At the moment, I am using a single Dell Optiplex 7010 box as a multipurpose server: it runs OpenBSD and a lot of its base applications (relayd for reverse proxying, httpd as a HTTP server, pf as a firewall, etc) and some from the ports tree (like nsd for an authoritative NS, unbound for LAN DNS, …). It also runs a single Alpine VM inside that in turn hosts some dockerized apps (like Lemmy :-))
This setup is suboptimal, as OpenBSD's virtualization support is still in its early stages, so I wanted to make a defining change: move OpenBSD + all base stuff to a separate 'firewall' box and dedicate my 7010 to be a docker host (probably installing alpine linux directly).
My question is: what hardware can you recommend for the OpenBSD box? I would want something with low power consumption. It does not have to be beefy, most of the resource-hungry stuff will probably be on the docker box. One thing though: it would be nice to be able to handle gigabit network throughput for the future.
I have been looking at APU2 boards, Raspbery Pi 4B (I am not sure about the OpenBSD support, though), Intel NUCs, and also Dell Optiplex micros and minis. It would be great to get away with a budget below €100. Thanks in advance for any insight!
I like the dell SFF. Not micro pcs but SFF. Solid builds, had for cheap and generally do running bsd.
Wouldn’t there generally be a significant power draw difference between an SFF and a smaller (micro, mini, SBC…) machine?
No not really. Often the processors are the same (though there may be versions of micro desktops that have power focused processors like deletion or atom). These are mostly the same setup and the biggest difference is the form factor itself and (because there is more space) serviceability for adding (ie: pcie slots etc)
The sff often have 3-4 pcie slots and integrated psus that are a little more impervious to power fluctuations because the psus have bigger caps. The micros generally have the pico psu style (aka laptop style power brick) and no pci slots (the m715q/m720q think center basically being a unicorn in that is does have a pcie riser)
A dedicated router will mostly be idle (in comparison to a desktop workload) and since they are more common than the think center. Probably easier to source and cheaper.