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

Pretty good first impression together with PFSense! Yes, it gets warm even when it's idle, but there is a simple solution for that: "AC Infinity MULTIFAN S1, Quiet 80mm USB Fan, UL-Certified for Receiver DVR PlayStation Xbox Computer Cabinet Cooling". This fan is pretty quiet, the size is a perfect match and it can run at 3 different speeds. In my case the lowest speed is enough to keep this device only at 2-3 degrees above room temperature. If it gets warmer I will simply switch the fan to its second speed and it will still be silent. The PFSense load and configuration took some time, but it 100% worth it. To my surprise the speed became noticeably faster since the entire parasite traffic was blocked. I asked Grok to generate me a step by step manual keeping in mind my router brand and model and it made it. There were some difficulties, but not too critical and easily resolvable. What nice is - I dropped an old 15" monitor and a keyboard together with this PC, UPS, cable modem, router, switch to where they are almost invisible, at the very top of the furniture where I can check it every time if I need to. The web interface is powerful and works pretty well on both my laptop and even my cell phone.

This needs 6 stars. The Vault is awesome. Installing PfSense was easy and this box has been rock solid since I've been running it to control my network. With 8GB of ram, I have more than enough resources to keep this unit from being heavily taxed. The unit itself is essentially silent, but I've added an 80mm fan which hardly increases the noise, but dramatically cools the device down as it can run a little warm without active cooling. I cannot stress enough how great this unit is for PFSense setups. I've tried the Firewalla and Firebox but neither were even close to being as good as the Protectili Vault. Yes, you pay more up front, but it is worth every penny.

Month or so in and it is running strong. Quiet and cool. Running pfSense with zero issues at this point.

This Protectli Vault FW4B replaced my ISP’s Router/Modem/WiFi Combo: *upgraded to mSATA 1TB SSD and 16GB DDR3 1866MHz SODIMM (laptop) memory. Installed pfSense OS dedicated router and firewall (DHCP, DNS and VPN*), added 3.1 DOCSIS, 24-port Netgear switch and Zyxel WiFi6 Wireless Access Point Dual 4x4 5GHz + 2x2 2.4GHz. Pros: 1.) Keeps pace with beautiful +1Gbps network speed setup (even WiFi) 2.) Intel Quad Core Celeron J3160 CPU, 64 bit, 2.2GHz. 3.) Web UI up and running from POST < 90 seconds and CPU usage averages <9% with almost 60 devices connecting behind pfSense firewall (including Xbox Series X, PS4, ring, Alexa and multiple 4K streaming devices). 4.) Runs cool with no issues whatsoever, even with entire house multi-gaming/streaming/etc. 5.) Installation was easy (with help from Network Chuck). Cons? (none really, but...): 1.) FW4B high-end upgrades might be overkill... 2.) Extra ports unused (?) 3.) Advanced VPN (PIA) with pfSense questions and concerns (?) Would I recommend? – yes. Would I buy again? – yes, the 'no ram/no SSD' version next time ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I replaced an older SFF with an Atom processor, 4GB of RAM and a HDD with this unit after upgrading my Internet connection from cable to 1 Gbps fibre. I was hitting a CPU and NIC choke-point, and only getting ~400Mbps at any point on my network. Install was super easy, booting to a USB key with the ISO image loaded was seamless and presented no issues. Untangle recognized all 4 NICs and numbered them correctly (eth0-eth3) with WAN and LAN as eth0 and eth1, as expected. Using the Intel i210 NICs is huge for Untangle performance, which is why I bought this specific model. My previous firewall was using RealTek NICs based on the 8168 chipset, and while I generally didn't have problems with streaming and overall performance, the NICs were a definite bottleneck during the day when I'm also constantly VPN'd in to work and I'm certain after research were capping my max throughput. After I got everything configured, my CPU and RAM usage are both way lower (CPU went from 4% avg to < 1%, RAM from 65% to 23% utilized), and more importantly my throughput has jumped to ~825Mbps in some parts of the wired network, and ~700Mbps on wireless. Huge improvement and I'm able to realize the value of my improved ISP connection. Nice little overall system.

