Making PA-820 quieter?

Robert T. · 7 Jul 2024 at 08:30

Hi,

I have an opportunity to grab one of company's Palo Alto PA-820 firewalls for free.
It would be shame to dispose of perfectly operational hardware just because topology has changed and we have no use for it anymore.

But - had one at home when I was learning PAN-OS and found it to be quite loud, and because my home lab setup in in living room - that is a big problem.
Is there a way to make it quieter, considering that I will be running 1 comp on 24/7, up to 3 user comps during daytime and home lab will be started ocasionally?

ChrisD. · 7 Jul 2024 at 08:35

Usually in 1U appliances Noctua fans or reducers work pretty well, at the risk of increased heat internally.

Robert T. · 8 Jul 2024 at 17:08

thanks, will open it and check how many fans i need

Simon42 · 9 Jul 2024 at 11:26

I would also check the wattage it uses.

It maybe fine but such equipment can be very power hungry and hence over a few years the extra cost would buy a decent domestic firewall device or a chunk of a mini pc device running firewall software.

Robert T. · 11 Jul 2024 at 17:58

Hi,
Specs say - average 41W, max 120.
Considering it's a free hardware to which I still can put newest software and fact that it'll protect only handfull devices I say power usage will be even less.
3x 49mm fans cost me 45 and I still have old fans to use AND I will be able to reuse Noctua's elsewhere should I chose so - going for it..

Besides - like Palo's firewall management GUI and don't want to lose my knowledge, so additional professional bonus in it.

Thanks for advices

Robert T. · 17 Jul 2024 at 17:11

Anyone knows pinout on fan connector on Palo PA-820? it's a non-standard one, and cannot find any info on it on Internet and have no multimeter of my own...
Colours on original fans are : red, blue, black, yellow, but i doubt it's of any help knowing how bespoke their solution is..

Edit: have transplanted mirrored order of cables as they go into fan's hub from SANSPACE40 to Noctua into original connector but Noctua is not spinning, so I assume connections inside motor are also not same

Simon42 · 18 Jul 2024 at 09:44

Although the wiring colour code could well be different, are the Noctua fans the same voltage as the originals? Most fans have this marked but just wondering if the originals didn't and you've got a mismatch.

Robert T. · 19 Jul 2024 at 17:15

very good point...
Voltage is same, but amperage is almost double on PA's fans..
Will rewire second fan but this time with use of 'quiet cable' on Sunday.

Edit: nope, even with use of low noise cable fan will not spin. Tried even to wait until PAN-OS fets loaded and fans will slow down, not working..
Seems like hack-n-slash 2U unit is coming to town.. Have spare 120mm fans, will power them up from front USB port and ask friend to 3D print me some top covers.

Until/unless I get some more info on actual Palo fans pinout from motherboard, this it is end of that topic....