Protectli Vault FW4B - 4 Port, Firewall Micro Appliance/Mini PC - Intel Quad Core, AES-NI, 8GB RAM, 120GB mSATA SSD

I run pfSense on this unit, which is a truly superior routing solution. If you have been running DD-WRT-style firmware on proprietary hardware (i.e., prosumer wireless routers), this is a major step up in terms of reliability and horsepower. It can easily process 500mbps traffic through the firewall--which is my current ISP maximum--and terminate VPN traffic at about 100mbs. It will presumably run OPNsense--or your favorite full Linux distribution--without a hitch.

I started using Protectli Vaults in 2019 when I finally made the switch from Tomato routing to Untangle for residential routing. You can get a better price and even pick up the Vault at Protectlis offices in San Diego area. Very impressive business. I now have 5 J3160 units installed using Untangle (sorry, cant comment on Sophos or other UTM installs), and they are running with never an issue. The vaults are extremely well built, and you get much more processor/memory/SSD for your money than with UTs products (about 50% of the cost). Itd recommend at least a 120Gb mSATA and always use 8GB of RAM. Protectli is working on a Vault with SPF, so Im excited to get that when it comes out. Very pleased.

The box could have done with a convective heat transfer element since it feels a little hot for cloistered storage. The OPNsense initial configuration has some default assumptions but there is always the folks in Tech Support if you are not the type to read the manual online.

My work relies on pFsense (firewall/router) and I had a SG-2440 (2 core Atom C2358) go belly up after five (5) years, it wasnt the netgate products fault, e.g. Intels Atom C2000 processor family has a fault that effectively bricks devices, costing the company a significant amount of money to correct e.g. Errata note AVR.54, titled System May Experience Inability to Boot or May Cease Operation,

I set up the unit with pfSense. It seemed to work fine, but unit ran VERY HOT. Only lasted about 5 months before it died. As far as I can tell the main board died probably from overheating. Many similar Mini PCs are having the same issues. Just more Chinese garbage. REVISED: I was able to revive the unit with a new CMOS battery.

I put RAM and storage in this and installed openSense and it works like a charm. Couldnt recommend it more to those who know what they are doing around software routers. Havent used the computer for any other function, so I cant speak to its efficacy in other circumstance, but I love it as a router!

Bought the 4 port without SSD and Ram to run pfsense. 100% uptime. The hardware is well built and the board itself. I recommend it to friends and whoever is looking to upgrade their firewall.

This does what it does well and keeps on doing it with no issues. I was able to download documentation and installation was pretty easy.

Fantastic appliance, great price and performance.

Been using for about a month with no issues. Installed RAM & MSATA SSD, and then installed and setup pfsense in about hour. And all for less than the cost of SG-3100 but this has far more capabilities.