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Re: Looking for ARM hardware



Hi,

On 15 Mar 2016, at 19:30 , John Klos <john%ziaspace.com@localhost> wrote:

> Hi,
> 
>> I'm thinking of replacing my firewall with an ARM machine running
>> NetBSD (current is fine).
>> 
>> I'd like 2 Gigabit ports and a couple of USB ports built-in. I would
>> prefer one coming with a case.
> 
> So far I've deployed around a dozen or so Dockstars and PogoPlugs running NetBSD with USB-ethernet for the second ethernet. Since this solution only gets up to around 50 Mbps, I'm also waiting for suitable hardware to become cheap enough.
> 
> I'm about to order one of these:
> 
> http://www.banana-pi.org/r1.html
> 
> The Banana Pi that I have runs NetBSD very well, so I expect the R1 Router will work well, too.

I have an R1, but have not tried NetBSD on it. My original plan was to use it as a firewall at home (sounds familiar?). It's presently running Linux, but without using the bridge ports (my Linux-fu is rather limited, and I haven't figured out why the bridge device isn't located).

But I gave up on the firewall idea after googling a bit about the R1, which is a bit strange. AFAIK all the Ethernet ports are combined into a BCM53125 switch thingy + a real ethernet which is connected to the switch. Hence, while it is possible to split these up via VLANs they are electrically a single bridged infrastructure. So, eg. if the box crashes but power is still on then your outside will effectively be bridged to your inside, which I consider a bit pessimal for a firewall.

For this reason I haven't spent more time on figuring out the switch h/w. Instead it is serving as a small NAS (it has a SATA port) serving music to another ARM board with a DAC connected to my audio system...

So, while I'm happy about the R1 in its present role (combined with only having paid less than $25 for it) I'd recommend careful googling before purchase as a firewall. My own current plan for a new firewall is one of these (which has multiple fully separate Ethernets):

http://www.pcengines.ch/apu2c4.htm

Regards,

Johan

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