32bit or 64bit versions?
 

I am preparing to buy install discs of pfSense & Untangle NG Firewall 11.0.1 from OSDisc, for trial as a DIY router. Both come in 32bit & 64bit versions. Which version should I get, or does it matter? Thanks.

Why buy them? Go to distrowatch and download the iso's and burn them yourself, and then if you want to support the distro's donate some dosh directly.

It matters a lot if you don't have a supported 64 bit system.

In a very general statement, 32 bit tends to work on many systems and with lesser ram. 64 bit runs on newish systems and tends to be suggested for systems with more than 4G ram.

If you simply want to test, and in this instance a 32 bit should be fine even for production use. These systems are not meant to be updated with all sorts of programs. They are meant to be single purpose distro's.

You haven't given any details of your hardware, which is kind of important when making a decision like this.

The main factors are CPU and RAM. If using less than 2GB of RAM, I wouldn't even bother going with 64-bit.

If you've a reasonably newish CPU and plenty of RAM, I'd try installing the 64-bit version, and if that fails, fall back to the 32-bit one.

Also, you should be able to download the distros to try, and in most cases you can install off a USB drive, so no need to mess about with CDs these days.

James

I don't have the hardware yet...still looking around. Been told I need to have either a small form factor PC or laptop with 2GB RAM, minimum 2GB HDD, and dual port gigabit NIC (preferably Intel). That's what I am looking for, either new or used. If you can think of any other requirements I need to add, feel free to let me know...no one has mentioned anything to me about the CPU needed. Any such advice is welcomed.

Never downloaded anything before, and so I'm not keen for this to be my first try, plus I'll not be going online until I have the DIY router running first. OSDisc.com allows me to get the CD/DVD(s) without exposing my new rig to the internet, and install offline. To keep my PC safe, I will gladly pay the $2.95 per disk!

If you buy new, then I'd go with 64-bit. Everything hardware-wise made for the last 5 years in x86 supports 64-bit.

You don't need a dual nic. You need on nic and a free usb port for a usb to Ethernet adpater.

Some people here use a very minimal type of system like a raspberry pi or other embedded type board.

I made a small Liva X2 running untangle the other day. Just trying to get it to the emmc card which only seems to support uefi.

The further away from x86 you get the less support you have in some ways.

I'll agree that almost everything new is also 64 bit but some of these newer things are a bit of a pain. Some only have uefi boot or only uefi64 boot.

For now you can test what ever you want in a free virtual machine.

What benefit(s)does the 64bit have over the 32bit versions? I need something to justify the added hardware expense. I know its not THAT much more, but still....

All 64-bit advantages other than the ability to address >4 GB ram are theoretical, and you're unlikely to run into any for the purpose you're using it for. But slowly, a lot of distributions are phasing out 32-bit support, because 64-bit cpu's started showing up over 10 years ago, and nothing (x86-based) has been made that was 32-bit only in over 5 years now. So 64-bit is simply more "future-proof". Most likely, even going used you'll pick up something that supports 64-bit, simply because EVERYTHING AMD has released for nearly 10 years, and everything other than Atoms that Intel has released for the same amount of time support 64-bit.

For a home firewall running a common firewall distro there is little benefit of more than 4G of ram or a 64 bit system.

The other side of the coin is there are few choice in new equipment 32 bit. You could reuse some older hardware. Some of the most basic firewalls can run on ancient hardware.

Unless you know the hardware you are considering is able to boot your choices of distro then you can't consider it. Some uefi systems are not letting legacy boot or they don't let you select 32 bit legacy. It gets a bit complex to move to uefi only in some cases.

If you right now have a modern system that can run a free virtual machine, you can test this stuff now in actual live use. A vm can act like a real computer and you can run a firewall between local and wan.

If you tell us more about what you want to use this firewall for and how many users we can get past this bitness part.

+1 Pi or: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ar-4175562740/ +++ :)

I want to use it as a hardware firewall and router, just like a regular brand-name router, but hopefully minus the exploits:

http://www.wired.com/2013/09/nsa-router-hacking/

http://www.computerworld.com/article...veillance.html

http://www.darkreading.com/governmen...d/d-id/1252686

http://www.gohacking.com/hack-ethernet-adsl-router/

http://graphics.wsj.com/table/ROUTERSTABLE_0116

Was going to get a wired name brand router til I read this stuff; that idea has soured. I will now do a DIY router. Don't know if that is any better than a brand wired router, but it cannot be any worse. As for hardware, I can go either way, new or used, just just give me an idea what to shop for. I will not touch UEFI, 'trusted boot', or anything like it though. What I am currently looking for is a small form factor PC or laptop (nothing smaller), with 2GB RAM, 2GB HDD minimum, and dual-port NIC (preferably Intel). Anything else I need to add to the list?

As said, I will not expose my new rig to the internet without a hardware firewall ready and able, so no, I do not have Virtualbox. So far as I know, you can only download from the site...never saw an install disc sold at any software store.

Edit: Regarding last half of your question, router is for one PC & single user, so my home network (LAN?) will be one PC, two printers, UPS, external HDD, scanner, monitor, and the DIY router. The external HDD will only be plugged in for backups though.

A router is not a firewall appliance.

A simple home router has very few features that protect the lan.

You do not expose your lan to the internet with a virtual machine if you set it up correctly. A virtual machine is like any "real" computer. Since you wish to create a computer that is a firewall then a virtual machine will do that.

If you want a router then look at OpenWRT or DD-WRT project. It is basically a linux distro that is ported to the processors and ram of a home router. It however is not easy to set up and has limits. Setting up huge hosts files or white or black lists can be very time consuming. Building IPtables rules and importing can be limited by the ram in router.

Building a dedicate firewall computer using a commercial product or the open sourced product should give you more choices and easier access to advanced features.

Might see if you can buy a BRIX on sale. Maybe a Liva. You don't need a dual nic. You only need a usb port to add in an adapter.

Have not found the hardware requirements for pfSense yet, but Untangle's site says 3 NICs are best (something about 'fall back'), but at least 2 NICs are required. Also suggests Pentium 4 or 3-core Athlon as CPU.

I looked into Raspberry pi, BeagleBone, etc., but all that is way outside my skill set.

It sounds like the advantage of 64-bit over 32-bit is slight....but what about RAM? Untangle's site says 2GB is needed. Any benefit to using 4GB (or more) RAM for DIY router running Untangle or pfSense?