# looking for board with dual Ethernet interfaces supported by FreeBSD



## nerozero (Mar 5, 2018)

Hi there, 
I'm looking for a board with two network interfaces under 100$. 
Could you please give me some recommendations?

Thanks


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## flipper_88 (Mar 5, 2018)

I’d suggest that you opt for a  mother board with out built in LAN connectors, and instead pick up a couple of enterprise grade  1 gb Intel copper-based Network Interface Cards. I know that you can pick new and used nicks up cheap off of sites like Amazon, Newegg, CDW and eBay however I’d opt for  the earlier of the four aforementioned vendors as you can never quite be sure  of the trust worthiness of certain parties on auction sites such as eBay.


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## nerozero (Mar 5, 2018)

Thanks for quick reply, but this device should be kind of small and for future - battery powered. Standard motherboard with lan cards is not an option.


for example:  i wish I could have orange-pi-pc with two lan interfaces....


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## balanga (Mar 5, 2018)

Like this ?


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## nerozero (Mar 5, 2018)

balanga, O yes! and does this support BSD ?


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## ralphbsz (Mar 5, 2018)

How about some sort of Pi, and then a USB-to-Ethernet converter?  Likely to be the cheapest option, about $50 new.


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## Phishfry (Mar 5, 2018)

The guy from pfSense was saying they had one of these boards working:
http://espressobin.net/
Not sure how long before we see support for it though.


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## Nicola Mingotti (Mar 5, 2018)

I have a BeagleBone Black running FreeBSD-11.1 working as Wireless AP. One on board Ethernet, one usb-wifi dongle. It works very well since approx 1 month. Nowdays with BeagleBone Green you can build it with ~ 60$. [of course, you can replace the USB-wifi with USB-Ethernet]

There are ALIX machines having on board >= 2 Ethernet ports. But AFAIR they cost a bit more than 100$. See here https://www.pcengines.ch/alix.htm . I have a couple of OpenBSD runing there since years. Alson the Soekris is ok, but still more expensive than Alix.

Why do you need 2 Ethernet ports ? Is there any reason why you don't want to use USB adaptors ? There is a related discussoin here
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=132461


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## Phishfry (Mar 5, 2018)

I agree with above. The newer PCEngines APU2 has a 2 port Ethernet version for $99.
Add in a chassis , SDCard and serial to USB console cable,power supply, SATA cable and your at  $130+shipping


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## diizzy (Mar 6, 2018)

Given that you're looking for a board below 100$, exactly what are you going to use it for and what connection speed?


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## nerozero (Mar 6, 2018)

Guys Thank you so much for your responses!

Here is what I have now, - I got RaspberyPI +USB ethernet and cubieboard + USB ethernet. That staff is working, but I kind of not satisfied with USB Ethernet stability and speed.
That is why I'm looking for more stable solution. And my device is working as bridge between networks + VPN + some simple network staff, so 512..1GB ram is OK for me.
Also I have Banana Pi Lomobo ( datasheet ) But I didnt managed to access second ethernet interface. 

The main goal for me is to have a stable, supported solution to have less headache in future  

Phishfry, yes I kind of see that device, but I didn't found any FreeBSD builds for it, does this board have a supported kernels and builds ?

Nicola Mingotti, I also kinda looking into SPI ethernet interface, but I really short in time now to develop board and stable drivers...


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## Nicola Mingotti (Mar 6, 2018)

nerozero said:


> The main goal for me is to have a stable, supported solution to have less headache in future



In this case reccoment you use *pcengines* or *soekris*. They are "normal computers" with case and serial port. You install and deploy. Then forget about it, just remember to make a copy of the SD card, and keep a spare power supply available. Those are the only two pieces that have failed for me in a long time.

Or also, you may consider an old desktop/laptop computer, that may be the cheapest, easiest solution at all, since you will have also keyboard and video. Installation will be easier.


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## Phishfry (Mar 6, 2018)

I am using an APU3 with the optional edge connector PCI-E with an TV tuner for my HTPC. Made a custom case.
APU2 for my Blue Cherry Security DVR. Stock case.
APU2 with pfSense behind my cable router. Stock case.
I have an APU1 for GPIO with external lugs for GPIO breakout. Made a custom rugged case.

The Intel 211 adapters are strong. CPU is weak but for battery usage it is ideal. Lots of expansion via Mini PCIe slots and mSATA.
Plus you can actually use feeebsd-update on them. Supported GPIO pins are a bonus.
They really are an nice all around utility box if you can live with headless.
On my HTPC I am using a 32GB Half Slim SATA drive for the OS and 256GB mSATA for TV capture.

The accessories are so cheap that I recommend all them from PCEngines shop.
The SD card they sell is quality for 7 only bucks.

I was thinking of making a APU chassis piggyback battery pack.
The 4"x4" size would allow a good amount of 18650 batteries with one layer. Somewhere around 16.
That would run the APU for a good while.


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## ondra_knezour (Mar 6, 2018)

Phishfry said:


> I am using an APU3 with the optional edge connector PCI-E...


Where did you get that connector? Do you have any part number? I was not able even find any image of it 


Phishfry said:


> The Intel 211 adapters are strong. [...] Lots of expansion via Mini PCIe slots and mSATA.


Just to notify OP - for "hardcore edge networking" you may look for variant with i210AT network chips, they are somewhat more capable than the i211AT variant, see comparison. And I am not saying that i211AT is not adequate for some kind of home/small office router.
Also those MiniPCIe slots are in fact one USB+mSATA+SIM, one USB+SIM and only one "true" MiniPCIe (specification allows routing different buses to this type of connector). Just FYI, anyway, those are great boards, we had use probably several hundreds of PC Engines products starting with their WRAP boards and those was always very reliable, even in year-long outdoor usage.


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## nerozero (May 16, 2018)

Phishfry said:


> The guy from pfSense was saying they had one of these boards working:
> http://espressobin.net/
> Not sure how long before we see support for it though.



Couple of days ago I've received this board, and .... unfortunately all ports connected to single Topaz switch, which can be configured to isolate some ports, by the software (uboot). But this is potentially huge security risk, if uboot fails to boot properly - all your ports stay in same network ...

Which is very disappointing ..


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## Phishfry (May 16, 2018)

nerozero said:


> Which is very disappointing ..


50 Dollars for something that boots is a good deal.
They like slapping interfaces on these poor mobile phone chips and thinking it's for real.



ondra_knezour said:


> Where did you get that connector? Do you have any part number? I was not able even find any image of it


Sorry I missed your question. Here is a pic.


This is from PC Engines email:

```
PCIe side connector is only available on apu3b4. About $3 extra, but we
don't have any enclosure
that supports it. We run our company network on a system with apu3b4 +
Draytec VDSL modem
card, but this is rather "hackish".
Best regards,
Pascal Dornier
```


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## Phishfry (May 16, 2018)

nerozero said:


> Couple of days ago I've received this board, and .... unfortunately all ports connected to single Topaz switch, which can be configured to isolate some ports, by the software (uboot).


To me there are warning signs when you have 3 Gigabit ethernet intefaces hanging off your 2.5 gigabit Topaz switch.
So right off the bat you are underprovisioned.
Don't worry there is another Arm board out there hanging 4 interfaces off it.

Whats the difference between uboot touching your network stack and UEFI ethernet stack.
At least uboot is open source and you can see what it's doing.
I do get the gist of what you are saying.


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