Protectli Vault 4 Port, Firewall Micro Appliance/Mini PC - Intel Quad Core (Atom E3845), AES-NI, Barebone

So far, this appliance has been great. It's small, and fits into a 1U shelf. I got this to replace an old business PC that was running pfSense.The unit sits in a 1U rack in my basement. Ambient is temp controlled at ~21C and the unit normally runs 46-48C depending on workload. It's a small home network with ~10 devices (synology NAS, Plex server, 3 PCs, 2 Fire TVs, phones, and other random devices). I used my old AC router as an access point and it connected directly via cat6 so I could place it in the center of the house.The main reason I bought this is for the AES-NI, since upcoming releases of pfSense will require it at some point, and because I use a VPN service and wanted to run the client on the router. I can saturate my internet connection (100Mbps) and run Suricata simultaneously with some decent headroom (~60% CPU). I haven't done through testing on it, just hooked everything up, started the VPN and Suricata and started pumping traffic though on both the VPN and LAN interface, and it handled it like a champ.There's 4GB of RAM which is overkill for most (although Suricata should have, and I think requires 4 GB), and a 32GB ssd which is either overkill or not enough depending on application. It seems quite an unusual number as you only really need 1GB for the base install, 8GB if you want to install a ton of packages with headroom, but you would want more for caching (~100-250GB, or even more depending on application). So 32GB is an odd choice here...The unit overall runs well on little power (10-15W), is silent (although I don't care since it's in the basement), is powerful enough to run a 100Mbps VPN and Suricata simultaneously, and is quite compact. It doesn't come with WiFi, but you easily use a cheap or old consumer router as an access point (or buy an access point) so that you run some CAT6 and place it where it will work best.I would absolutely recommend this for a home or small business router if you're looking for something more serious than a consumer router and are at least generally familiar with pfSense. You get all of the power of pfSense in a tiny, low power package. If you are looking to just get started with pfSense, just use an old PC with 2 NICs, play with it, and learn what it can do. If you want to start getting some serious hardware without spending twice the price or more, this unit rocks.

Update: May 2020I tested the firewall with Fiber internet service at 500Mbps bilateral throughput (not full gigabit), and this device performs very well. Even with full gigabit service for home use, this firewall should be more than adequate for years to come.Update: June 2018There was an IDS package running (suricata) that should not have been on when I did my CPU stress tests. Turning off suricata yielded much more accurate results since this level of DPI is not required for home use. I have a 225/20 Mbit internet connection for full disclosure when running the tests. The test results are added via pictures in this order:1) Normal - Idle2) Normal - Running SpeedTest3) Normal - Running iPerf (570 Mbps)3) Suricata - Idle4) Suricata - Running SpeedTest5) Suricata - Running iPerfAlso the firewall logs show thousands of attempts of attempted connections that are properly blocked by the firewall. Stay safe out there folks!----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A fantastic pfSense box for running my home network. My review is about use in a home network, NOT a business network.During use it is warm to the touch but nothing crazy hot.Since my home network traffic does not require sustained bilateral gigabit throughput, this model will suffice. I never see that kind of real traffic load on my network; unless the traffic load is artificial. When my family runs software updates, downloads, video streaming, cloud stuff (aka hitting the network hard) this unit keeps up perfectly fine with CPU briefly hitting 33% in real-world use. The downstream LAN switches in my network are from Ubiquiti -> Ubiquiti US-8-60W Unifi SwitchPurchased 8GB memory and 120GB SSD. Memory use is a paltry 500 MB and using ~2GB storage (snort cache). Could have saved more money going with 4GB memory, but extra memory never hurt anyone right? The mSata slots are labeled "MSATA" and "WIFI". Do not install the SSD into the WIFI slot and wonder why the SSD is not showing up for hours (like I did).Memory -> Kingston Technology 8GB 1600MHz DDR3L (PC3-12800) 1.35V Non-ECC CL11 SODIMM Intel Laptop Memory KVR16LS11/8SSD -> Kingston Digital 120GB SSDNow mS200 mSATA (6Gbps) Solid State Drive for Notebooks Tablets and Ultrabooks SMS200S3/120GFor home use, get this one and save yourself some Benjamins.---For sustained bilateral gigabit throughput (Google Fiber, AT&T Fiber 1000, etc...) I would lean towards the i3 Protectli Model as a future proofing step (which contains a faster processor) -> Firewall Micro Appliance, 6x Gigabit Intel LAN, AES-NI, i3, Barebone