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Hardware recommendation for UTM Home Edition

Hello, I'm looking for a small dual Ethernet machine on which to run Sophos UTM Home Edition. Any recommendations?


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  • I just built a inexpensive Sophos with the following.
    Price: (Bensbargains.net $35) watch for specials - Newegg.com
    CS Elitegroup ECS AMD E1-2100 Dual Core Processor Mini ITX DDR3 1333 Motherboard KBN-I/2100 (1.1) 

    Price: (Bensbargains.net $40) watch for specials - $40 rebate
    Kingston HyperX FURY 8GB Kit (2x4GB) 1333MHz DDR3 CL9 DIMM - Blue (HX313C9FK2/8)

    Price: (Newegg.com $30) - After $10 mail-in rebate
    LOGISYS Computer CS6801BK Aluminum Mini-ITX Tower Computer Case 350W Power Supply

    Price: (eBay $25) 
    Sun / Intel 371-0905-03 Dual-Port 2-Port GIGABIT Ethernet PCI-E Low-Profile

    Price: (eBay $90)
    Astaro AP30 Access Point (Controlled by Sophos UTM)

    Used 120GB SSD Laptop Hard drive (Free)
    ===============================
    $220 (After Rebates)

    Everything works really well. I have not had any issues with the firewall or AP.
  • Hello,

     

    For now I am using an Lenovo ThinkCentre computer.

    has 4 gig ram

    Intel core 2 vpro CPU (e8400) @3ghz

    320 gig hard drive

    I have 4 network ports in mine. And also the Broadcom Network chips used by HP Network Server cards I believe can be an issue also. But yes Intel Network cards / chip sets work well.

    Using the home license currently running UTM ver 9.506-2

    Works very well for me.

  • What kind of traffic you run through this? 100Mbit internet? Do you scan the traffic with 1 AV engine or 2? Thanks.

  • Hello, I am on Mediacom Cable Modem with their Ultra Plus package.  As the cable companies fine print states up to 150 Mbps download speed and up to 20 megs upload speed. and 2TB of usage / Monthly bandwidth.  I do not have any TV except for streaming Netflix and Amazon Prime.  Under my Web Protection / FTP my Antivirus is set to Dual Scan.

    I primarly run Ubuntu Linux systems and then some Windows 7 / 10 at the moment. Windows and Linux updates and downloads seem to go just fine.

    I am trying to get the https scanning working or web filtering under web protection. Turn it on and everything works on Linux machines when I import the UTM Certificate, but after import on Windows boxes it does not work or display right, I think that issue is on the Windowzes side.

    In time I will utilize the VPN and HTML5 VPN connections.

    Right now I am using 3% CPU and 36% of the 4 gigs ram. I can not tell or notice any delays.

    Chad

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  • Hello, I am on Mediacom Cable Modem with their Ultra Plus package.  As the cable companies fine print states up to 150 Mbps download speed and up to 20 megs upload speed. and 2TB of usage / Monthly bandwidth.  I do not have any TV except for streaming Netflix and Amazon Prime.  Under my Web Protection / FTP my Antivirus is set to Dual Scan.

    I primarly run Ubuntu Linux systems and then some Windows 7 / 10 at the moment. Windows and Linux updates and downloads seem to go just fine.

    I am trying to get the https scanning working or web filtering under web protection. Turn it on and everything works on Linux machines when I import the UTM Certificate, but after import on Windows boxes it does not work or display right, I think that issue is on the Windowzes side.

    In time I will utilize the VPN and HTML5 VPN connections.

    Right now I am using 3% CPU and 36% of the 4 gigs ram. I can not tell or notice any delays.

    Chad

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  • Can you runhttp://www.speedtest.net/ couple of times, and say what are your transfers? In the meantime you can keep an eye on the CPU and RAM load graphs. If you run the test multiple times, it will start showing changes.

  • I would post this in another thread if I were you.

  • Hello,

    Yes I would imagine speed tests might be better off under another topic / section.

    As far as speed tests,  I would only give them some credit. I am on Mediacom Cable modem service. The available bandwidth you have at any given time is shared with the neighbors and anyone else who is connected on your node.  ( The node or box mounted up on the utility pole. A simple analogy to cable modem Internet is thinking of the good old days of the old coax 50 ohm 10 base 2 network drop.  Everyone connected to it shared the bandwidth. DSL, T1, and other point to point connections where you are a direct connect from your home to the Telco or ISP provider over dedicated paired wires, you have full bandwidth as allowed or that you are paying for on that circuit.

    That is why Mediacom and I assume other cable modem service providers always state your Internet speed is not guaranteed. That is why they say "up to xyz Megs/sec." And then again depending on what networks and routers you hit between you and the speed tests site, hard to judge given traffic over all and true bandwidth available to you. I am sure if I use a hosted speed test site run by and internal to Mediacom's network, I will see better results than when I use a speed test site outside of Mediacom's network. People sometimes forget that it is really not what download / Internet bandwidth speed you have, your real factor is what is the available bandwidth of the server / web site at the other end that you are accessing. And then weather they at the other end limit and throttle the bandwidth of each client or socket connection.  So take speed tests with a grain of salt. They can be nice for a general test and see, but do not take them at 100% 

     

    Even if your Service provider guarantees you say 100 Mbps down and up, I am sure they are giving you that, but once you leave their network and connect to any site / server  on the net, you are really at the mercy of the other end.

    If you have old computers around to use to begin with, load one up and try it out, if not, try or buy a little better.

    I did run one speed test for you:

    http://www.speedtest.net/

    I am in the state of IL, USA, and the Spead test site it is using is Chicago,IL

    I have 10ms latency, 225Mbps download and 24.5Mbps upload.

    I do not have TV service and I stream all my viewing entertainment from Netflix and Amazon Prime and all my shows have no issues.

    Also keep in mind as you turn on more features and functions in UTM, like Web Filtering, VPN and other things, each service, function, filter, rule may utilize a little more CPU. If you are building this truly for home use and typical home network traffic, Any decent dual core / quad core CPU of 2.5 ghz or faster and 4 gigs or more ram should do very well.  I would say any quad core 2.5 ghz or faster and 4 to 8 gigs ram using good quality Gig Ethernet cards, you should have no issues.

     

    If you want to try to compare a computer against a Sophos SG Appliance? They make many models  and seem to start with the SG105. Get the spec sheets of it and I am sure it will tell you CPU, CPU speed, Ram and drive storage. Use that information to compare against motherboard / computer you plan to use. If you are really worried about it and want a guarantee for performance, buy a Sophos appliance and put the home free license on it. I have seen various places selling new and used Sophos / Astaro Appliances without license.  As seen below in some advertisements, they list suggested uses and expectations for the appliances.

     

    xg85 - runs the XG version - I suppose you might be able to replace it with UTM?

    Recommend User Limit: 10
    » Form Factor: Desktop
    » Firewall throughput: 2 Gbps
    » VPN throughput: 200 Mbps
    » UTM Throughput: 235 Mbps
    » Ethernet interfaces: 4 x GE

    I see the

    SG105 -UTM

    » Recommend User Limit: 10
    » Form Factor: Desktop
    » Firewall throughput: 1.5 Gbps
    » VPN throughput: 325 Mbps
    » UTM throughput: 90 Mbps
    » Ethernet interfaces: 4 x GE

     

    Hope this helps and gives you a little better idea.

     

    Chad