Jetway MI05K for Pfsense

[buildit10]

Instead of using a Topton device has anyone consider using something like this MI05-00K.
Intel® Celeron J6412
6 x Intel I225-V PCIe 2.5GbE
Can get one from MITXPC for $299.95

I plan to 3d print my own case and have memory, drive, and power supply already on hand. Looking to make a dedicated firewall routing device.

 

[cesmith9999]

I prefer this method.

while the Topton (like) devices are nice and compact. I prefer to have my components in larger cases with good airflow.

However, I already have a $300 Dell/Wyse 5070 router... no need for anything faster atm

Chris

 

[RTM]

That is so cool, and unlike that topton/aliexpress stuff, Jetway is actually a known company.
From Taiwan too and not China/PRC (probably manufactured there though), if you care about that (in my opinion, this makes it more appropriate to use in the west).

They have even made the HBFBZ10 series, which is small passive appliance devices, with the same SoC and 4x 2.5Gbe interfaces.

HBFBZ10 Series

0.5L Fanless System, J6412, Elkhart Lake, 1 DDR4, 1 HDMI, 1 M2M, 1 M2E, 1 M2B, 2 USB, 1 COM, 4 2.5GbE, 12V

www.jetwayipc.com

In europe, minipc.de appears to be selling the above mentioned board (there's also a 1U version of it) and the HBFBZ10 appliance.

 

[newabc]

That is so cool, and unlike that topton/aliexpress stuff, Jetway is actually a known company.
From Taiwan too and not China/PRC (probably manufactured there though), if you care about that (in my opinion, this makes it more appropriate to use in the west).

They have even made the HBFBZ10 series, which is small passive appliance devices, with the same SoC and 4x 2.5Gbe interfaces.

HBFBZ10 Series

0.5L Fanless System, J6412, Elkhart Lake, 1 DDR4, 1 HDMI, 1 M2M, 1 M2E, 1 M2B, 2 USB, 1 COM, 4 2.5GbE, 12V

www.jetwayipc.com

In europe, minipc.de appears to be selling the above mentioned board (there's also a 1U version of it) and the HBFBZ10 appliance.

$300 barebone on MitxPC website. Even $100-120 more than the Aliexpress sellers, but this difference is much more smaller than those between other Jetway/MitxPC products and Aliexpress ones with same specs.

Jetway HBFBZ10 Elkhart Lake J6412 Quad Core Fanless PC, 4x 2.5GbE LAN

The HBFBZ10 features four 2.5GbE LAN ports in a fanless mini PC. It is ideal for networking IoT system. With a M.2 2242 for storage, M.2 3042/3052 slot with SIM slot for LTE connectivity, or M.2 2230 slot for WIFI.

mitxpc.com

 

[Patrick]

Instead of using a Topton device has anyone consider using something like this MI05-00K.
Intel® Celeron J6412
6 x Intel I225-V PCIe 2.5GbE
Can get one from MITXPC for $299.95

I plan to 3d print my own case and have memory, drive, and power supply already on hand. Looking to make a dedicated firewall routing device.

We have one of these as well. It comes with full and low profile I/O shields.

 

[n00b]

@buildit10 How goes your build? Can your system handle 1gig symmetrical over Wireguard or OpenVPN ? I'm looking to replace my Edgerouter and obtained fiber internet recently. thanks

 

[buildit10]

So far so good. It is up and running Pfsense and works really well. I did have to add a spare fan to keep it cool, without a fan it would run around 65 degrees, with the fan it runs at 42. It is just for my home, so I do not have a huge load on it, but I have fiber internet and I get 948 down and 940 up.

 

[oneplane]

I'm pretty bummed those aren't as cheap around here. over €370 with a 3 week shipping time. There used to be a place in the UK that would stock them (and have a decent enough inventory flow to keep them a bit cheaper), but since they are out of the EU they have to be imported with all the extra tax and waiting as a result.

A viable alternative used to be Commell (also from TW) but those aren't as a available as they used to be
They do have some cool Alder Lake boards: Press Release

They even have tiny 12th gen boards like this, ideal in combination with a managed switch for for networks that don't need more than 1Gbps:

Besides the main mini-itx/mini-pc/mini-box outlets, are there any stores that still stock Jetway parts internationally?

