older dell dimension w/ a 1GHz P3 processor and 1GB pc133 sdram
compactflash card w/ IDE adapter for storage

3 separate 2 port intel pro/1000 PCI nics for a total of 6 gigabit ports

d-link high power 802.11g atheros-based wireless card

all running w/ pfSense

shit's gonna be sweet... i hate to say it, but i've found something i like more than my WRT54GS v2 and DD-WRT

1/3/2008 10:25:46 AM

Quote :

"i hate to say it, but i've found something i like more than my WRT54GS v2 and DD-WRT "

1/3/2008 10:39:14 AM

so whatcha gonna do with that wrt54gs now that you have this? ill be glad to take it off your hands

1/3/2008 10:45:35 AM

yeah but the power savings with a router versus an old computer make it not worth it for me

1/3/2008 10:46:36 AM

I really don't see the point of this for a home setup

1/3/2008 10:49:02 AM

Quote :

"yeah but the power savings with a router versus an old computer make it not worth it for me"

1/3/2008 10:53:40 AM

Quote :

"I really don't see the point of this for a home setup"

you're right, it's overkill

but why not?

the captive portal stuff is nice so i don't have to give encryption keys to everyone that ever uses my wifi... VPN is nice for when i need to get to stuff on my systems when away from home (much easier/more secure than port forwarding)... plus with the amount of traffic my connection sees, i was having to reboot my wrt54gs like twice a week just to keep it running quickly

also pfsense is much more easily modifiable and can have bajillions of packages added on

the power difference is significant, yes... but come on... 300 watt power supply, probably only using 120-130 of that at any given time...

0.13kWh * ~9.86 cents/kWh = 1.28 cents/hour * 24 hours = 30.76 cents/day * 30 days = around $9.23/month to keep a computer on 24/7.

if you can't swing $10/month, you shouldn't have broadband internet to start with.

1/3/2008 11:05:02 AM

im in grad school so $10 is 1.5 meals

dont forget to add the efficiency of that old power supply into your calculation

if it is using 120 W that is probably closer to 200 W draw from the outlet

and do you have anymore pc133 ram?

[Edited on January 3, 2008 at 11:15 AM. Reason : 

1/3/2008 11:14:43 AM

yeah but a WRT54GS uses maybe like 5 watts. i hear what you're saying about it being a fun project just for the heck of it, but that's just wasteful man.

1/3/2008 11:15:28 AM

i love PfSense. You know that you can install it on CF Flash WRAP boards right?

1/3/2008 11:22:31 AM

i understand it, it's an enthusiast/hobbyist type project... nothing wrong with that. you do it for the fun of it. i think it's sweet, nice job evan

1/3/2008 11:25:38 AM

^^yeah, but i already had this box laying around, plus i can have gigabit nics in it this way... and it's faster and has more ram. the WRAP boards are nice if you're worried about power consumption and/or space, though.

1/3/2008 11:38:24 AM

if you ever figure it out, tell me how to get snort installed on it to setup an IDS. I tried for like 8 hours and got nothing. also, what kind of vpn? pptp or ipsec?

1/3/2008 11:47:49 AM

i thought installing snort was as easy as just clicking on the install module and entering your information to download subscription/rules?

1/11/2008 2:28:50 AM

I couldn't find it in the package list anywhere, I also couldn't find a link to source or a bin.

1/11/2008 11:14:48 AM

yeah its in the package list

i have it installed on my box

Quote :

" snort Security 2.7.0.1_3 Snort is a libpcap-based packet sniffer/logger which can be used as a lightweight network intrusion detection system. It features rules based logging and can perform content searching/matching in addition to being used to detect a variety of other attacks and probes, such as buffer overflows, stealth port scans, CGI attacks, SMB probes, and much more."

and vpn is PPTP authenticated via RADIUS... didnt have time to mess with ipsec

1/11/2008 1:47:57 PM

I remember we had to design a snort filter in my ASIC class (ECE521?)

1/11/2008 1:51:57 PM

i have more pc100/133 than i know what to do with

1/11/2008 4:52:05 PM

here's my home network (sans the unsecured router):


i'm only showing this b/c i had to draw it up for another forum to explain home networking security/privacy (how to have a secure home network yet have an unprotected access under an external IP making it impossible to track who was doing what under an external IP (making sure router logs were turned off)

comment/suggestions welcome.

[Edited on January 11, 2008 at 5:41 PM. Reason : .]

1/11/2008 5:38:33 PM

hey quagmire

can i get some of that pc133

i need some more

1/11/2008 6:16:16 PM

For real hook me up with a 512mb stick if you have any spares...my OpenFiler is running at 98% memory utilization with its paltry 256mb...

1/11/2008 7:15:22 PM