Qotom J1900 pfSense - performance ?

[TomT]

Hi

I've noticed a few people mention the Qotom J1900 being used for pfSense.. Can you advise how you find the performance, how many users and devices are used and what packages do you have installed.

I'm looking at the Qotom J1900 box with 8GB Ram and 128GSD

I have around 10 users and approx 40 devices ranging from TVs, Mobiles, Chromecasts, Xbox, PS3, PCs, MACs, Linux Boxs, IP Phones and PBX's. The internet connection is 80/20 fibre. Some of the devices will be accessing via Wireless.

Will the Qotom be able to handle pfSense, pfBlockerNG, Snort and a one/two occasional VPN users ?
Or am I expecting too much from it ?

If it will, moving forward when the connection speed is increased any idea what I should be able to support ? 150/50 ?

Thanks

 

[System Error Message]

depends if its a full iseries core or if its an atom core. If its a full iseries core the performance will be great, if its an atom core im not so sure.

Other thing is that since it uses celeron dont expect good vpn performance from the lacking hardware encryption as celerons are the bottom of everything and usually have features removed.

Even if its with an atom core it will support your needed 200Mb/s speed and vpn near those speeds.

 

[TomT]

VPN isn't a major issue. Very occasionally I may have one or two users using it.

I've seen lots of posts people raving about this Qotom system, I'd like to make sure it will support the packages, users and devices I have.

 

[sfx2000]

There's a good writeup here on another thread on the QOTOM - pretty decent performance all around..

 

[sfx2000]

depends if its a full iseries core or if its an atom core. If its a full iseries core the performance will be great, if its an atom core im not so sure.

Other thing is that since it uses celeron dont expect good vpn performance from the lacking hardware encryption as celerons are the bottom of everything and usually have features removed.

J1900 has decent performance over VPN - better than any of the ARM based solutions out there...

 

[TomT]

Thanks sfx2000 I have read that and it does look good.

I just want to make sure it will fit my requirements, before I order it..

 

[sfx2000]

Thanks sfx2000 I have read that and it does look good.

I just want to make sure it will fit my requirements, before I order it..

Just keep in mind that you'll likely want to keep the older Router/AP for wireless - put it into AP mode, and let pfSense handle the routing/gateway/firewall work.

 

[TomT]

Thanks for the advice.
I've got a new HH5 which I'll be using as a wireless access point. It seems to have a stronger wireless signal than my Asus.

I was more concerned if the J1900 could cope with pfSence, pfBlockerNG and Snort for my users.

Thanks

 

[sfx2000]

I was more concerned if the J1900 could cope with pfSence, pfBlockerNG and Snort for my users.

It won't have any issues there...

 

[Cake]

Happy with mine. My small network isn't very demanding, but opnsense running on it has been up for almost 3 months as well as the ap attached to it (old wrt54gl). I think you will be fine using openvpn on the j1900 CPU, not sure if you could saturate your 80mb connection though. My internet speed is 10. Should mention most of my wired connections sit behind a dumb switch, which sits behind qotom.
Up to 8 wired and 5± on the ap.

 

[Cake]

Thanks for the advice.
I've got a new HH5 which I'll be using as a wireless access point. It seems to have a stronger wireless signal than my Asus.

I was more concerned if the J1900 could cope with pfSence, pfBlockerNG and Snort for my users.

Thanks

Is that a pre-neutered ASUS you mention? Before the FW lock down? I would like to find a AP with the same power as my broken AC68U had.

 

[TomT]

I've got a AC68U running merlins firmware and it works very well.

I did a test and walked around the house monitoring the wireless signal on 2.4 & 5.
I then did the same using the HH5, which gave a much better range.

I plan to use Qotom/pfSense and the HH5 here and send the 68U to another site.

 

[sfx2000]

pardon me for asking - what's an HH5?

 

[TomT]

Hi

HH5 is BT HomeHub 5
http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/bt/bt-home-hub-5

I got a new one from ebay for £10.00

 

[System Error Message]

I suggest you do not get a homehub 5 as your needs arent basic. If you are planning to use snort, filters, etc do not get the homehub 5 as that is meant to be even more basic than tp-link. It is a stable router but lacks the features and flexibility (it is locked into BT and theres no bridge mode).