 

[gsmithsa]

They have even made the HBFBZ10 series, which is small passive appliance devices, with the same SoC and 4x 2.5Gbe interfaces

How does the J6412 with i225 in this compare with the N5105 with i226 that appears to be currently recommended on STH ?

I'll just be using it for OPNsense, WG at 1gig, and connecting it to a Unifi switch and WAP (so hoping to run a Unifi controller on there too)...

 

[RTM]

How does the J6412 with i225 in this compare with the N5105 with i226 that appears to be currently recommended on STH ?

I'll just be using it for OPNsense, WG at 1gig, and connecting it to a Unifi switch and WAP (so hoping to run a Unifi controller on there too)...

While I ended up buying a HBFBZ10, I can't really give a good comparison, as I don't own a N5105 device.
@Patrick mentioned having purchased the Jetway board, so perhaps there is a review (that could serve as a comparison) coming out in the future?

 

[Patrick]

While I ended up buying a HBFBZ10, I can't really give a good comparison, as I don't own a N5105 device.
@Patrick mentioned having purchased the Jetway board, so perhaps there is a review (that could serve as a comparison) coming out in the future?

Yes. We are super backed up due to the SPR launch getting moved up to Jan 10.

On the J6412 AliExpress units, we ordered the J6412 and J6413. We got 2x J6413 like 6+ weeks after. That video is with Alex and the article is with Bryan #2 hopefully for December.

My general sense is that i226 w/ N5105 is my favorite right now.

 

[gsmithsa]

While I ended up buying a HBFBZ10

What services are you running on yours, and how is it handling everything ?

At this point I think I'm tossing up between an HBFBZ10 and a Protectli (either the FW4C or the VP2410)... the quality variability on the Aliexpress units seems too risky for me...

 

[RTM]

What services are you running on yours, and how is it handling everything ?

At this point I think I'm tossing up between an HBFBZ10 and a Protectli (either the FW4C or the VP2410)... the quality variability on the Aliexpress units seems too risky for me...

To be honest, I have not really used mine, it's mostly just been a paper weight.
I am still a bit stuck on the "which OS to install on it"

I did make a few observations:

1. It came with a FSP brick
   1. However it is also very light and the cable from it is a bit flimsy
      1. Still a FSP though
2. You can't install a m.2 2280 SSD in it, which limits your options to lower end disks (I would have preferred a better disk, but ended with one that I could receive quickly (lol) and cheaply).

Obviously I hope to install it soon, as it should help me save some money on the electricity bill, but I can't make any promises.

 

[gsmithsa]

You can't install a m.2 2280 SSD in it, which limits your options to lower end disks

As a newbie, what would you suggest is a decent SSD I could stick in this unit ?

The model available locally to me has the 32GB eMMC - would it be reasonable to install opnsense on that, and then use the SSD for whatever extra storage other packages need ?

 

[RTM]

As a newbie, what would you suggest is a decent SSD I could stick in this unit ?

The model available locally to me has the 32GB eMMC - would it be reasonable to install opnsense on that, and then use the SSD for whatever extra storage other packages need ?

At the end of the day, it all comes down to what you intend to do with the device.
If you use a webproxy like squid on your device, it will likely use the disk as a cache (to help serve content quicker).
If you just run the device more or less statelessly, you could probably make do with whatever (or even just the eMMC).

In any case the more highend drive I considered purchasing, was a Samsung pm991 in m.2 2242 format (an NVME drive), what I ended up getting was just the cheapest m.2242 SATA disk (which should be fine, because I don't intend to generate a lot of disk I/O, it should be fine).

If it was available when I purchased, I would probably have chosen a device with eMMC, as you could probably always find something to use it for.

If you intend to use Opnsense, you should probably look at the following page, it gives a pretty good overview of what you need disk wise:

Install OPNsense - High-End Security Made Easy™

A few simple steps to install OPNsense on your system. Get the Next Open Source Firewall. 1-Download, 2-Install, 3-Configure.

opnsense.org