Good video and something worth noting is that the issues in pfsense with Realtek don't always show up right away, even when using longer iperf tests. They show more so when there are a larger number of streams and state tables.
Great point! What's your take on installing updated Realtek drivers and disabling TCP checksum offloading? It's solved/prevented any issues on the systems we've tested with. Does that align with your experiences?
@@2GuysTek Because we do a lot of business deployments of pfsense we mostly avoid the Realtek based NIC's. But on the consulting side we have done some troubleshooting and sometimes Realtek (and sometimes Broadcom) have been the source of mystery problems. The updated drives might help solve those issue and might make for some good content around the Zima board. Another idea might be to grab an Intel card for the Zima board and skip using the on board as 2 or 4 ports Intel cards can be picked up for cheap on eBay. Ping me some time if you want to chat.
It will work with the Realtek NIC onboard, but it’s highly recommended to update the driver included with pfSense if you plan on using it. There are reports of stability issues with included driver for Realtek phys in the current Community Edition of pfSense. Here’s a link to a walkthrough on how to update the driver: www.reddit.com/r/PFSENSE/comments/t872mx/fix_issues_with_realtek_nic_on_pfsense_260/ best of luck!
Love it! This was a good one ! ALOT of people are going to like this for their Homelabs and stuff, people don't want a big beefy power hungry box any more !! Good work boys !
NGL i was expecting it to at least max out the nics on the speed tests! you should put a 10g nic in it like the other guy was saying on here and see what happens
Yes, can you add a 10GB SPF+ PCie card to that PCie slot? Will be nice to see the power consumption and performance even if do not reach 10GB speeds, alternatively maybe with 2.5GB nics ?
thank you for amazing tutorial video, actually I install proxmox on Zima board and when I try to install opnsense on Zima board after rebooting without usb the Zima board boot on proxmox os NOT opnsense so is there any ways to install opnsense on internal storge of Zima board? thanks agin.
There are plenty of writeups for v2.5.0 but few concise writeups for 2.6.0. Here's a link to a Reddit post that walks through the process for 2.6.0: www.reddit.com/r/PFSENSE/comments/t872mx/fix_issues_with_realtek_nic_on_pfsense_260/ Best of luck!
I would be surprised if the next generation of Zimaboard didn’t have 2.5GbE NICs since most of the recent gen SBCs coming out have them. 10GbE is harder to swing for a few reasons, cost, bus bandwidth, and thermal issues being the main ones. But we’ll see what the future holds!
How on earth do you add a pcie card with no mounting housing. I need at least 3 ports. Wan, lan0, lan1 for a segmented network (computers and iot devices)
OK, so it handle Gigabit connections. Now what happens if you through pfBlockerNG, Snort, or any other form of IPS/IDS on it? I am sure that Celeron N3450 will crater. Obviously for home, it's fine. Businesses, step up to a proper NetGate appliance.
I don't think anyone would recommend using this for a business, we're certainly not. But for a homelab or self-hosting environment, it's a good fit on the price/performance spectrum.
Anyone having video out issues on these boards? Im having a hell of a time getting video. Using the same display port adapter\hdmi cable and monitor, I can get the display to come up once in every 20 tries or so. Makes no sense at all. I keep rebooting the machine over and over until finally a display comes up. Does this trying to get into BIOS, boot to CasaOS or Booting to Ubuntu
I just can’t see the the value in these with micro pc’s out Lenovo m720q can be had at the same price or less, 6cores with sodimm ram up to 64gb, and has a pci slot For contrast I’m using one with a quad 2.5 nic. Sure it’s overkill for a router but just virtualize the pfsense in Proxmox with it.
Daggum...I just bought the netgate 1100...the zima board is twice that and cheaper...fooey Ah well...the 1100 does just fine..if it smokes I will get a zima! The zima is a bit overkill...but hey...it's cheaper...LOL Thanks for this!!!
Rich. I had a question for you. Maybe you can answer. I am having a difficult time finding the answer. Can the two CPU cables from a Corsair AX860 be used with Corsair HX1200? I appreciate any response. Thanks Rich. Hope you guys are doing well. Let me know if your going live any time soon.
Hugh! So far as my research can tell, they're the same pinout and should work together. It looks like Corsair doesn't change their modular PSU pinouts between models, so the cables _should_ work between models. This research is based on Corsair's own cable kits that are being sold for Corsair PSUs, being compatible with AX, HX, RM, and SF models. (for example, amzn.to/3IVmD4a midway down the page, Corsair's marketing material says they're cross-compatible.). And logically, from a manufacturer's perspective, they want to minimize the number of unique parts they need for production, so reusing the same connectors and pinouts makes engineering and financial sense for them as well. Good luck!
Good video and something worth noting is that the issues in pfsense with Realtek don't always show up right away, even when using longer iperf tests. They show more so when there are a larger number of streams and state tables.
Great point! What's your take on installing updated Realtek drivers and disabling TCP checksum offloading? It's solved/prevented any issues on the systems we've tested with. Does that align with your experiences?
@@2GuysTek Because we do a lot of business deployments of pfsense we mostly avoid the Realtek based NIC's. But on the consulting side we have done some troubleshooting and sometimes Realtek (and sometimes Broadcom) have been the source of mystery problems. The updated drives might help solve those issue and might make for some good content around the Zima board. Another idea might be to grab an Intel card for the Zima board and skip using the on board as 2 or 4 ports Intel cards can be picked up for cheap on eBay. Ping me some time if you want to chat.
@@2GuysTek so does this work or do I need an Intel card to pair this with?
