Pfsense vs ubiquity

lmfy2k · 2 Aug 2017 at 15:39

Rainmaker said:
If you do, grab a cheap mSATA drive (I got a 30GB and use about 1GB of it lol) and hit me up in Trust. I'll send you a brief list of instructions on how to tweak pfSense to add a license file for the Intel NICs and set up the system to use the SSD properly. It only takes a minute once pfSense is installed. It's very simple - four screws, pop off the case lid, slot in mSATA, and boot over a serial null modem (or serial null modem to USB) cable using Putty. I love it.

i see the seller has a few PC Engines APU2C4 devices varying in price (and colour), looking at the description, one says starter kit which i assume doesn't include an OS on it

when you buy either of them do you just need a mSATA drive and away you go?

also how do you get pfsense on there, via usb pen drive?

Rainmaker · 2 Aug 2017 at 19:47

lmfy2k said:
i see the seller has a few PC Engines APU2C4 devices varying in price (and colour), looking at the description, one says starter kit which i assume doesn't include an OS on it

when you buy either of them do you just need a mSATA drive and away you go?

also how do you get pfsense on there, via usb pen drive?

I can't speak for their current range mate, I bought mine at least a year and a half ago. I'll try to look later if I get chance. Yeah you just grab the correct install image and write it to USB. You need to have connected the APU to a PC over serial null modem cable; I had to get a serial null modem cable and then a serial > USB converter cable to daisy chain it to my Win10 PC. They only cost a quid on eBay (pretty sure OcUK don't sell these!).

Boot the APU and then fire up PuTTY, choosing Serial and set the options to 15200 bitrate and with no flow control (i.e. off). You'll 'see' the video output in a PuTTY window as though it was a virtual machine, and it should be on the boot menu (or an error saying no bootable device, depending how you've done it). Restart the APU if needed (the serial connection will persist) or else choose the option from the menu to boot from the USB. Follow the pfSense installer prompts to install to the mSATA drive just like you would for any other *nix live USB installer. It really is very much easier than it sounds, especially once you know what you're doing (as with anything really lol).

lmfy2k · 2 Aug 2017 at 20:40

Rainmaker said:
I can't speak for their current range mate, I bought mine at least a year and a half ago. I'll try to look later if I get chance. Yeah you just grab the correct install image and write it to USB. You need to have connected the APU to a PC over serial null modem cable; I had to get a serial null modem cable and then a serial > USB converter cable to daisy chain it to my Win10 PC. They only cost a quid on eBay (pretty sure OcUK don't sell these!).

Boot the APU and then fire up PuTTY, choosing Serial and set the options to 15200 bitrate and with no flow control (i.e. off). You'll 'see' the video output in a PuTTY window as though it was a virtual machine, and it should be on the boot menu (or an error saying no bootable device, depending how you've done it). Restart the APU if needed (the serial connection will persist) or else choose the option from the menu to boot from the USB. Follow the pfSense installer prompts to install to the mSATA drive just like you would for any other *nix live USB installer. It really is very much easier than it sounds, especially once you know what you're doing (as with anything really lol).

Many thanks for the info mate. Very close to ordering one

ChrisD. · 2 Aug 2017 at 20:52

Sounds like effort to me hence I dipped into my pockets and got a plug and play SG-2220. It does sound good for the money though. And as I've already said, I love the Ubiquiti AP gear but the Edgerouter Lite left me a little disappointed.

Rainmaker · 2 Aug 2017 at 21:36

ChrisD. said:
Sounds like effort to me hence I dipped into my pockets and got a plug and play SG-2220. It does sound good for the money though. And as I've already said, I love the Ubiquiti AP gear but the Edgerouter Lite left me a little disappointed.

Not really. Plug APU into PC, boot, install, done. Learning anything is 'effort', including how PCs work, building, overclocking... It just depends on whether you want to do it. Did the ERL, AP and local controller software have an immediately intuitive setup and interface, or did you need to learn a little?

A few minutes installing an OS (pfSense, OPNSense, IPFire) to end up with a superb, low wattage, fairly well powered AES-NI aware firewall/router with almost infinite customisation isn't a bad deal in my books.

neodude · 3 Aug 2017 at 07:51

FreeStream said:
The entire card will be completely passed through to the VM, which is the safest way I think.

Yep, that's what I do too

ChrisD. · 3 Aug 2017 at 08:16

Rainmaker said:
Not really. Plug APU into PC, boot, install, done. Learning anything is 'effort', including how PCs work, building, overclocking... It just depends on whether you want to do it. Did the ERL, AP and local controller software have an immediately intuitive setup and interface, or did you need to learn a little? A few minutes installing an OS (pfSense, OPNSense, IPFire) to end up with a superb, low wattage, fairly well powered AES-NI aware firewall/router with almost infinite customisation isn't a bad deal in my books.

ER-L was easy to set up, believed I followed the wizard and put in my VDSL log on details. Pretty much the same as I did with pfSense. My issue with the ER-L was the seemingly lack of online documentation and guides, which is something that pfSense has in abundance. With ER-L even after a few attempts I could not set up a sub interface on the WAN connection and route it back to my Vigor 130. It took me about ten minutes in pfSense. Also port forwarding and configuring the firewall rules are a doddle in pfSense. I think I had snort up and running in about 15 minutes after some light reading.

Everything is more polished, easier to configure, has more documentation and better support. Unless budget is a real issue then there really isn't any contest between the two and let's face it, if you're spending money on Pro gear you have to dip in a little into your pockets.