Looking at my network as it is now, and how I would like it to be, there are several spots in which I might wish to substitute in a RPi. The list of appliances that I would like to have running 24/7 includes:
- Firewall/Proxy Server
- Dedicated Web Server
- Dedicated Web App Server
- Dedicated DB Server
- Dedicated IDS/Honeypot
- Dedicated Print Server
Firewall/Proxy Server From a comparative 198 Watts, I do stand to save energy by using the RPi in this role - not to mention the fact that it has GigaBit networking and greater processing power than the box that I recycled for my firewall! The big problem being, that the RPi only has one NIC. I need a box which has capacity for 3 NICs - Red, Green and Orange interfaces. This is the one downfall of the RPi at this stage. Even if I could somehow link 3 of the RPis together to act as one super firewall, that would still draw less power than my old machine. Though it would probably also require a specifically built OS. More investigation required.
Dedicated Web/Web App/DB Server This should be relatively straight forward. In each instance only a headless box with a single NIC should be required. Put an external HDD in the mix to allow for appropriate data storage. Following on from one idea that I have see in the Raspberry Pi forums, using a powered hub, to power the RPi through one port, whilst the RPi is feeding comms back to the hub through another, and the other ports in the hub used for peripherals. The main challenge here is to find the right mix of OS and remote tools. IDS/Honeypot Again this solution shouldn't pose to many issues regards the hardware configuration of the RPi. It may not even need an external HDD - just some data monitoring such that if the logs start to fill up too much, they are copied to another host. Similarly to the web server scenario, the main challenge here will be finding the right OS and toolsuite. CUPS Print Server One of the issues in our house is that the printer is connected to my desktop. If I powerdown my beastie to save energy, no one else can print, and when I power it back up again, I can't print until it finishes printing all the queued jobs. Having a dedicated CUPS server might just rectify that issue.
Surely I can facilitate these features in my home network and save on the energy bills at the same time! Follow this page to see what solutions I arrive at.
Well, as you may have read, I have hit some interesting issues. I read online that powering the RPi through the same powered USB hub as the RPi is passing data through could be an advantage - one less power adapter, and you external devices power down at the same time as your RPi.
ReplyDeleteThat is great in theory, however, buyer-be-ware! I ordered a powered USB 3.0 hub on ebay. My own fault for not inquiring about the power supply first. Got the item, found that it's power supply draws 560% more (240 Watts) than the RPi power supply.
This could be a printing mistake on the power supply, or I just bought a USB hub with a space heater! Time to shop around. If RPi is to be part of a greener home network, there has to be solutions out there that allow this.