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Comment by SteveNuts | Hacker News Reader

Are there dual NIC Intel NUCs now? Last time I looked I couldn't find one.

I run a NUC as my router, with only one NIC. I use tagged vlans to separate the networks, and have a cheapo switch that understands tagged vlans. Unless you have a really nice external network connection, you don't really need multiple NICs for your router.

Nope but there are certainly some articles discussing the use of USB NICs, and their performance.

http://www.virten.net/2016/06/additional-usb-nic-for-intel-n...

You can hook up an extra nic on the miniPCI-e slot. But that is a bit hacky.

You can also use one NIC and VLANs.

Are there any disadvantages to using a single NIC with VLANs rather than two NICs for a router?

Mostly just bandwidth, if you have a dedicated storage device it's pretty easily to saturate a 1Gbe NIC.

My one complaint is the lack of plug sensing: if you unplug a cable modem and plug it back in, that typically does things like triggering a DHCP request, which doesn't happen when the cable modem is plugged into a switch port on a vlan.

It's also easier for misconfigurations to lead to security issues since your switch resetting to default means your network is now connected directly to the internet. I had this happen after the power went out last time, luckily I'm on a PPPoE connection so it wasn't really connected to the net. Replaced my NUC + managed switch setup after that.

Zotac makes ZBoxes with two NICs, they're about the same price.

I have one of these, they have the advantage over the NUC being that are silent and cheaper.

The only NUCs that are worth it are the i5/i7s but they are rather warm and need a fan. (I have a first gen i5, its fucking awesome though.)

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