Hardware

Hi,

I posted this message on the maling list yesterday but without any response, so i thought i'd give the forum a try.

I'm about to set up a home firewall using m0n0wall and an Alix device. The problem is that i can't decide which Alix to get. The two candidates are the Alix 2C1 (with three nics, 433 mhz LX700, 128 Mb ram) or the Alix 2C2 (with two nics, 500 mhz LX800, 256 Mb ram). The best option (combining the strengths of the two devices i just mentioned) would possibly be the 2C3 but it seems hard to get hold of in Sweden, where i live.

When would i have the need of using three nics? I intend to have a wireless accesspoint on the lan and nat any ports i want to expose through the Wan to the Lan. Do i actually need the third nic if i dont plan to have a Dmz, dual Wans or a separate Captive portaled wireless network?

What throughput/performance could i expect to get with the LX700 vs the LX800 with Wan->Lan and Lan->Wan? That is: How fast internet connection could i expect to be able to fully use before the Alix/m0n0wall starts to choke?

I hope someone with a bit of Alix/m0n0wall experince could reply. It sould be greatly appricated.

Best regards.

/Martin

I would wait for the alix2c3.  There is little cost difference and you get double the memory and that just might come in handy for a future release.  Also, I setup the third NIC to pass traffic to the Internet and block access to my LAN.  I use this connection when I'm working on PCs that I think might be infected.  I haven't measured the throughput yet, but I'm sure it would be at least 75 Mbits.

CS...

Hi again,

Thanks for your response CS. I just sent an email to one of the Swedish suppliers asking about the 2C3 availability. They have previously said that they haven't any confirmed delivery dates, so i'll see if they have any new info now.

Throughput of about 75 Mbit would be great. It would be great if you could test it to confirm the numbers. Would be appriciated since there are quite few performance tests of the Alix-boards with M0n0wall. 

Does anyone else have an oppinion? What would you choose and what throughput do you get with Alix-systems and M0n0wall?

Best regards.

/Martin

I have a 2c2 and I like it.  With my maxed 15Mb/s connection, i'm using aprox 15% cpu and 10% memmory.  Granted, i'm not doing any advanced vpn/traffic shaping, just normal firewall rules.

I'm also after purchasing a system, this is an Alix 2C3 with a pre-built image with 1.3b9.  Also I'm looking to add a Wistron CM9 wireless card, to give it 4 interfaces in all: (1) wired LAN, (2) WAN, (3) DMZ for a small webserver, and (4) wireless LAN via the Wistron.

Has anyone else used this or a similar configuration?