You're going to use a 10 core 64GB machine as a firewall? Do you mow your lawn with dynamite also? 🤣
Probably too much LTT. Also considering the ankommt of power that would draw, even if basically idling
No kill like overkill.
Obligatory: Debian.
But I'd be tempted to put Proxmox on it and then run containers for each function. Then you get purpose-crafted solutions for each use case, but can easily plug new functions in or shut them down based on what you decide later.
I agree with Proxmox. I know it’s 10 years old, but it seems a waste to use a 10 core, 64GB machine as a firewall.
Actually…put Proxmox on it and put the firewall in a LXC container.
I’d second this. I’ve installed Proxmox installed on some Mac Minis and they do a credible job of it. A beefy Max Pro would be all the better.
I’ll add that if the main purpose is to be a NAS something like TrueNAS will be much more set-and-forget.
This is grossly overpowered for a firewall, so I wouldn’t go that route unless you want to do a virtual firewall on top of a general purpose hypervisor.
I see you say 'no resale value', but specs like that do 650,- to 700,- here in The Netherlands. Are you sure there is no value here? It seems as a firewall, it will consume lots of electricity. (Too much for 24/7?)
I fully agree. This is still a very high specced computer to be honest. Even for today standards.
Debian is always a safe choice for almost everything. It’s also worth checking DistroWatch. They have a search that can filter which distros are developed for a specific task (it’s under “distribution category”).
Open Media Vault. It's Debian, but with a nice web UI on top to manage the system. It allows you to setup NAS-shares visually, so you don't have to rely on your ancient and possibly a bit rusty terminal knowledge. It also gives you the option to easily install portainer, a way to manage docker containers, like a firewall
I’ve came across this recently and restored life into a 2011 iMac.
https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/
Might be of some interest of checking out to get latest OS on it.
Run a minecraft server: https://youtu.be/FJYvx42j7OU
I played on it when it was up and it was fairly stable.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/FJYvx42j7OU
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
mxlinux? Debian based, works fine in an old mac I have
Did you see the specs of the "old mac" lol. Shit's a powerhouse. He could even host lemmy on it.
He could host way more stuff on it, Lemmy is fairly light
Let me know what you settle on and how it works. I just picked one of these up myself.
I was thinking of putting Promox on it. Using it as a NAS was an idea too but I not sure how to get enough storage on it.
It seems like overkill for a firewall.
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