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Can I upgrade SG 105 disk and RAM?

BarrettVS
I’m planning to purchase a Sophos SG 105 or SG 115 for work.  We use less than 1 Mbps, but we need many services (Firewall, NAT, IPS, Email Protection with spam filter and antivirus, URL filtering and antivirus, Webserver protection and a couple SSL VPN connections).  We want to buy an appliance and pay for a subscription and support rather than roll our own as we do with our current, non-Sophos firewall.

My question is: What happens if I open the SG 105 and replace the HDD with SSD (which I prefer for reliability, it will be an enterprise grade SSD) and upgrade the RAM to 4 GB (for future-proofing)?  Can I reinstall and have it keep working as an appliance?  Similarly, what happens if the HDD crashes, can I replace it with one off the shelf or do I have to wait for a replacement from Sophos and go without a firewall?

I read the thread below, and got the impression that if I did this it will be like using the free version on a home-built computer, which I don’t want.

[URL="https://www.astaro.org/gateway-products/hardware-installation-up2date-licensing/54063-sg105-home-use.html"]www.astaro.org/.../54063-sg105-home-use.html
[/URL]
I’d be happy to pay for the SG 115 to get the 4 GB but I’d still like SSD.  The SG 230 with SSD is not in our budget.

Thanks for any responses.  A high quality user forum is a major factor in my purchasing decision.


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  • 0
    If you are worried about downtime from a failed drive, you should be worried about downtime from a failed SSD.

    Consider getting a second SG115 (you don't need a second license for the features, just the base hardware) and use an active/passive HA setup.  That would be a far better choice than modifying a preconfigured appliance.
  • 0
    My question is: What happens if I open the SG 105 and replace the HDD with SSD (which I prefer for reliability, it will be an enterprise grade SSD) and upgrade the RAM to 4 GB (for future-proofing)? Can I reinstall and have it keep working as an appliance? Similarly, what happens if the HDD crashes, can I replace it with one off the shelf or do I have to wait for a replacement from Sophos and go without a firewall?
    You would lose support and warranty by modifying the hardware.  The hardware installer ISO has a built-in hardware check and if the wrong hardware is detected for a model of appliance, the install will abort.

    To avoid these issues you have a few options.  Firstly, purchase a software license (based on number of client IPs).  Now you can either install using the software install ISO on your own hardware or on a Sophos appliance.  The plus with doing the last is you can use a Sophos appliance and change the hardware any way you wish, while keeping support.  The negatives are that the appliance would not be covered under warranty and by using the software install/software license combo, any LCD on the appliance wouldn't work.
    __________________
    ACE v8/SCA v9.3

    ...still have a v5 install disk in a box somewhere.

    http://xkcd.com
    http://www.tedgoff.com/mb
    http://www.projectcartoon.com/cartoon/1
  • 0 in reply to Scott_Klassen
    Thank you for the responses, they were very helpful.

    Epoch - You’re right, I tend to think of SSDs as perfect, but they do fail, so I should have a plan for that. The cost of the extra appliance wouldn’t be much more than a really good SSD.

    Scott_Klassen - That is a good “out of the box” suggestion.  I wasn’t thinking of buying the appliance and the software license. That could be a good deal for us because we have very few users.  I appreciate knowing what will and won’t work. I like the idea of knowing the hardware will be supported.  I don’t think the hardware warranty is critical, especially if I have a spare appliance.

    Thanks again, like I said I consider a good user forum an important part of the product.  I posted a question on another vendor’s forum a week ago, and also to a presales technical person, and haven’t gotten a response. That’s not a good sign.

    P.S.  I meant to post this in Hardware, Installation, Licensing, but obviously I made a mistake.  Sorry for being a bad citizen.
  • 0
    Hey Barrett,

    Another suggestion I'd make is get in touch with a local Sophos partner before you commit to buy anything. They can set you up with appliances to test drive and help you decide what you need hardware wise. They're also the first point of contact for support if you have a regular support contract.
  • 0 in reply to Scott_Klassen

    I have an SG105.

    I want to upgrade its memory from 2 to either 4 or 8 GB.

    I understand that opening it will void warranty etc.

    But if I am okay with that, will the OS detect the hardware change and disable anything?

    Or this "hardware ISO" that you talked about, has the capability to check for hardware compliance only during INSTALL?

  • 0 in reply to Terri Worl

    Hi, Terri, and welcome to the UTM Community!

    I don't think anyone knows the answer to your question.  If you are a home user, I suggest selling that SG 105 and installing on a used PC with at least 4GB of RAM, 60GB HDD and the fastest processor you can afford.

    If you are a business user, speak with your reseller.

    Cheers - Bob

     
    Sophos UTM Community Moderator
    Sophos Certified Architect - UTM
    Sophos Certified Engineer - XG
    Gold Solution Partner since 2005
    MediaSoft, Inc. USA
  • 0 in reply to Terri Worl

    Hi Terri,

     

    The old UTM110/120 you could upgrade the HDD, but not the RAM (max was 2Gb for the 110/120).

    Bob's Suggestions is best, get another pc, or maybe even a Hyper Visor and run them both as virtual, organise a Passive-Active HA setup, then put in a small UPS, and voila, simple solution, and only one license to pay for the UTM.

    I think the UPS will be bigger than the UTMs ... lol

    you can only account for between 90-95% of situations, that require redundancy/resiliency, unless you throw more money at it.

    Hope this helps

    Jason

    XG & UTM Architect (Systems: XG v18 & UTM 9.7 - Virtual, HW & SW)
    Curious enough to take it apart, skilled enough to put it back together, Clever enough to hide the extra parts when I'm Done!

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