Hardware

Hi All,

I am very new to m0n0wall and I need to build it on Soekris hardware. I am willing to buy Soekris hardware. I do have selected items but I'm  not sure those are right products for my requirement.

My requirement:

5 Interfaces
WAN  - Internet
LAN - Local network
DMZ - servers
DMZ1 - protected network
DMZ2 - protected network

I have selected following items to setup this.
Soekris board - net4801-50
Soekris Ethernet adapter - lan1621
Soekris case - Don't know what will goes with board and additional adapter...?
Soekris power adapter - Don't know which one to chose but should be worldwide
Compact Flash card at least 8 MB in size - hope SunDisk is ok with 64MB but please advice on what to chose
Compact Flash card reader/writer  - Don't know but should compatible with SunDisk.

As you can see I do need your help to figure out what sort of hardware do need to buy. These hardware is not available in my country; so once I get it down a wrong item.. I'm in trouble so I really appreciate   your recommendation for this regards

Thanks in advance

-+> Hirantha

Hello Hirantha

It looks like you did a excellent job selecting your hardware. If you order the net4801-50 board and lan1621 card directly from Soekris they will make sure that the right case is included. For power supplies, Soekris model # 31211225 (2.5 amps 90V-264V) is suitable for non-US power. It's only $2.00 more than Soekris model #31211215, which is rated for 1.5 amps.

My company is currently has two Soekris net4801-50 routers in use. Both of ours have the 4 port lan1641 boards installed, and one of them has the vpn1411 hardware crypto card onboard as well.

If the possibility exists that you may expand your network in the future you might want to consider paying the extra $32 for the 4 port lan1641 card versus the 2 port lan1621. Having the two extra physical interfaces has proven to be very helpful to us. Our primary Soekris currently has 85+ client PCs attached to it, 9 network printers, 12 servers, a PBX, a wireless router, and a VoIP gateway device-all across six LAN subnets.

Hope this helps.


Chris


Edited to add: Our secondary Soekris uses a SanDisk Comfact Flash card and it works perfectly.

Hi CJan_NH,

Thanks for your valuable inputs.

How about the SanDisk with 64MB.. I found a card SDCFB-256 -  SanDisk Standard CompactFlash® Card 256MB as the minimum MB card on the SanDisk website and there is no 64MB card except SDCFS-64 - Shoot & Store™ CompactFlash® 50 Photo* Card

Does anyone recommend this card or please advice successfully (rather commonly)  used card for Soekris  net4801-50.

Please let me know model/part number of the card

Thanks in advance

-+> Hirantha

I use a 4801 with the lan1641 in one location where I need 5+ interfaces but don't require a lot of throughput. If you consistently need more than 30 Mbps of throughput, you should be looking at something faster than a 4801. But if you just need a lot of interfaces and your traffic requirements are relatively minimal, a 4801 with lan1641 is an excellent solution.

You order the board, case, and card from Soekris as a package, it's preassembled in the appropriate case. Part number on their site is 11480157. http://soekris.com/how_to_buy.htm

Then you'll also need the appropriate power adapter for your country, and a CF card. SanDisk CF has always worked well for me, though I have used a number of other brands as well and only had problems with one cheap no name brand.

Hi All,

Thanks a lot Cmb..

I think I don't need more that 5 interfaces so I will stick with net4801-50 Board and Case + lan1621 board.

I like to go with the SanDisk CF cards with minimum  capacity 64MB. What is the SanDisk CF cards you use. Can you tell me the model/part_number..?
Is SanDsik SDCFB-256 will no harm to m0n0wall + soekirs hardware ..?

Thanks in advance

-+> Hirantha

Any SanDisk card should work fine, I've used them ranging from 64 MB to 512 MB including basically everything in between. Model is irrelevant.

Hey..! Thanks cmd for your inputs.. now I have everything cleared.

Thanks once again..

-+> Hirantha