2.5GbE Linux Firewall Micro Appliance Celeron N5105 4xIntel I226 Nic Firewall Router PC 8GB DDR4 128GB M.2 NVMe SSD AES-NI

Great for a proxmox clustered hypervisor setup.I have 3 of these, each with 64GB of Crucial CT32G4SFD832A RAM, a basic SSD for the boot drive and 2 cheap 2TB NVMe SP002TBP34A60M28 drives in each.This has been rock solid for 2 years and is able to run my Home lab. It's not super fast, but it does what I need... Kubernetes, Home Assistant, Zabbix, Ceph, Pfsense, Various test VMs and containers...The 2.5Gb ethernet ports and the high memory density is what I find compelling, as I can run experiments on the same nodes where I run my home network.I ended-up building a little 3D Printed rack for it with a couple of 120MM fans, just to keep things cool.

Been using this for a little under a month (uptime is 28 Days, 17 Hours, 45 Minutes) at time of writing this. No issues with hardware stability using pfsense v2.6.0 since getting this mini PC it has been rock solid and running on average around 46c as per the Dashboard temp gauge.Purchased the version with the 8Gb RAM and 128Gb SSD which is way more than enough for a pfsense appliance. Currently my setup is using this as an edge firewall with snort, pfblocker-NG and a couple other Packages to make sure it's secure with an SSL cert.Placement is Modem>Pfsense>Switch>router>wifi mesh networkHave Spectrums 1Gb down 40Mbps up and achieve those speeds across the network with any wired device, on wireless it's average around 600Mbps down and 35Mbps up which is not bad at all and am able to run multiple client devices at the same time streaming 4k video, gaming (Little more on this further down), work from home using multiple VMs and VPN connections without issue.As for the gaming not willing to use UPnP but don't play online multiplayer games so it's not something we need, if needed you can make a VLAN and segregate the consoles. If you are looking to use this and game you will have to configure the NAT settings, by default NAT is restricted on all gaming consoles.The 2.5Gb ports are nice to have but if your other network devices don't support 2.5Gb then you'll be using the lowest speed of those ports.A great youtube channel to follow for some configurations and helpful explanations is TheTecknowledge other wise known as Lawrence Systems.One thing that took me a little longer to figure out (first time having more than a modem/router) was make sure that during the setup your other network hardware has DHCP and NAT off and just let this pfsense box do it, double NAT was a headache and DHCP conflicts can make it hard for RDP or other client share settings to be seen. Set DHCP on AP to disabled if you can and use the LAN ports to connect between each device. If you do connect this to your modem make sure to power down the modem then connect it to the WAN on this box then power modem on, power on pfsense, etc... one at a time so that it can receive the new DHCP lease.Overall this is an awesome device and out of the box is great if you get the pre-installed version. If not would assume you can make it whatever you want by installing a Linux distro, haven't tried that yet.

My order was shipped from China and was received 2 weeks earlier than originally expected, thanks for that!If you are ordering this, you should be VERY competent in computer networking. (A firewall is in no way something for an inexperienced person to try.)Once received, the coin-battery was loose and rattling inside the computer. The double sided tape that was supposed to hold it to the USB ports did not last shipping halfway around the world, so this is something for the manufacturer needs to correct. (The coin-battery is not heavy enough damage the circuittry inside, and it was completely encased in a rubber shrink wrap.) This is the sole reason for 4 stars, not 5 stars. The computer was not damaged because of the unsecured battery.Since I had the device open, I looked the device over. Everything was installed correctly. (By the way, I am A+ certified, and have built many computers in the past.) The RAM was even secured with hot glue. The RAM and M2-drive were not brands known to most US consumers, but they perform respectable.Once the computer was closed, I did some prep work on my home network. I Changed my mesh WIFI setup to access point(AP) mode. (You should not set it as a router when you have a separate firewall device.) I also made sure to turn off the DHCP server on my cable/DSL modem, and set to bridge mode. (A firewall will have its own DHCP server, 2 DHCP servers will be a bad thing.)pfSense was pre-installed on this device, so in theory you could turn it on and be ready to go. But I, and everyone else should do this, rest the BIOS/UEFI settings, and erased the pre-installed pfSense. I Installed pfsense again with my own settings and configuration. Not that I don't trust the computer manufacturers, I just want to have things done MY way. I was able to get everything done in 2 hours.The big question is "Why did I want my own firewall?" Because my cable provider has my modem locked down, and I cannot make any adjustments with the configuration of a piece of equipment that I purchased. Including updating the firmware on the cable modem, which would fix a known security vulnerability! They will not install the new firmware that would fix the security issue on my behalf either. I understand that you don't want unprofessional users messing with updating the firmware on devices, but to force people to leave their home devices vulnerable to a security threat is unacceptable! ( Ahem... off topic...) Instead of purchasing a new cable modem, I decided to get a firewall that will block the known (and many unknown) security vulnerabilities. The firewall costs about 30% more than a new cable modem, and pfSense is constantly updated, open sourced (so everyone can see what is happening "under the hood" of the program), and free. The new cable modem would also be locked down by the cable company.The four 2.5Gb ethernet ports make this device ready for the long term future. 1Gbe has been standard for 10 years or so, and we are just starting the transition to 2.5Gb. And 2.5Gb can use CAT5e (or CAT6 and higher) cable, which has been the standard cabling installation since 1998-2000. The Intel 5105 CPU is a great choice to do deep packet inspection and not slow down your connection. 8GB RAM and 128GB M2 are both overkill for a firewall, but allows for other things to get installed alongside pfSense in the future.30 days in and I am not having any issues and the machine is working fine. I have an energy monitoring device installed in my circuit breaker panel (for solar panels) and this small computer draws 20-40 watts, depending upon the load. Usually 22 watts.