taprimo :
A, my appologies. I should have said throughput. I thought i researched my selection well but I overlooked the Wan to Lan throughput which forums have reported limits of 14 to 19 Mbps. So what i am trying to determine if I can build my own firewall with a high throughput, hopefully on an open platform.
My next question is if I can also use the machine I plan to be the media server as the firewall or if that will effect my read and write ability to the server which will be used to stream HD video, itunes, and also run time machine backups.
Thanks,
Trevor
I don't know what WAN limitations (14 to 19mbps) you're referring to. Let's create a typical scenario so we have something to work with.
ISP<-- ??? -->(wan)[router](lan)<--wire-->(lan)[pc]
The WAN is just an Ethernet port. On most consumer grade routers it's going to be 10/100mbps (but you should always check the spec). If your ISP is providing 100mbps, then the WAN port is capable of handling it. However, there’s a caveat. Since Ethernet is never 100% efficient, you would probably tap out in the 70-75mbps range, so in this particular scenario you would benefit from a Gigabit (1000mbps) WAN port. Of course, that's only going to be helpful if the router's switch is also Gigabit, and the wired desktop/laptops are also using Gigabit Ethernet adapters.
Now if you want to create your own router/gateway to address this issue, you certainly can. Personally I would look for a commercial Gigabit router (WAN & LAN). I just can’t see building a computer for these purposes. But if you’re up to a DIY solution, go for it.
As I said before, there’s no problem in supporting the gateway AND any other local network services on the same machine. Nothing says you MUST build a standalone machine just to support the gateway. It just means you will have TWO network adapters on the one machine, one for the LAN, and one for the gateway (WAN). The LAN connection will use the WAN connection like every other computer on the network. And like every other computer on the local network, its applications and services (NAS, media server, HTPC, etc.) will be subject to the rules of the firewall WHEN ACCESSING THE INTERNET (i.e., WAN).
I sense you may be overthinking it. As if something is fundamentally different because you happen to be running other processes on the same machine that’s running a gateway. There isn’t. It’s just an issue of capacity, efficiency, convenience, etc.