On 12/11/2013 22:00, Jason T. Slack-Moehrle wrote: > > I have a CentOS 6.5 Server (a few TB, 32gb RAM) running some simple web > stuff and Zimbra. I have 5 static IP's from Comcast. I am considering > giving this server a public IP and plugging it directly into my cable > modem. This box can handle everything with room for me to do more. > > Doing this would allow me to power down my pfSense box and additional > servers by consolidating onto this single box. > > I have the firewall on on the server and only allowing the few ports I need. > > I dont run ssh on 22 > > What do you guys think? Have you considered moving all the public web services to a VPS, so you can use the simple firewall in your cable modem/router? You'll get much better bandwidth, and all the hardware problems are someone else's. If the machine gets broken into, it isn't a stepping stone into your private LAN. I suspect the Zimbra instance isn't public, which is good, because with its minimum RAM requirement of 2 GB, it probably isn't worth hosting publicly on your own. (Insert "when I was a boy" rant about 48 kB being enough here.) If you really do have to do public facing web services from your private LAN for whatever reason, though: I'd keep the separate firewall, but put it on more efficient hardware. You should be able to do this in about 5 W. At 11 cents per kWh, that's about $5 per year if it runs continually. I suspect it could actually be done in more like 2 W. (For comparison's sake, a Mac Mini idles at about 10 W, and a Raspberry Pi *peaks* at 3.5 W.) If you had to build the firewall yourself for whatever reason, there are small BSD/Linux-ready embeddable PCs you could use for this. They tend to be targeted at industrial applications and have low sales volumes, so expect to pay $200+ for them. If you're willing to go bare-bones, a Raspberry Pi, Arduino Galileo, or BeagleBone Black plus a USB-to-Ethernet adapter would do the job for under $100. If you can give up a bit of control, you can buy DD-WRT based routers off the shelf from the likes of Buffalo and Asus these days. The Buffalo unit I looked at claims to need 13 W peak, but at idle with the wireless turned off so it's a wired-only router, I'd be surprised if it didn't drop below 5 W.