I was looking on the Pfsense/FreeBSD hardware compatibility list and didn’t find any mellanox adapters or Intel 40GB+ adapters. I was wondering if any one has successfully used these type of adapters in a Pfsense setting or is there a hcl that I’m missing?
Pfsense network card compatibility
- Thread starter macrules34
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For routing at 40gbis, you'd probably be better off with TNSR (free for home use) or VyOS
As for PFsense hardware support, they do mention IXL driver support intel 40gig, as well as mlx* drivers support from connectx-2 to X-6
www.freebsd.org
As for PFsense hardware support, they do mention IXL driver support intel 40gig, as well as mlx* drivers support from connectx-2 to X-6
FreeBSD 12.3-RELEASE Hardware Notes
FreeBSD is an operating system used to power modern servers, desktops, and embedded platforms.
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I think it is worth keeping in mind, that TNSR is more intended to function as a high performance router than a firewall, and as such I don't think you should necessarily use that instead of pfsense/opnsense/vyos/etc.
It all really depends on your application.
Generally speaking, I suggest you scale the performance of your firewall to the bandwidth of your internet connection, if you need/want a high performance router (such as a L3 switch) to move traffic on your internal network, I suggest using a device that is separate from your firewall.
It all really depends on your application.
Generally speaking, I suggest you scale the performance of your firewall to the bandwidth of your internet connection, if you need/want a high performance router (such as a L3 switch) to move traffic on your internal network, I suggest using a device that is separate from your firewall.
Ultimately I have a cable connection for internet and a home lab with 1gb for management of equipment, 10gb network for iscsi and management and a 40GB+ network for vmotion with ESXi.
I would like to have both routing and a firewall, they can be separate VMs or physical machines.
I would like to have both routing and a firewall, they can be separate VMs or physical machines.
I assume you are considering building a device, because you do not have a 40G capable switch and building a router is cheaper than buying a new 40g capable switch?
If not, then you probably want to use a switch, if you only do 40G within the same subnet, it should not even matter if it is a L3 switch or not (at least I assume, I am not a vmware expert) as in that case the traffic doesn't need to be routed.
If not, then you probably want to use a switch, if you only do 40G within the same subnet, it should not even matter if it is a L3 switch or not (at least I assume, I am not a vmware expert) as in that case the traffic doesn't need to be routed.