lib00 Posted June 1, 2019 Posted June 1, 2019 Hi, I've read this post but it's two years old. What I need is a SBC (in order to save some energy costs, otherwise have to go to x86) that could be used as a small SOHO firewall and router and also small file and backup server. I'd need gigabit ethernet (preferably with dedicated controller), at least one, could buy a dongle to have another port. A SATA interface would be nice, otherwise USB 3 is needed. Probably at least two USB 3, one for the ethernet dongle, another for the SATA disk. UASP support would be great. The lower the cost and the more stable the best. What do you recommend?
Heisath Posted June 4, 2019 Posted June 4, 2019 Hi, I would not recommend using the espressobin right now, because it seems to have some different hardware versions with more or less problems currently, just look into the bug report forum for espressobin and check the last few threads. I'd rather use the clearfog (pro) board from solidrun. It features a dedicated gbit wan port and a 6 port gbit switch. This will probably be good when used as router/firewall/switch. It also has some sfp cage which could be used for another gbit copper or even higher speeds fiber - but I am unsure about how good kernel support is for that atm. For you're storage needs it has 2 mPCIe Ports in which you can put some SATA controller - the one linked on the download page (with Marvell Controller 4 channel) is working. And there are also a few others (Delock) which should work. Maxing this out you could get up to 8 SATA drives running. Be sure to check out x86, there are some mini-itx mainboard/cpu combos with pretty decent stats and low consumption as well. In the end this mainly depends on where your priority lies: consumption, storage, network, processing power? And always remember that you'd need some external power supply giving you 12V and 5V for the hdd's. Or some extra buck converter. Greetings, count-doku
lib00 Posted June 4, 2019 Author Posted June 4, 2019 Hi, I've also read not so great reviews of the espressobin. I'm going to check that clearfog (pro) board. Meanwhile, I've look into the NanoPi NEO4, looks great, but the software seems lacking. There's also the Pine64 RockPro64. With a PCIE card, two SATA ports become available. It has USB 3.0 that is enough for another drive. But, when adding all the costs, board, power supply, heat sing, case, transport cost, custom duties and other costs, then, well, it's probably better to have a undervolted x86 system, for which I'm only lacking the mobo.
Heisath Posted June 5, 2019 Posted June 5, 2019 Hi, single pcie card can give you 4 SATA already (there http://amzn.to/2fEd93N from the armbian download page) Depending where you live it might be worth to check the pcengines boards: https://pcengines.ch/apu2.htm They also have some nice boards, with lots of ethernet and mpcie slots. Don't know about the software support though.
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