Micro Firewall Appliance, Mini PC, OPNsense, VPN, Router PC, Intel Alder Lake-N 12th Gen N100, HUNSN RJ35, GPIO, TF Slot, HDMI, DP, 4 x 2.5GbE I226-V, 8G DDR5 RAM, 128G SSD

Using for pfsense. Runs fairly warm to touch with no load but doesn’t seem to get any warmer even with load. It has been solid so far.

It's a N100; it runs a bit warmer than I thought it would be. It comes loaded with PFSense +. However, it comes pre-loaded in Chinese; and not the easiest to switch. it also has dns defaulting to CHINA. While it does have PFSense + on it, it does not seem to be registered as a PFSense + client. It runs in the 107 degree F to 120 F so far, but I am only running one client behind it right now.I've been working thru the configs for about a week now. I wanted a more complicated and segmented network due to the types of devices on it, so that's my fault, Once I figured out that I could not get rid of the Chinese DNS/language that it would default to upon reset, I reloaded it with OpnSense.. So far, pretty good. In reality, I was trying to shoehorn 5 distinct networks into 3 on the older wifi router; really wanted a bit more, so this is what I'm starting with. In my case, I wanted to segregate home computers, guest wifi, IOT, storage, and work computers onto distinct networks. This will certainly allow that, along with a managed switch. There is a learning curve, and I should just buy a dedicated access point.The unit's construction is pretty dang good. It does come predrilled for wi-fi antennas, but I haven't been able to find a compatible M.2 wifi card that would act as a Access Point. IF I find one, well, there's room for one inside. Overall, I'm fairly happy with the unit. Actually, I haven't been able to find any fault other than the Chinese defaults; I was able to switch it to English, but upon reset, it went back to Chinese defaults.Should I mention again, the build quality is pretty dang good. Heatsinks are quite BEEFY.. N100 is probably overkill, but it's a more modern design than some of the other variants that use older processors and older DDR3, but those actually cost MORE. I chose the 8G model, mainly because I didn't want to wait.

The unit arrived much faster than advertised. After two days of running, the unit works great.I purchased the no ram and no ssd version, i3-n305. I added a Western Digital 2TB WD Blue SN570 NVMe and Crucial RAM 16GB DDR5 4800MT/s CL40 Laptop Memory CT16G48C40S5 both from Amazon. There were no compatibility issues (please give the first power up some time, it takes a while for ram training). I tried both Windows 11 and opnsense and both ran without any issues.This is what I did for windows 11 (mostly so I could run some testing tools). I downloaded onto a USB flash drive on another pc the following to be installed after the first boot of windows 11. I Installed these in this order:(1) Intel® Chipset Device Software for Windows® 10 64-bit and Windows 11* for Intel® NUC Kits & Mini PCs 6th Generation and Later(2) Intel® Ethernet (LAN) Network Driver for Windows 11* for Intel® NUC 13 Pro Kits & Mini PCs - NUC13ANAt this point the network is up then I installed the following to get any remaining drivers.(3) Intel® Driver & Support Assistant (Intel® DSA)I also ran memtest86 and the intel diagnostic tool to check for any issues and both pass easily.The bios options are way more complex than you would find in a home pc, so you really need to do your homework before changing anything.There are several internal connector pins including a couple strange ones labeled JPWR1 and JPWR2 next to the two USB headers (front and back) that I have no idea what they do, so I left them alone.The unit appears to support a 4-wire pwm fan (looks to be 80x80x10), but the connectors (there are two of them) are much smaller than found on a typical home pc. I would love to get a fan as a precaution and there are some smart fan controls in the bios (thermals seem to be ok so far), but I have no idea where to get the cable and/or the fan.

This is a pretty nice network appliance. I loaded the VGA version of OPNSENSE and it handles my 1Gb fiber Internet with ease. I had been using a Netgate 2100 but after upgrading to 1Gb Internet, I discovered it could not handle the throughput. It was only able to provide around 80% of the subscribed bandwidth.It's a solid piece of hardware so provided it holds up, should make a great firewall for years to come.

Using it to run arista ng firewall (untangle)

I liked having so much power at my fingertips. The N100 is underrated for power and speed. I installed pfsense directly on the metal but honestly, installing proxmox or something first is probably better because it's overpowered as only a firewall. However, you can install more fancy features under pfsense to take advantage of the extra cores and ram, like pfblockerng or fail2ban without worrying whether or not the device can handle it. It also solved one of my big issues with a celeron based firewall: it can handle multiple streams coming in and keep up with gigabit line speeds. Also the extra ports can be used for dmz, VPN access, public services, etc. Overall a lot of power in a small silent package.

Works great for running pfsense. Had to reload the OS due to the fact that i cannot read Chinese.

Using this for OPNsense for my home network. It is probably much more processing and memory than what is required. Even with the whole family using the internet a the same time it is not even close to full utilization. Also, boot from USB to install was super easy, so I would recommend it without reservation.