Protectli Vault V1410-4 Port, Micro Appliance/Mini PC - N5105, 4X 2.5G NICs, ...

I decided I wanted to deploy Opnsense at the perimeter of my home network and chose to use a mini pc I had laying around. I found out quickly that Opnsense or more specifically the Freebsd that it uses as its base operating system does not play well with Realtek network card drivers. Everything I was reading was saying that Intel NIC's are the way to go with Opnsense. After having performance issues and crashing due to load (I couldn't even run Zenarmor in blocking mode without crashing my system), I decided to look for a better solution. Thankfully I found the Protectli Vault purpose built appliance. I got the V1410 4 port model, which not only replaced what I had but added additional functionality with those four 2.5GB INTEL NICs! Now instead of just having two network zones (WAN and LAN) I have two more zones to play with. The unit has been working great with Opnsense, with 3 current zones enabled and Zenarmor in blocking mode! It is fanless (so quiet) and although it does get warm to the touch, it does a great job of dissipating the heat. The thing that I think impressed me the most about this appliance is that it comes with everything you need to get started, including the spare parts you need to install your own accessories. I had a 500GB NVMe drive lying about and I figured why not save a few dollars and install it myself. Protectli included the screw I needed for mounting as well as thermal pads to help dissipate the heat. They even have videos available that walk you through the full installation! For an accessory that I didn't even buy from them! What an incredible level of support! I can't say enough how impressed I am with Protectli as a company and with the quality and value of this appliance. I absolutely love it and would highly recommend it to anyone doing a similar deployment. And I recommend getting the four port unit for the small additional cost just to have the flexibility of more firewall zones.

I purchased the Protectli V1410 to serve as a home network firewall appliance. The physical box is built like a brick...a lead brick. Thanks Protecti for a solid look and feel piece of equipment. It would fit right in place within a datacenter. Nothing is flimsy about this device. Being solid metal, I was concerned about heat displacement with just passive cooling, but found the outside temp manageable...as in a bit warm, but not bad. No issues placing next to other devices. This device handles FW'ed traffic much better than my wireless/(4port)eth router. Running OPNsense with each port (4) configured as separate networks. Speed throughput to the internet improved for steaming devices, NAS backups and internet access noticeably improved, with only 10-11% of CPU usage. There were less expensive alternates I could've chosen, however this unit is proving to be worth the cost. The saying "you get what you pay for" is appropriate for this purchase.

This little device is a fantastic addition to my network. Love it love it love it. Installed OPNsense on it and put my own SSD drive in it. Glad they sell an option without the SSD. Works like a charm. You need to know you way around a network a bit though. Company documentation is thoughtful and very good. Device runs very quiet. Feels solid. Would buy again, but hope it lasts a long long time.

Phenomenal router, running pfSense CE 2.8.1 for the last year. Definitely recommend getting a 5v USB powered noctua fan to strap to the top of this thing. 2.5GbE NICs are known to heat up.! Otherwise, it does more then any router you’ll ever buy. Thank you Protectli and Netgate for making such robust products!

I purchased the Protecti Vault V1410-4 port to replace my current PFSense Firewall that had 1GB ethernet in it since the Protecti had 4 2.5Gb ethernet ports. Setup was easy, but then I noticed that I was not getting the full bandwidth from it when doing speed tests. Apparently because I had enabled QoS on my old router which was an Intel Core i5 processor when I transferred the config to the Protecti, the N5105 couldn't do the network QoS as well as the older Core i5 box could. So while my Internet speed was supposed to be 1.2 to 1.4Gbps down, I was lucky to get maybe 400Mbs down. This was repeatable across various hardwired connections being routed through the Protecti. Once I turned the QoS off, it immediately started giving me the 1.4 Gbps down. This was a little concerning as supposedly the processor should have been around the same performance, but it just couldn't handle it. It may also be related to the Intel i226v and FreeBSD support but I did not try OPNSense or anything else on it. Noise level is silent, and the size is just right. Value for the money seems good as I was able to finally upgrade my entire network to 2.5Gb by adding this router in for the last piece before the cable modem. Maybe down the road I will try the QoS again if there are further updates to the Intel i226v driver for FreeBSD, or try switching to another device, but right now I am happy with it.

Works very well, love it for OPNsense HOWEVER, im not sure if mine is a defect but the ports on mine are VERY touchy. If you just slightly move the ethernet cable and it loses signal. I have tried multiple ethernet cables, both ones I made and pre fabricated ones. I am not sure *why? This happens but its like the port itself doesn't hold the cable in tightly enough

Replaced an older version with this. Nice upgrade, runs Opnsense no problem and the Intel nics are definitely better that my old RealTeks. Running zfs for the filesystem and the unit with opnsense and multiple wg clients and endpoints doesn't even break a sweat. I hope to keep this around until we can go 10g

I've been running the Protectli Vault line since I got the FW1 back in 2017. That unit still runs fine, but I'm upgrading my wired network speed to 2.5Gbps and picked this model as a replacement. I was not disappointed! The V1410 arrived exactly as spec'd, and I installed my OS of choice (Debian) easily following their detailed instructions. I swapped the new unit for the original and am now running my whole-house Internet through it. I highly recommend this device for anyone looking for a fanless server/appliance solution.

Installation war ganz einfach, OpnSense als Firewall zwischen meinen Homelab & ISP zuzüglich Fallback auf 5G wenn der Internetprovider mal wieder nichts gebacken bekommt.

Ich habe den Protectli bei mir in Betrieb genommen und habe noch ein Problem, das ich mit dem Support klären muss. Ich habe FreeBSD installiert. Beim Reboot geht irgend etwas schief, so dass der Protectli anschließend sehr langsam läuft. Wahrscheinlich irgendeine BIOS-Einstellung. Außerdem wird das Gehäuse ziemlich heiß. Ich werde die Bewertung peu a peu ergänzen.

Ce petit ordinateur/pare-feu est tres puissant et convient tres bien a mon reseau pour la maison.

Very good product but needs a external fan, when used in a non-climated setting (at room temp 21-23C°). Ordered a noctua fan with an extra usb-power-controller and the FW works flawlessly now. Even with IPS, zenarmor and deep packet inspection active, I didn't notice a single performance dip after upgrading it with the external fan.

I was looking to replace my home lab firewall with a solution that would offer both high performance and low power consumption. The Protectli Vault V1410 turned out to be an excellent choice. It looks solid and well-built, and it comes equipped with four 2.5Gbps Intel network interfaces, which I prefer over Realtek. I installed OPNsense and had everything up and running within a few minutes.