2021
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I have received an RTL card from Amazon, A+E key. Sadly the ethernet 'block' sans the metal bracket is still not quite fitting in.
So we have it hanging out the back. With soldering or bending of pins, I could make it fit but I'm ok with this.

The adapter is working and I need to continue significant testing before making it my router officially, opnsense appears to be reliable, albeit powerful and complicated. Also of note, USB adapters worked fine, for a short duration but obviously I'd prefer the internet remain up for months at a time. May consider scheduling a monthly reboot. (If I could turn the idiot beeps off)
Would love to hear how it's working for you. I am right behind you, I had ordered the same part from amazon and came across your post.
 

asilverio

New Member
Sep 10, 2021
2
1
3
I have received an RTL card from Amazon, A+E key. Sadly the ethernet 'block' sans the metal bracket is still not quite fitting in.
So we have it hanging out the back. With soldering or bending of pins, I could make it fit but I'm ok with this.

The adapter is working and I need to continue significant testing before making it my router officially, opnsense appears to be reliable, albeit powerful and complicated. Also of note, USB adapters worked fine, for a short duration but obviously I'd prefer the internet remain up for months at a time. May consider scheduling a monthly reboot. (If I could turn the idiot beeps off)
You could add a ssd card to eliminate the larger drive u have now that needs a caddy on the side m2 port. I found this drive that is supposed to work on these HP EliteDesk Mini's pretty cheap. Samsung MZHPU128HCGM-00004 - 128GB M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe Gen2x4 Solid State SSD
1631325514843.png
 
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diskdiddler

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Would love to hear how it's working for you. I am right behind you, I had ordered the same part from amazon and came across your post.

I'm particularly unskilled at all this, however it does seem to be working.
It's not even my 'production' machine, it's behind my real, normal DSL router (So I'm running 2 networks, for testing)

The Chromecast, PS5, Switch are ethernet plugged into a 4 Port, Wireless AP / Router / Switch (in AP mode)
It's a GL.Inet 750 wireless router
Several of my devices in the house, are connected to the 750 wireless AP to get internet, instead of, the normal DSL modem.
Laptops, phones, iPads etc


My intention is to see if it falls over and crashes, or if the network connectivity drops out at any point, thus far it's been fine but I really want to run it several weeks first, this needs to pass the wife test, so I can't suffer much downtime or fiddling!
(She's still using the normal DSL modem AP and network)
 
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diskdiddler

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Mar 3, 2017
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You could add a ssd card to eliminate the larger drive u have now that needs a caddy on the side m2 port. I found this drive that is supposed to work on these HP EliteDesk Mini's pretty cheap. Samsung MZHPU128HCGM-00004 - 128GB M.2 2280 PCIe NVMe Gen2x4 Solid State SSD
View attachment 19755

Oh I learnt my lesson the hard way with this one.
I purchased a dead cheap, 32GB M.2 SSD - but it's SATA and the M.2 port is ONLY NVMe, so they don't work.
Anyhow I have a solution planned on this one.
 

zer0sum

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Mar 8, 2013
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An easier way to get it working is to run whatever hypervisor you're in love with - Proxmox / ESXi / Etc and then run a virtual firewall.
Then you can run as many USB network adapters as you need.

OPNsense is a much better choice than PFsense btw :p
 
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diskdiddler

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An easier way to get it working is to run whatever hypervisor you're in love with - Proxmox / ESXi / Etc and then run a virtual firewall.
Then you can run as many USB network adapters as you need.

OPNsense is a much better choice than PFsense btw :p
Oh I know the drama with Opn and PF, sadly I use the word for the more common one, but I won't ever go near PFSense. I trust the opinion of nerds and they seem pretty sick of them.

I'm happy with this little box for the time being, once it's proven itself, I'll be happy to switch to it but I do need to see some consistent reliability. It's up against a modem which may need a reboot every 6 months.