Help us make the Firewalla Gold 10Gbit Unit
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We will decide on the color later. It will have "Gold" in it for sure. The prototype was something we created over the weekend to "aid" the quote process. The sooner we get into the process, the sooner we can lock down the pricing so global events don't prevent a 10G unit from happening.
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A firewall appliance should NOT be used as PoE source. That's what switches are for, or mid-span PoE injectors. Pretty disappointed there's no SFP+. Makes it much less competitive with Ubiquiti and other vendors. I had a TP-Link 10G switch that had a SFP+ port which a certified RJ45 1/2.5/5/10G SFP which worked very well at those multi-gig speeds.
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Most of these devices you mentioned use custom ASICs for forwarding; the reason is that they do not need to look deep into the packet. Hence, you get faster speed and a variety of ports at a much lower price. (they use less memory and don't need powerful CPU cores)
Firewalla, on the other hand, takes every packet into the CPU and does a much deeper inspection; Each of the network interfaces will need to have its own MAC and connection to the CPU. And, of course, lots of memory to hold the packets. (4GB on the gold plus ... 4 or 8GB on this one) This is why we can't just throw any interface and have it work efficiently. (there are also things related to hardware+software, like the efficiency of the driver, and efficiency of the driver working with user space processes ...)
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On Ali Express there's a GW-R86S-U3 for $321 USD which has:
Intel N6005
16GB RAM
128GB storage
3x Intel 226v 2.5G NICs
2x 10G SFP+ ports
WiFi/USB-C power, plus 3 USB ports
I don't know if the CPU is beefy enough, but the rest of the specs seem sufficient. And again, that's $321 in single quantity.
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A couple of years ago, when we haggled with our ODM, we always took the Aliexpress units to them (we actually bought physical units). We have been educated so many times (including our initial problem with the purple units), that the major difference is the expectation and quality of the build (including parts and labor). We want our unit to last longer, have fewer problems, and be built by people who do stuff for data centers. So, when we say, we want the price to be less than 1000, we also want that quality to be the same as any enterprise/data center gear. (this also including consistency+scaling, which is also critical to manufacturing)
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Seriously, please do not compare products/hardware on Aliexpress! You must be nuts to trust your network with that stuff!
@Brendan, your 8411 runs on a quad-core ARM processor; it is likely slower than the purple, which is six cores ... If you can get 8-gigabit inspection out of that (not forwarding), you don't need a firewalla!
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I wouldn't buy a Firewalla if it was based on cheapo devices off of Aliexpress. :-) I'd rather spend a bit more and get something good.
I'm very pleased with the quality of my Firewalla Gold and have no worries about it being the heart of my network. My family can rely on Firewalla.
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I expect and depend (except for the Purple hardware disappointment) that Firewalla units are going to be super reliable and I am willing to pay a premium for it. For example, I know that I can't get a Peplink 10Gbps unit for anything near $1000 (Peplink has the best Multi-WAN functionality). A Peplink 20X 1Gbps unit is the same price at $449 as the Gold SE (Gold is $509), albeit the 20X includes built in cellular, Wi-Fi with Wi-Fi as WAN for backup to hotspots and their USB port supports Ehthernet adapters (which I sorely wish Firewalla would add to their USB ports). I know that Peplink has a lot more volume, so their leverage on hardware pricing has to be better than Firewalla.
I haven't (no Purple) and won't purchase Firewalla unless they are super reliable. I am glad to see them sticking to their guns. Don't we all want the Firewalla reputation to stay intact?
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@Brian did you visit https://firewalla.com/gold10g?
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I’m in the “I’d rather have SFP+ camp”. I’d be using the 10 gig interfaces as a trunked LAN connection to connect (via LACP) to two 10gb switches in a stack configuration. The 2.5 RJ45 would be used for my ISP connections. While I could make either SFP+/RJ45 work, I think SFP+ would be the way to go on flexibility, if a few rj45 transceiver options were tested/listed. MikroTik makes some that can do 1/2.5/5/10 speeds for some of their SFP+ switches.
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I love the product, started with a blue, preordered gold and was thinking about getting the se for the 2.5 but figured I would wait and see if you come out with a 10g. Glad I waited. I would be ok if unit had a fan, spf+ on the LAN as I would be connecting switches. My isp does not offer fiber direct connection as of yet only to the modem and then rj45 out.
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I can see why all the power users would want SFP+ but most high end consumers aren't going to be investing in SFP+ switches and running fiber, etc. If you look at some of the WiFi 7 gear marketed towards consumers like new Eero gear, they have 2x 10gbe and 2x 2.5gbe, both RJ45.
All the ISPs in Canada, are running some form of PON, mostly GPON, but it's starting to branch into XGS-PON for the higher speed plans, in that case, it's fiber in from the street into an ONT or custom hub but RJ45 10gbe to the customer. You used to be able to get a GPON SFP, that you could install in your own equipment, but that doesn't seem to be available in XGS-PON.
edit: As a power user myself, I would be using RJ45 on the WAN, and could use either RJ45 or SFP+ for LAN.
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