Rate my router specs XD & Help me configure it

napstersquest

napstersquest

G for Genius
Level G
Processor: Intel core i3 8100 4 x 3.6GHz
RAM: 2x4GB DDR4 2400MHz
Storage: Redundant 16GB Optane M10 drives
NIC: Realtek Gigabit x2 (one onboard, one via pcie. Looking for intel replacements)


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Question:
Is the 8GB Swap really needed? Can I use it for logs (I mean recoupe it so that there will be more space for logs)? Not sure how much space will be needed. Not using many plugins as of now. Suggest what else I can run on here.
 
Are you using OPNsense just for lulz or is there a specific purpose?
Also what's your internet bandwidth and local bandwidth?

ATM all I see is a way too overkill and power hungry machine being used as a router. Don't get me wrong I'm also using an x86 machine as a router but it's for a purpose and very power efficient.
 
enthusiast29 said:
Are you using OPNsense just for lulz or is there a specific purpose?
Also what's your internet bandwidth and local bandwidth?

ATM all I see is a way too overkill and power hungry machine being used as a router. Don't get me wrong I'm also using an x86 machine as a router but it's for a purpose and very power efficient.
Click to expand...
Yup. Mostly for lulz. Its not that power hungry - around 10W idle and 18W peak I have seen so far (via a smart plug at its socket). Similar power pull to the router it replaced (well this one isn't an access point but I reduced the routers being deployed as APs by one so not much kore power draw).

I also have a Dell wyse with celeron J4105 which I can deploy for the same(dual realtek nics as well), but I wanted to use the optanes lying around so went with this nvme capable unit. Plus has a pcie slot so easy NIC upgrades.

LAN&WAN usage:
Jellyfin, Plex, Syncthing (12 devices - around 50 synced folders), Photoprism, Nextcloud, locally.
Minecraft over the internet.

240mb/s WAN. 10G capable wiring inside the house (CAT7 - CAT6A copper, no 10G switch yet - will see if I need it down the years).

Plan is to host a few of my wordpress blogs that are on hosting providers in the future. Will make that decision based on downtime % of this setup.
 
Okay I see potential here for the machine BUT... Never do anything else on your Router!
A Router is a dedicated machine for packet routing in and out of your network. Do NOT use it for NAS/Media Server/Other hosting etc.

You'll regret it in the long run if anything goes bad you lose your internet and internal networking.
Downtime is bad. Trust me it's a BAD idea. Can't stress it enough.

Use your Dell Wyse for this task. It's perfect machine for Gigabit capable routing until you go 10Gbps on local network then you would need more power.
You can stick with OPNsense (FreeBSD) or use OpenWRT (Linux based). I moved to OpenWRT since I'm more comfortable with Linux and it's much more modern + has advanced SQM capabilities like CAKE algorithm but choice is of course yours.

Use the i3 machine as a standalone server for the tasks you intend to. Install something like Proxmox VE to host VMs/Docker images on it and enjoy.
 
Well, you said and to quote...
Plan is to host a few of my wordpress blogs that are on hosting providers in the future. Will make that decision based on downtime % of this setup.
Click to expand...
I replied to specifically that because it's one nightmare of an idea. Hosting anything on a router.

About the swap space, no, you or anyone else doesn't need 8GB of swap space, not on a machine which already has 8GB of physical memory on it.

As for plugins, back when I used pfSense I used pfBlockerNG and Snort. Both of these when used with proper configuration is plenty to occupy at least 4-5GB on that RAM. So having a swap space of at least 4GB is good. Actually more than enough.

I don't know if these packages are on OPNsense or if they have a alternative there.
 
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