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

Bought to run Pfsense and discoveries that its only possible to push about 100mbit as an OpenVpn client using 256 encryption. Its perfectly fine as a router as long as youre not interested in using the router as a VPN client as well. I wish the marketing and the Amazon descr6 was more forthcoming about the expected throughput of this device and I would have just purchased a more powerful unit.

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.

This Protectli Vault FW4B replaced my ISP’s Router/Modem/WiFi Combo:

Really easy to install pfSense and then configure it. Prior to this I was using the router from the ISP, after switching to a dedicated Router and Switch, bandwidth tests indicated about a 10% increase in D/L speeds. More importantly I have a much finer control over the network services performed by the router, namely DNS and DHCP.

*** Recommendation for international purchasers - if you want this unit, dont purchase the mSATA as its an unknown brand (PHISON) - rather purchase a trusted brand from a local vendor with warranty. We suspect the mSATA failed. The memory supplied has Samsung modules, these are known to be reliable. ***

As long as you know what your trying to do it’s a good product

I was very excited to buy this box. When I finally got it and plugged it in ready to load up the software it wouldnt boot. I didnt get any kind of post. After much troubleshooting I came to the conclusion that the RAM was bad. I had ordered the model with the 8 GB of RAM. Luckily I had a 4 gig stick and an old laptop. Once I replaced it I was able to boot in and load software. After trying different firewall operating systems and not getting my gigabit speeds, I decided to load up OpenWRT. The flow offloading and open WRT enabled me to get my gigabit speeds. Now that everything is up and running Im much happier. I would have given more stars but this thing should have been quality checked before it was sent to me. Someone should have noticed that it wasnt booting.

Bought to replace functions previously assigned to a dinky DSL modem. This box runs pfsense and handles DHCP, NAT, and PPPoE authentication with the ISL. Works great and we had a big improvement in reduction of dropped packets and internet hangups. CPU temperature doesnt get above 60ºC even in a warm server room.

Received, great condition. better than expected quality. works as advertised

Zero issues loading and running OPNSense. No loss of throughput with Suricata and various services enabled and CPU stays under 30%. I am happy with my choice.