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 bought the Protectli Vault V1410-4 Port to use as a small home-network appliance, mainly for firewall/router duties, and it has been a very solid choice. The N5105 processor is powerful enough for typical home or small-office routing, firewall rules, VLANs, VPN use, and general network segmentation without feeling overbuilt or wasteful. The four 2.5G NICs are the biggest selling point for me, since they give a lot more flexibility than a basic consumer router. The unit is compact, quiet, and feels well-built. I also like that it is not locked into one specific software ecosystem, so it works well for people who want to run something like OPNsense, pfSense, or other network-focused software. I run OPNsense myself without issue. The 8GB RAM model is enough for a lot of practical firewall/router use cases, though heavier users may want to consider more RAM or storage depending on what they plan to run. Pros: Four 2.5G Ethernet ports give excellent flexibility Was able to easily set-up a system to block most ads that show up on my phone's browser Compact and quiet Good performance for home lab, firewall, and router use Works well with open-source firewall software Much more capable than most consumer routers Cons: More expensive than basic mini PCs or consumer routers Setup is not beginner-friendly if you are new to firewall software 8GB RAM is fine for routing/firewall use, but may be limiting for heavier services You need to be comfortable managing your own network settings Overall, this is a great little appliance if you want more control over your home or small-office network. It is probably overkill for someone who just wants plug-and-play Wi-Fi, but for a firewall/router, VLANs, VPNs, and a more serious home network setup, it is a strong option.

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.

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.

Great device. Quiet. Easy to install OPNsense on it.

Excellent little box. Exactly what you need to run a little performat OPNSense box.

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!

So far so good! Easy enough to install pfsense and get setup for install. Its way more affordable and powerful than Netgate devices. I think it will be a standard for my small business installs going forward

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.

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.