Create Your Own Router and Firewall Solution

Pricing and Conclusion

Pricing

The Shuttle Slim DH110 4K capable barebone can be found on Amazon for £201.01 at the time of writing. The two memory modules will cost you another £26.30 each while the Intel Core i3-6100 Skylake CPU will cost you £106.45. A 240GB Crucial BX200 is another £73.44 while a 275GB Crucial MX300 would be £83.98. That makes a total of £433.50/£444.04.

That’s not a low price, but the system is overkill for most setups. You could get an Atom or Celeron based system, you could get less memory, and you could use an SD card instead of an SSD. Optionally, you could get something like the QOTOM Systems where you can get a complete setup with SoC, storage, memory, and four LAN ports, all for £118.00.

Conclusion

Building your router or firewall is a lot easier than most people think. We think of them as specialised pieces of hardware, but in the end, you can do it with any PC. The software to use it is what counts and installing it ist probably also a lot easier than you thought. In fact, I’d say it is easier than installing Windows. Fewer options and things for you to worry about as almost everything happens automatically.

What you get is a firewall and router setup with pretty much every possible function at your disposal. It doesn’t matter whether you want to keep your network secure or tunnel your way around via VPNs. The user interface is easy to use, and despite a lot of functions, you’ll find everything you need quickly. The number of options you have is unrivalled by most products; providing you with some of the best you can get.

If you only want a firewall to intercept and manage traffic, then you can do it on a budget with ease. A simple SoC system with a couple of LAN ports will do the trick. But you do have the option to go a lot further with it and install all sort of add-in cards, from wireless cards to 10 Gigabit network adapters. Our setup today was a bit overkill for a simple configuration and comes in over £400 for everything. In a way, that’s a lot. On the other hand, compared to a standard over-the-counter router, you have nearly unlimited resources.

Pros:

• Easy to install
• Works with any x86 compatible system
• Build what you need
• Every function and ability available that you could want from such a device
• Quick patches due to Open-Source

Cons:

• More options can lead to confusion
• Total price can quickly rise as you plan your perfect setup

“pfSense is an excellent way to get the router and firewall setup you’ve always dreamed of owning. It’s easier than you may think and the only thing that might take a while is you finishing your settings.” 

Thank You Shuttle and Crucial for providing us with the hardware