Hardware

Hi There,

I was wondering how well m0n0wall runs with the cheapest Soekris board which is the 4501-30.  I want to keep the cost down as much as possible but still want decent throughput.  Does anyone have any specs as to how well it runs?  I would assume this is a reliable board?

I would not buy a 4501 at this point. A WRAP would run maybe $20 USD more per unit, but is more than twice as fast. My primary firewall at home used to be a 4501. They're fine, reliable equipment, but not fast. After my Internet connection got bumped up to 15 Mb, it couldn't quite keep up with it anymore so it's been retired. That's only going to get worse with the next m0n0wall version as it'll be even slower with such low end hardware. 

For my most cost-conscious installs, I moved from 4501's to WRAP's about 3 years ago. The small price difference is absolutely worth it, you'll get much more life out of a WRAP. 2+ times the CPU, twice the RAM, 2-3 times the network throughput.

Thanks cmb.

That makes sense to me.  I see the WRAPs are going to be discontinued but no sign of the Alix replacements yet. 

I never realized what a better value the WRAP is until you pointed it out.

If you can wait a few months, the Alix boards should be quite a bit faster and the same price or maybe a little less. If not, I wouldn't hesitate buying WRAP's right now. I bought 3 more last week.