build your own passthrough device capable of PIA openVPN AES 256 SHA 256 RSA-4096

[mxnerd]

I have retryed the onboard Realtek NIC and the TP-Link card that I have bought (Realtek) and after a reinstall they are working. If the PIA installation goes well then I will retry the Intel card.

Good.

 

[BirdDad]

Reporting back. I used a second computer plugged into my pfSense box through the TP-Link card. PIA installation was a breeze. Works. I didn't bother to tweak it as I am now going to try to get the Intel NIC to work.

 

[BirdDad]

Default interfaces not found -- running interface assignment option
Valid interfaces are:
No interfaces found!
do you want to setup vlans...etc

 

[mxnerd]

Pull the Intel NIC and put it in your i7 PC, see if it can be detected.

 

[BirdDad]

it detects it as an Intel(R) PRO/1000MT Desktop Adapter + another one
and when I booted the computer it recognized them and was loading Intel BIOS or something like that.

 

[mxnerd]

It could be a timing issue. Maybe the motherboard boots too fast and does not have enough time to initialize the INTEL NIC.

Try to disable fast boot option of the motherboard.

 

[BirdDad]

the motherboard I am returning because of graphical glitches and this I might add to it.
the socket works with my tplink so the connector is not bad.

 

[BirdDad]

the motherboard does not boot fast it takes nearly two minutes just to get into the BIOS
fast boot was disabled already

 

[mxnerd]

Since the NIC worked in other system, seems the motherboard is not compatible with the NIC.

Either retain the motherboard & TP-Link, or retain the Intel NIC and find another motherboard that's compatible with it.

 

[Engineer]

Interesting that the card purchased wouldn't work. I think I had mentioned that the card came from China earlier in this thread and was worried about that. I guess it works on one board but not the other also seems strange to me.

On a side note, my motherboard finally (after 3 weeks) arrived so I might try to tackle this in the next day or so. We'll see how it goes.....

Good luck BirdDad!

 

[mxnerd]

@Engineer

BirdDad probably bought the openbox MSI motherboard.

I read somewhere where a guy had a 200Mbps connection and a i7 Xeon was only getting 139Mbps through it.
Here is the hardware that I am considering:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811108196
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148730
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130881R
I just want to know if it would fulfill my requirements

 

[BirdDad]

Thanks Engineer. I did buy the MSI. I am returning it. And I have an ASRock Pentium on the way.

 

[Engineer]

Thanks Engineer. I did buy the MSI. I am returning it. And I have an ASRock Pentium on the way.

Out of curiosity, do you mind if I ask which one?

Also, I've got the SuperMicro N3700 board with 4 built in Gbit Intel ports. Meant to start putting it together tonight and haven't gotten around to it yet (cooked dinner, walked with wife, helped daughter with homework).

Will see about tomorrow...grass mowing has to get in there somewhere.

 

[sdifox]

Out of curiosity, do you mind if I ask which one?

Also, I've got the SuperMicro N3700 board with 4 built in Gbit Intel ports. Meant to start putting it together tonight and haven't gotten around to it yet (cooked dinner, walked with wife, helped daughter with homework).

Will see about tomorrow...grass mowing has to get in there somewhere.

Hyperv or vmware?

 

[Engineer]

Hyperv or vmware?

Not sure what you mean. Straight out hardware on this....no virtual machines. I have it finally under power (with no help from SuperMicro - who left out the manual or quick start guide and the one online is an unreadable PDF file - connected a few things wrong because I simply couldn't see them).

Now to measure power and get pfsense installed.

Side note: Picked up a super cheap Sandisk SSD but when the hell did SSD makers start making the casing out of plastic? Maybe I missed the memo on that one. Would rather have a metal cased one since this thing is fanless. Hope that doesn't bite me later.

 

[Engineer]

Installed but not tested. No issues on port configuration (didn't use autodetect but I suspect it would have worked). Found all 4 ports.

Pulls 11 watts at the wall. Was hoping for under 10. I suppose I could pull one of the SODimms to see if I can get it below 10, lol!


Too tired to do more tonight. Will connect to WAN tomorrow (if time) and fire it all up and start tweaking, setup IPMI, etc.

 

[sdifox]

Installed but not tested. No issues on port configuration (didn't use autodetect but I suspect it would have worked). Found all 4 ports.

Pulls 11 watts at the wall. Was hoping for under 10. I suppose I could pull one of the SODimms to see if I can get it below 10, lol!


Too tired to do more tonight. Will connect to WAN tomorrow (if time) and fire it all up and start tweaking, setup IPMI, etc.

I shall stick in another hdd on my box to offset your power saving.

 

[Engineer]

I shall stick in another hdd on my box to offset your power saving.

lol...I like low power, quiet fanless boxes! :biggrin:

I've converted over the years. No longer have 60mm - 7000 rpm fans running on multiple processor server systems - at home!

 

[sdifox]

lol...I like low power, quiet fanless boxes! :biggrin:

My box is in the basement. And reality is the switch is far noisier than my server.

 

[sdifox]

Nortel BayStack 5520 48 port gigabit poe.

 

[Engineer]

Nortel BayStack 5520 48 port gigabit poe.

Zyxel fanless 16 port gigabit managed switch - in upper corner of kitchen closet.

 

[sdifox]

Zyxel fanless 16 port gigabit managed switch - in upper corner of kitchen closet.

so you are one of those connected kitchen freaks :awe:

 

[Engineer]

so you are one of those connected kitchen freaks :awe:

LOL. :biggrin:

I just installed my small, wired network and to be honest, the best place for it was the upper corner of the kitchen closet. There was already an AC outlet in the closet (not used) so I simply pulled all the CAT6 into the upper corner of the closet from the garage, installed a 12 port patch panel and the 16 port switch. I might cover the bundle of wires with some painted wood trim later but to be honest, nobody notices except me.

Don't have a basement and the garage was simply too hot for anything network related (at least in summer). I could have run it to my laundry room but that room is open and all of the stuff would have been out in the open for all to see. Wife doesn't approve.

 

[BirdDad]

I received my replacement motherboard today, got it installed.
It wont even come on with the Intel NIC in it.
I will try a BIOS update.
It seems to go to BIOS screen in 1 second where the other one took like two minutes to turn on.

 

[Engineer]

I have a suspicion that the China card isn't up to snuff in all of the specifications. Could even be some sort of fake, but that's just a guess on my part.