Hello Guys,
I’m not sure if this is the right place to ask this question. If not, please move the thread to the appropriate forum.
So, now i’m mostly finishing the setup and want to include a pfSense Firewall device to secure the network as some of them will be exposed to the internet.
I got to know that for the best security practices, its suggested to use a managed switch which supports VLAN. So, now as I’m moving to 25G and 100G, I’ve my old switch (still in use) with the old NAS device and clients. So, my questions are:
Do i need a new managed switch? Already having Mikrotik CRS312-4C+8XG-RM. If yes, then what brand and model would you guys recommend? Looking under 16 ports for the moment. In addition, what other features should i look for in a switch that's aimed to be used with the pfSense?
Do I need to have the SFP+ ports on the Firewall Device?
Currently, planning to use an old Lenovo ThinkStation Tiny (Core i3-9100+32GB DDR4 RAM+i350-T4 NIC). Is the CPU sufficient or do i need to upgrade it so that it does not bottleneck when most of the devices are connected to the Firewall via a Switch?
As the ThinkStation Tiny does have i350-T4, can i use the rest of the ports to the desired devices (such as Plex/CCTV) or i would still need them to route through the managed switch?
Do i need a machine with ECC support for the Firewall device? I plan to use ZFS on the pfSense installation.
Any suggestions and recommendations are more than welcome!
Thanks