On Mon, 2009-05-25 at 16:22 +0200, Peter Hopfgartner wrote: > I had some of them, too, running for years. The only problem I > incurred > was with a Flash memory that degraded after a while, so I would > really > recommend some of thoses "industrial grade" flash memories. The > hardware > is superb. > > Peter > > nate wrote: > > Bill Campbell wrote: > > > >> Any comments on CentOS 5 on Intel Atom CPUs? > >> > >> I need to build a couple of inexpensive systems that will be used > >> primarily as gateway/firewall systems with OpenVPN, and need > >> recommendations in reliable hardware platforms. These will need > >> two NICs. > >> > > > > Go with Soekris, they are built for that purpose. You can even > > get an SSL accelerator card for them. Mine has a ~500Mhz AMD > > Geode CPU, 512MB ram, I added a 1GB CF card, it has 4x100Mbit > > NICs, it has a slot for a PCI device, I put a bracket with > > another serial port on there to hook to a UPS, has a USB port, > > and a serial port for console access, draws a tiny amount of > > power. > > > > I don't consider linux a good platform for firewall or VPN > > devices myself, I use OpenBSD, with pf. I have an OpenVPN > > from my soekris box at home to my co-located server(runs > > Debian), have had it hooked up for almost a year now, works > > great. I don't need the SSL acceleration card as my commit > > rate at the colo is only 1Mbit, so I don't want to push a lot > > of traffic. > > > > http://www.soekris.com/net5501.htm > > > > These things are designed from the ground up to be firewall/VPN > > appliances(low end mind you, your not gonna be pushing gigabits > > of traffic through them). The CPU on mine doesn't even have a > > heat sink. > > > > nate Or even a WRAP/ALIX system - http://pcengines.ch/alix.htm WRAP's are old, but I've still got one powering my firewall/VPN device, years later(WAN/LAN and DMZ), and the ALIX is a drop in replacement, and I have one of those in a NAS. Granted, you ain't gonna get multi GB throughput, same as soekris, but by goodness they are stable and reliable, zero moving parts, and as for ALIX/WRAP series, pretty neglible power requirements. Also agree with Nate, I'd choose a version of BSD for a firewall/gateway device over Linux, either FreeBSD or OpenBSD. Regards AM