Advice on building SOHO network - pfsense? hardware?

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DieselTech69

Junior Member
Jan 14, 2018
3
0
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Hello all,

New to the forums here, looking for some advice on building my home network.

Currently I have a 30/5 plan with Spectrum (yeah, I know....), but plan to upgrade to 60/5 plan soon, and also considering how to build a good SOHO network without breaking the bank. I guess I should start with the current network components and usage:

Netgear N600 (C3700) Cable modem https://www.netgear.com/home/products/networking/cable-modems-routers/C3700.aspx
D-Link DSS-5+ Fast 10/100 Ethernet Switch (unmanaged)

And......that's it. Not much to it and I'm certain it's far from ideal, especially on the security front. The N600 has Dual-band 802-11n Wifi and ReadyShare capability; I use the Wifi but not the ReadyShare.

Currently, the network is configured with the N600 as the cable modem, connected to the ISP (Spectrum). The D-Link switch is connected to one of the two ethernet ports on the N600; the other port is connected directly to the downstairs Blu-ray player (a Samsung). The D-Link switch then feeds another Blu-ray player upstairs (Sony) and my desktop machine. I have a Wifi printer on the network (HP Photosmart C6180), and routinely there are the usual android phones, tablets, and laptops we use that connect as well. The Wifi is WPA2 secured.

Network usage consists of Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Prime/YT streaming (on the BD players) and PC gaming, as well as the normal web browsing stuff. No issues with the way things are running, but I have the following goals in mind:

1) I plan to wire the entire house with 2xRJ45 jacks in every wall; this would total at least 32 jacks for the house. I also want to run ethernet underground to my detached garage and shop; the garage is ~40 ft from the house, and the shop is another 20 ft from the other side of the garage (so about 80 ft from the house). The garage and shop would each have at least 8 jacks each, for another 16 jacks. This puts me at 48 jacks total for the network, so i assume a 48-port switch (or two 24-port switches) is what I'd go for.
2) utilize equipment I already have where possible, and if feasible, re-purpose other equipment I have on hand (I have alot of older hardware laying around). I'm certainly not afraid to attempt a custom solution from either components/systems I currently have or will purchase.
3) make the network secure, though I would like to ensure I can do WoL and SSH/RDS via the internet into at least one machine on my network. This means I need to add a firewall. I have an older Netgear ProSafe VPN Firewall FVS318 (10/100Mbps) that was given to me, but my research so far leads me to believe that despite its 10/100 rating, it will be capped at around 12.5Mbps in real usage. I'm not certain this is factual though, and forget where I read this online.
4) add some new items to the network, namely, a "magic mirror"-type device; a Steam Link; a NAS; and some home-monitoring IoT devices. Possibly at some point, my own web server. I also may get rid of the BD players and instead build the NAS to have Kodi functionality (and use the Steam Link to stream from the NAS also).

I'm not a networking expert. I'm not employed in the IT field. I'm a computer/electronics hobbiest that has always done everything myself though. Keep in mind that my network speeds will be limited to less than 100Mbps based on my ISP plan, but all new hardware I must purchase will likely be gigbit capable. So, what advice can the forums offer me on this? I have been researching solutions such as pfsense for the firewall, and have considered using the Netgear FVS318, but I'm not sure. Could I build the NAS to also be the pfsense firewall? I'm open to all advice on this matter. Thanks in advance for responding, and reading this rather long post!
 
thecoolnessrune

thecoolnessrune

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2005
9,673
583
126
If you can figure out your way around pfFense, I'd recommend it. I've been using it in my home environment for years. For me, it's just the right mix of hands on ease of use plus nuts and bolts utility that you can get to if you really want to. The platform allows for you to just leverage the features you want at first and grow from there. With almost any pfSense build coming with far more potent hardware than your average consumer routers, it's got enough grunt to do pretty much anything you'd want in your home environment.

If you're going to be doing runs to every room, you should put a patch panel in the central location, then ask yourself how many of those jacks you actually plan to use. Perhaps consider a 24 port switch for now, and get another one later if you need it.

