A release you may have missed recently with all the CES news is the new Netgate SG-1100. The Netgate SG-1100 is a new Arm design for pfSense firewalls that is an enormous upgrade over the Netgate SG-1000. Starting at around $159, the new unit costs slightly more than the previous unit while bringing 3-5x more performance based on the company’s claims.
Netgate SG-1100 Arm-based pfSense Firewall
The new Netgate SG-1100 from the company behind pfSense, is based on the Marvell ESPRESSObin. As we can expect, there is a lot of Marvell onboard. That includes a dual-core 64-bit Marvell ARMADA 3720 ARMv8 CPU and a Marvell 88E6141. The Marvell 88E6141 is a networking switch which drives three 1GbE ports.
![Netgate SG 1100 IO](https://www.servethehome.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Netgate-SG-1100-IO.jpg)
As a fairly big upgrade over the Netgate SG-1000, the Netgate SG-1100 includes 1GB of DDR4 RAM and an 8GB EMMC storage which is plenty for a basic firewall/ router. Inside there is one Mini PCIe slot a SATA port. On the exterior, aside from the three 1GbE ports there is one USB 3.0 port, one USB 2.0 port, and one console port via Micro USB.
![Netgate SG 1100 Packet Filtering Performance](https://www.servethehome.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Netgate-SG-1100-packet-filtering-performance.jpg)
The impact is significant. Netgate is showing 3-5x performance improvement from the SG-1000 to SG-1100. That takes the device from being more of an IPMI or lower-end networking device to being a higher-end competitor. From the performance figures, it still appears as that higher-end network appliances offer noticeably more performance, but this brings Arm-based low-cost units to more competitive positioning.
Netgate SG-1100 Key Specs
Here are the key specs for the Netgate SG-1100:
SoC | Marvell Armada 3720LP (88F3720) dual-core ARM Cortex A53 processor @ 1.2GHz |
---|---|
System Memory | 1 GB DDR4 RAM on board |
Storage | 8 GB EMMC |
Network Interfaces | 1x Marvell 88E6141 networking switch 3x GbE Ethernet (WAN/LAN/OPT) 1x Mini PCIe slot |
USB | 1x USB 3.0 1x USB 2.0 1x Micro USB port (console) |
Misc | Reset button, heatsink, 3 Status LED |
Power | 12V 2A DC 5.5mm x 2.1mm x 10mm jack, center pin positive (power over USB not supported) |
Power Consumption | 3.48W (idle) |
Operating Temperature | 0°C (32°F) to 45°C (113°F) |
Enclosure | Plastic 110 x 84.6 x 31.75 mm (4.33″ x 3.33″ x 1.25″) |
Hardware Warranty | 1 year standard. Second-year available only at time of purchase. |
Certifications | CE, FCC, RoHS |
Can you do a performance test where the WAN is connected to a PPPOE endpoint?
FreeBSD (as well as Linux) has some major performance problems caused by PPPOE not using multiple queues for receive.
It improves on the SG-1000 but quite underwelming.
The ESPRESSObin was launched in 2016 and back then had a base price of $49 (for the full board with 2GB RAM)
Now in 2019 they want to sell it for $159 with only 1GB RAM.
ESPRESSObin was a very low end, very cheap product in 2016, what do call it in 2019?
I am fine that Moore’s law is over, but do we need to move so slowly now? Hopefully ARM’s Neoverse will come for our rescue.
Daniel – I got a note from Netgate yesterday saying we will be getting one “in a few months.” Rohit will do the review.
They were selling the MBT-4220 with 2Gb RAM and 32Gb SSD a few weeks back for $199. Out of stock now but that was be 2-3x the performance for 25% more.
These fisher price toys are ok for slow connections, if you u do not run addons, etc. Repurpose an old pc and save some $ vs this stuff.
Still no STH review