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

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.

Easy install and operation with OPNSense. Reasonably fast operation with hardware for the money, too slow in my tests to run squid proxy with filtering if speed/heavy usage required but I don’t really need that. It is very reasonably warm in operation but I added an external usb quiet free standing fan to move low speed air across it and case stays cool to touch. Very satisfied, and recommended. Been running a month now, absolutely no issues.

Been using for about a month with no issues. Installed RAM & MSATA SSD, and then installed and setup pfsense in about hour. And all for less than the cost of SG-3100 but this has far more capabilities.

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.

I have bought many of these for Pfsense firewall projects in the past. These firewalls do not disappoint. These a great and drive packets home to their destinations quickly and efficiently. I recommend this over any closed source firewall or any consumer grade junk out there. Great base for a wired LAN and wLAN project!! I will continue to buy these for any future project that comes up!

The Protectli Vault FW4B is an excellent firewall micro appliance/mini PC that provides robust security and performance for your network. With its Intel Quad Core processor and AES-NI encryption, this micro appliance delivers exceptional performance and security for even the most demanding applications.

These cheap mass produced units most likely have hardware backdoors built into them. It makes really really good sense for China to push these into the world markets. Only buy if you want to greatly assist them in their worldly conquests. Real hardware costs more because name brands make sure to a reasonable extent that their hardware isnt compromised.

Been running this little guy for over two years without issue. It runs warm but rarely consumes more than 15% cpu. pFSense has been updated three or more times and its been trouble-free. I host a public facing website and this device protects my network for all sorts of intrusions.

Bought this for running Untangle firewall at home. CPU sits at less than 1% all day. Only complaint is the unit does run very warm to the touch. Performance has been excellent to date and all features of Untangle seem to be supported with this hardware.

Runs pfSense like a champ. Thats all.