To your last question, you could do a pfSense system + NAS in the same machine with the use of Virtual Machines. HOWEVER, and this is only my personal suggestion, if you're not an IT person, if the idea of troubleshooting some random issue in your environment is not your idea of a fun evening after work, then keep to the K.I.S.S. principle. Get you a pfSense appliance (or I could also recommend the Ubiquiti USG), and keep your NAS separate. Keep your Access Points separate. Keep everything separate. When something goes wrong, hopefully it makes itself clear, and you can move on with your life. If you're not an I.T. Pro, keep yourself out of setups that are going to leave you wondering if your random disconnect issue is at the Hypervisor level, in one virtual machine, or in another virtual machine. I can only say that as my personal recommendation though. It is certainly your choice in the end. But I have seen many a coworker in my own very I.T. focused industry get wiped out dealing with random issues in their "eggs in one basket" environments, where dealing with one issue requires bringing down a bunch of other stuff too. That's because they had enough money to consolidate, but didn't have enough money to provide high availability.
 
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DieselTech69

Junior Member
Jan 14, 2018
3
0
6
Thanks for the response, all of your advice makes sense.

I'd prefer to build the pfsense box myself, as it will provide an opportunity for learning, as well (potentially) allow me to use existing hardware I have lying around.

According to the pfsense minimum hardware requirements (which isn't exactly clear IMHO, as it calls for a "modern" CPU with at least 500mhz - and then defines modern as "within the last 4 years". ??? What? Name a CPU made in the last 4 years running at 500mhz! Even a RPi model A runs faster than that.), I may have multiple systems I could re-purpose for this build, the two most recent being:

1. an Athlon II X2 system (dual core) running at 2.7ghz w/6gb DDR2 RAM. I would *hope* this has enough power to run pfsense, and it's not within 4 years old (more like 8-10!)
2. an ITX board (LGA1151) I have laying around coupled with a Pentium G3258 dual-core that I have and could likely oc to at least 4.5ghz, with 8gb of RAM. That should have enough grunt for a pfsense firewall, or the NAS, I would think. The only downside to that ITX mobo is it has but one PCIe slot, which would likely need to have an ethernet card in it, since the mobo only has 1 RJ45 port. Fortunately, it has integrated graphics.

Now, I also have some older hardware - going all the way back to a Celeron 500mhz single-core, socket 378 or something like that, but I suspect stuff that old is not useful for this, for multiple reasons, even if it could run pfsense (32 bit version of course). I wonder what the lower limit is though? Would be interesting to find out, though maybe not practical. I do have other ideas for some of those older PC's - for example, an arcade machine/emulator.

So, from a practicality standpoint, I have 2 systems that I could re-purpose easily enough I think to make a NAS and a pfsense firewall, BUT, would the power consumption over time cost me more in the long run that something much newer and lower in TDP? I assume a RPi is a no-go since it's ARM-based. But, I've seen other embedded SoC boards for around $60 (Atom dual- and quad-cores, 1.6-2.4ghz) that would probably fit the bill nicely.

Thoughts?
 
thecoolnessrune

thecoolnessrune

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2005
9,673
583
126
I would not recommend either process for a pfSense build, because neither of them support AES-NI instructions, which will become a requirement for pfSense 2.5 and onwards. The Athlon II X2 is simply too old for that instruction, while that G3528 is more than recent enough, but Intel snipped off that instruction support on that CPU because they're Intel. As it currently stands, non-appliance based pfSense boxes have to run x86, so an ARM box like a Pi wouldn't work anyways. For a NAS, either one of them would work fine if you had enough expansion slots.
 
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DieselTech69

Junior Member
Jan 14, 2018
3
0
6
Well that settles that I suppose. I guess I better make sure the embedded option boards I was looking at have the AES-NI instruction set then. Probably the best choice anyway based on power consumption, over the long run. Thanks for the advice
 
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