N100 or i3-N305 for a Home Firewall Router Appliance?

c64 on 11/11/2024 - 21:04
Last edited 11/11/2024 - 21:51

I am considering getting a fan-less 6 port firewall appliance off Aliexpress, probably a bare CWWK one with big cooling fins and USB3.2.

I was planning on a bare-metal pfSense/OPNsense installation for a home internet firewall/router + some Wireguard VPNs. Also I wouldn't mind running a postfix mail server with a dovecot imap server.

I am torn between an N100 or i3-N305. The N100 is less powerful, consumes less power and runs cooler. The i3-N305 costs about USD$70 more at the moment but is more powerful, consumes a little more power and runs hotter.

What are your recommendations?

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Comments

  • rumblytangara on 11/11/2024 - 21:28
    +3

    You want to run a… mail server… on your firewall?

    Virtualisation is great and all, but still. The critical permitter firewall/router is where you want to KISS.

    • c64 on 11/11/2024 - 21:42

      Not a public one, more a mail relay end-point with dovecot imap mail server. I've currently got a postfix mail server on a VPS which forwards mail onwards to an old PC at home through a VPN. I don't use gmail or any 3rd-party providers like that.

      I imagine freebsd will be idle most of the time so I'm not expecting occasional mail to load it much.

  • boomramada on 11/11/2024 - 23:43

    I thought about this like years ago then realised unnecessary security.

  • scotty on 12/11/2024 - 11:12

    How much traffic are you expecting to pass through this router? If you aren't running any intensive packet inspection, I think N100 would be more than sufficient for home router with Gbit connection. Same with Postfix & Dovecot — how many emails and IMAP users are you serving? Again, I don't think N100 would have any issue handling 5-6 inboxes for family or small office. I think the CPU intensive part of email delivery is content filtering (spam filtering, anti-virus, etc) which can be offloaded to your VPS.

  • jugsy on 12/11/2024 - 12:23

    If you're going to put this much effort in to a firewall, please do NOT put a DIY mail server on it lol

  • djak on 12/11/2024 - 12:37

    Depends on your goals.

    If you want low power and fanless, you can get the n100, if the find the performance is not up to scatch and you cant priortise the routing traffic over mail then get another n100 and move the mail features to a second n100.

    If performance is king and you only want one piece of hardware then it sounds like n305 is the way to go.

  • c64 on 12/11/2024 - 16:08

    thanks all, i might try the N100. i'm not sure if i need the extra grunt of the i3-N305 and its associated hotter thermals

  • c64 on 21/11/2024 - 17:32

    i received it today. i popped in in some crucial DDR5 4800MHz CL40 and after a blank screen for about a minute (and a bit of cursing), it beeped and came alive. it passed memtest86+. i am quite impressed so far. it idles at around 30C (ambient 22C) and under 10W once a linux live CD is booted, a bit more when in the BIOS. i think i might put a small low RPM fan over the fins to peace of mind. the supplied 60W power brick isn't too efficient, around 0.50PF at idle.

    • scotty on 21/11/2024 - 19:05

      That's pretty quick delivery. If the 6W N100 gets hot and might require a fan, imagine the heat generated by i3-N305 with TDP of 15W.

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