This product is well constructed and performs great! It does everything as advertised in the description. I highly recommend this product.

I've been looking for something to run my home/small office firewall. I've gone the flashed router path but by far, this is the best option to do. Worth the $$ and the time spent. I have pfsense firewall running. Currently, I have all 3 ports used other than the Internet port. I have office network, home network and DMZ/web server network. All 3 are segregated from each other limited access between them is enabled. The hardware runs around 26-27 degrees Celsius. You might find it a bit hot but remember, it's fanless and silent. Love the ability to see my own logs and why my devices are making specific connections. You have full control of the way this firewall works from a policy point of view. No more 3rd parties getting your data. Product I got: FW4B - 4 Port Intej J3160 Intel Quad Core Celeron J3160, 64 bit, up to 2.2GHz, AES-NI hardware support 4x Intel i210 Gigabit Ethernet ports 8GB DDR3L RAM, 120GB mSATA SSD 2x USB 3.0, 1x RJ-45 COM, 2x HDMI Solid State, Fanless Silent Operation I did NOT get the wifi card for protectli, I wanted to keep wifi separate on my network using a router with more features than pfsense.

I was seeking some good hardware to leversage pfsense - woweeee did I find it! You will love this unit. Runs so well - FAST too. I like the interactive beeps it does during certain points of boot / shutdown (maybe silly to some of you! but it helps me! :) I am using to front end my home FIOS network. Removed the Verizon router - put this between my ONT and our ASUS Mesh. I am not a UNIX admin or Network SME, but downloading pfsense with VGA support to my USB key (wrote image with Rufus) was the most complex part of set up - seriously, I am 100% confident my 7th grader niece could do this set up. It is amazingly straight forward. All I can say is both Proteckli and Pfsense are sincerely amazing teams. This solution is a killer deal for ~$300. Also - one of my more “firewall savvy” friends had me install pfBlockerng - totally totally awesome! THANK YOU PROTECTLI AND PFSENSE FOR BEING AWESOME!

Geschäftlich setze ich schon lange auf Sophos. Nun wollte ich auch unser Homeoffice besser absichern, bzw. die YouTube-Ergüsse unserer Kids ein wenig einschränken. Klappt hervorragend. Einfach das Sophos Home Image auf einen Stick herunterladen, Stick einstecken und hochfahren. Achtung: Ich hatte nach der Installation einen schicken Konsolenbildschirm erwartet und wollte das Ding schon zurücksenden. Einfach die Sophos Start-IP eingeben und siehe da, man kann dann über das Webinterface die XG Installationsprocedure durchlaufen. Und natürlich darauf achten, das WAN und LAN vertauscht sind (gerade wenn man sich per Browser einloggen möchte), dass kann man nach der Installation problemlos unter den Schnittstellen ändern. Das Teil läuft schnell (startet gefühlt schneller als unsere original Sophos XP Hardware aus 2022) und für den Heimgebrauch mit X Tablets & Handys ein paar Macs und IoT Geräten reicht es allemal (bis zu 50 IPs). Während des Betriebs wird es nicht warm und der Stromverbrauch hält sich mit unter 30W auch in Grenzen. Da kein Lüfter verbaut ist, vergisst man schnell, dass das Teil irgendwo in der Ecke vor sich hinbrütet. Also für alle die sich mit der Materie auskennen und keinen Bock auf eine Red haben oder unnötig noch Abos etc. dazukaufen wollen, ggf. ein paar Familienmitglieder ein wenig Einbremsen möchten und der normalen Fritz Firewall nicht trauen, go get it....

what to say, i ordered the afinity usb cooling fan to set on top but works just fine!

Great product worked smooth and loaded my firewall software without any problems currently being used to protect company Network ... highly recommended.

An ideal unit for homelab firewall or mini PC

Ottima firewall applicance, molto veloce e con fattore di forma compatto. Provato con pfSense per ora, si installa in un'attimo e funziona egregiamente.