It will work with the Realtek NIC onboard, but it’s highly recommended to update the driver included with pfSense if you plan on using it. There are reports of stability issues with included driver for Realtek phys in the current Community Edition of pfSense. Here’s a link to a walkthrough on how to update the driver: www.reddit.com/r/PFSENSE/comments/t872mx/fix_issues_with_realtek_nic_on_pfsense_260/ best of luck!
Love it! This was a good one ! ALOT of people are going to like this for their Homelabs and stuff, people don't want a big beefy power hungry box any more !! Good work boys !
Enjoyed this video 👍 about pfsense on a zimaboard, thank you.
Kindest regards, friends and neighbours.
NGL i was expecting it to at least max out the nics on the speed tests! you should put a 10g nic in it like the other guy was saying on here and see what happens
This!
Yes, can you add a 10GB SPF+ PCie card to that PCie slot? Will be nice to see the power consumption and performance even if do not reach 10GB speeds, alternatively maybe with 2.5GB nics ?
This sounds like a follow-up video to me!
@@2GuysTek would love to see a video on it!
@@2GuysTek I’d like to see a follow up video on this too.
I do have same but wont recognize 10G ethernet board, I did try in an external pc it does work, anything I need to do extra to make it work?
thank you for amazing tutorial video, actually I install proxmox on Zima board and when I try to install opnsense on Zima board after rebooting without usb the Zima board boot on proxmox os NOT opnsense so is there any ways to install opnsense on internal storge of Zima board? thanks agin.
Thx
Perfect video! Do you think cheaper versions of zimaboard are enough for firewall? Was thinking I'll buy 216 just for pfsense.
For 1Gbit, should be fine.
Last time I tried to run PFSense years ago it throttled my downloads even though speedtest showed normal. Does it do this on the zima board?
good timing, mine should be in this week.Can anyone point to the driver install option for the nic card?
There are plenty of writeups for v2.5.0 but few concise writeups for 2.6.0. Here's a link to a Reddit post that walks through the process for 2.6.0: www.reddit.com/r/PFSENSE/comments/t872mx/fix_issues_with_realtek_nic_on_pfsense_260/ Best of luck!
What I'd like to see is a home server using a cluster. Any chance you could pull that off with say, 4 of these?
We're always happy to get ideas like this! We'll add it to the list, thank you!
Please what’s the recommended Wi-Fi card for PfSense in the zimaboard? Thanks
I think an Atheros AR5B22 should be ok
Were these results with smart queue/traffic shaping enabled?
Thanks!
There was no discernible difference in performance with it enabled. Thanks for the comment!
Hope they come up with a version of 10 or 2.5g nics
I would be surprised if the next generation of Zimaboard didn’t have 2.5GbE NICs since most of the recent gen SBCs coming out have them. 10GbE is harder to swing for a few reasons, cost, bus bandwidth, and thermal issues being the main ones. But we’ll see what the future holds!
Will it run TNSR?
How on earth do you add a pcie card with no mounting housing. I need at least 3 ports. Wan, lan0, lan1 for a segmented network (computers and iot devices)
That’s a valid question. You’d need to come up with some sort of housing for any add-in cards you hang off of it.
Curious to see netgate's tnsr on it as well
20k and growing.
OK, so it handle Gigabit connections. Now what happens if you through pfBlockerNG, Snort, or any other form of IPS/IDS on it? I am sure that Celeron N3450 will crater. Obviously for home, it's fine. Businesses, step up to a proper NetGate appliance.
I don't think anyone would recommend using this for a business, we're certainly not. But for a homelab or self-hosting environment, it's a good fit on the price/performance spectrum.
Anyone having video out issues on these boards? Im having a hell of a time getting video. Using the same display port adapter\hdmi cable and monitor, I can get the display to come up once in every 20 tries or so. Makes no sense at all. I keep rebooting the machine over and over until finally a display comes up. Does this trying to get into BIOS, boot to CasaOS or Booting to Ubuntu
Are you using an adapter for your display output? We’ve had issues with cheap adapters causing similar problems.
I just can’t see the the value in these with micro pc’s out
Lenovo m720q can be had at the same price or less, 6cores with sodimm ram up to 64gb, and has a pci slot
For contrast I’m using one with a quad 2.5 nic. Sure it’s overkill for a router but just virtualize the pfsense in Proxmox with it.
Micro PCs like the Lenovo you mentioned make _fantastic_ firewalls! Thanks for the comment!
Daggum...I just bought the netgate 1100...the zima board is twice that and cheaper...fooey
Ah well...the 1100 does just fine..if it smokes I will get a zima! The zima is a bit overkill...but hey...it's cheaper...LOL
Thanks for this!!!
Rich. I had a question for you. Maybe you can answer. I am having a difficult time finding the answer. Can the two CPU cables from a Corsair AX860 be used with Corsair HX1200? I appreciate any response. Thanks Rich. Hope you guys are doing well. Let me know if your going live any time soon.
Hugh! So far as my research can tell, they're the same pinout and should work together. It looks like Corsair doesn't change their modular PSU pinouts between models, so the cables _should_ work between models. This research is based on Corsair's own cable kits that are being sold for Corsair PSUs, being compatible with AX, HX, RM, and SF models. (for example, amzn.to/3IVmD4a midway down the page, Corsair's marketing material says they're cross-compatible.).
And logically, from a manufacturer's perspective, they want to minimize the number of unique parts they need for production, so reusing the same connectors and pinouts makes engineering and financial sense for them as well.
Good luck!
@@2GuysTek Thanks Rich!
This is a decent firewall for the price and low-power, but the latest N100/N200 4-port routers w/2.5E are a better value-price propositon for
Dislike for the horrendous clickbait thumbnail.