It also isnt very fast either, 1 ms longer in routing than asus. Its got the hardware needed to reliably support a home network for vdsl2 and also keep up with many connections such as for torrenting fans but has fewer features than tp link. Range on it isnt great either compared to asus, reason why asus range seems lower is because it tends to try to keep you on 5Ghz as much as possible rather than 2.4Ghz. I have the ASUS AC88U, AC68U, AC3200 and all of them outrange the bt homehub 5 which i also have to the point where some devices can see it but arent powerful enough to talk back.

The HH5 is meant for those that want the basics without the full performance. Its got decent range and stability but no more than what would be expected from a low end router with internal antennas. What differentiates it from older common consumer wifi routers is that it doesnt fail as often.

I have gamed with both and i get 10ms in online fps games. My ping on mikrotik is 2ms lower than with the HH5 on average because of the hugely faster CPU and directly connected ports. With the asus as a router the difference is only 1 ms on average (ac88U). At the very least the HH5 is comparable to tp link in their reliability but with less features.

If you do want the HH5 i suggest the 5A as 5B CPU is slightly slower and consumes more power. However they both have different chips so the version you get depends on what brand your cabinet is.

 

[TomT]

The aim of the HH5 is purely as a wireless access point.

I plan to leave the openreach modem connected and use the pfsense box as the router/firewall.

As far as I can tell that should work.

 

[sfx2000]

The aim of the HH5 is purely as a wireless access point.

I plan to leave the openreach modem connected and use the pfsense box as the router/firewall.

As far as I can tell that should work.

Considering your client load, and the amount of resources applied - should be a very nice little setup...

Before pouring in things like Snort/pfBlocker/etc... just get the box up and running and stable...

Couple of basics - ensure that you set power saving options correctly - enable PowerD with HiAdapter for all three options there, along with Thermal setting (Intel Core on-die) - this will ensure that the J1900 turbo's up when needed...

Then add the following lines to the boot config - this does a couple of things that are useful for all Intel NIC's...

/boot/loader.conf.local

legal.intel_ipw.license_ack=1
legal.intel_iwi.license_ack=1

If you're going with SSD - might want to ensure TRIM is enabled - @Dennis Wood explains it well here on his build post...

Also - if one is running an SSD, then don't check the "Use RAM disk for /tmp and /var" box - there's a bug here where the unique ID that is used to grab an IPv6 address which might cause issues if one is port forwarding services over ipv6 - over ipv4 it's not an issue, but with a 128GB SSD, it's not an issue in any event...

The VNStat package is kinda nice if one's broadband provider runs CAP limits, so you can see progress against things - pfSense 2.3 remove a lot of the RRD tool graphs, so the "Status_Traffic_Totals" package helps there -- see below;

 

[TomT]

Thanks sfx2000.
I'm ordering today and will post how I get on.

The plan is start with the basics and them move forward from there.

One thing I need to find is how to backup or snapshot the box, so if something goes wrong I can roll it back, OS and pfsense. (I spend a lot of time using virtual machines so I love snapshots!)

Anyone any ideas for that ?

 

[sfx2000]

One thing I need to find is how to backup or snapshot the box, so if something goes wrong I can roll it back, OS and pfsense. (I spend a lot of time using virtual machines so I love snapshots!)

Anyone any ideas for that ?

Built in to pfSense...

 

[TomT]

Just thought I'd post back.
I've been using the Qotom/pfSense setup since Christmas and it works really well.

Due to its location my Qotom J1900 runs around 45-50c most of the time.
I decided to add an external fan and now the temp is at 32c.

I decided to buy this : https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00G05A2MU/?tag=smallncom-21
It happily sits on top of the Qotom blowing cool air across it. I've not needed to screw it in place.

On the slowest setting it is silent and that has reduced my boxes temp to 32c.
Even at full speed it's still pretty quiet.

Hope this is help to some one