June 25, 2013 at 11:01Simple, silent and with AMD Geode on board
ALIX motherboards are small, low-power motherboards designed for multi-function network devices as well as thin clients.
I will not dare to compare this hardware with CISCO in this topic, but it alone is worthy of attention.
ALIX boards are made (of course, in Taiwan factories) by the Swiss company PC Engines .
Today I will talk about the ALIX.2d13 platform and the router based on it.
As in the previous post , we will focus on the network platform. Let me remind you that
Here are the dry specifications of alix.2d13 running pfSense 2.0.3:
PS. We offer to habruzers a 5% discount on the entire assortment of alix boards and routers based on them.
I will not dare to compare this hardware with CISCO in this topic, but it alone is worthy of attention.
ALIX boards are made (of course, in Taiwan factories) by the Swiss company PC Engines .
Today I will talk about the ALIX.2d13 platform and the router based on it.
As in the previous post , we will focus on the network platform. Let me remind you that
A network platform is hardware designed to work in telecommunication networks with installed software tailored for various network tasks (routing, NAT, VPN, proxy, firewall, etc.).
- The boards use an AMD Geode chip with low power consumption, due to which the device consumes only 6-10W in the load.
- The x86 architecture makes it possible to use any distributed system as an OS, whether it be FreeBSD, Linux, or specialized distributions based on them. In test mode , Windows XP Embedded was launched on the boards ( models with VGA).
- Auxiliary cryptographic block AMD Geode LX Security Block, supporting AES-128 hardware crypto acceleration, as well as a hardware random number generator.
- Each Ethernet port has its own controller, which ensures maximum performance of the Ethernet subsystem.
- MiniPCI expansion slots allow you to connect peripherals, starting from the POST - diagnostic board, ending with Gigabit Ethernet, RS-232, CAN - controllers.
- Alix.6f2 boards also have a MiniPCI-E slot for connecting internal 3G modems, while support for hybrid MultiWAN configurations with load balancing appears: 3 WAN + WiFi LAN / Ethernet + 3G / Ethernet + Wi-Fi / Wi-Fi + 3G
Here are the dry specifications of alix.2d13 running pfSense 2.0.3:
| Model | Alix.2d13 pfSense |
|---|---|
| Active sessions | 50,000 (Limited by RAM size) |
| Throughput on traffic filtering | 86 Mbps / port |
| IPSec VPN Bandwidth | 25+ Mbps (AES-128) 15.5 Mbps (AES-256) 13.7 Mbps (3DES) |
| Max. number of VPN sessions (PPTP) | 1,500 |
| Multi-Wan and load balancing | 2 WANs with load balancing |
| Scheme redundancy | Active / Standby |
| CPU specifications | 500Mhz AMD Geode LX CPU + AMD Geode LX Security Block |
| Memory | 256MB |
| Storage | 4GB Compact Flash (2.5 ”HDD / SSD possible) |
| Interfaces | 3 x VIA VT6105M Fast Ethernet |
| Virtual Interfaces (VLAN) | ~ 500-1000 |
| power usage | 5-10W |
| Intrusion prevention system | Snort |
| Antispam, antiphishing, URL filter | Squid squidguard |
| Safe Content (Antivirus, etc.) | Havp |
For dessert, a video with an overview of the hardware and WEB - pfSense interface:
The video clip has a secret:
In fact, the hands on the video are not mine, but snowbl1nd .
My hands amid the view of the Neva from our office:
My hands amid the view of the Neva from our office:
PS. We offer to habruzers a 5% discount on the entire assortment of alix boards and routers based on them.
