A Quick Overview of the Protectli VP2420 2.5 GbE Appliance

[@Prevok]

No unboxing, no benchmark, no internal view, no actual tests. How is this a review? Good info about the BIOS and the Protectli support, but that's not what a review is.

[@smokeythebear1633]

go watch linus tech tips then. This was invaluable information for me (someone who is looking for home network hardware to make a purchase in the next 24 hours)

[@homenetworkguy]

Yes that’s true. I have all that on my written review. To be honest, my main focus is on my website but I’m just getting started on videos. I should rename this to a “quick review” like my other video.

[@homenetworkguy]

Thanks! It is true I’m lacking some of those details but I do have a written version to show the data. In my videos I’m trying to show what I find interesting about the device beyond just the technical specs. I’m also very limited on time so I’m doing what I can to get started- just making baby steps. Haha

[@ninjarider443]

Many protecli devices use very old intel chips that have many vulnerabilties that can't be fixed - so just be careful and research the intel chips. Some go back to 2016.

[@homenetworkguy]

I believe some of those vulnerabilities are more of an issue if you have multiple user accounts like with cloud/shared hosting which is less relevant for router/firewalls. Also some of the mitigations are enabled by default in OPNsense on the tunables page. Some of those vulnerabilities are more theoretical than actually exploited (at least from what I’ve heard), but it is good to be aware of them. Someone told me some processors as new as 2020-2021 still had vulnerabilities so it maybe the next generation of CPUs will fair better.

[@jackprick9797]

I was wondering about that. Which chip would you recommend?

[@233kosta]

They do also have a European warehouse somewhere in Germany.

[@homenetworkguy]

Ahh, nice!

[@JHendo247]

what is the default log in for the 2410 product?

[@homenetworkguy]

It depends on what you had chosen for installation if you bought one with an Operating System pre-installed. For OPNsense for example, it should be root as the username and opnsense as the password.

[@JHendo247]

@@homenetworkguy thank you so much for your help. We got it preconfigured with ZIXI. Using it for Broadcast, perhaps I can reach out to support. I did try root but that’s a no go. I’m assuming since we have a different OS on the machine

[@damaliamarsi2006]

Where ks the review of the VP2420?

[@homenetworkguy]

My first couple of reviews, I did a quick glance at the features since I spent most of my effort on my written reviews. I linked to my website in the description if you want more detailed info on the VP2420. I'm still ramping up my KZbin content. On the most recent Gowin R86S-U4 review I posted, I spent more time discussing the features and showed several performance benchmarks in a number of configurations. I hope to do more of those types of reviews in my video content in the future but they take a good bit more effort. I have so many things that I want to do and my time is limited especially since I am not a full time content creator.

[@damaliamarsi2006]

@@homenetworkguy If you change your title to "A quick introduction to X it would be more accurate. Reviews tend to IMHO include turning the device on and even taking it apart to discuss the hardware and capabilities. That is a review, what you did was a quick intro or overview and if you want some constructive thoughts, was quite good in that context, but ultimately not a review. All IMHO of course. IMHO if you are going to review computers and firewall equipment you won't piss too many people off by nerding out.

[@homenetworkguy]

Good point! My website has the real "review". I already changed the title to "quick" in front of "review", but I think "overview" would be more appropriate in this case. Thanks for the feedback! I am trying to discuss things I would personally find interesting in a homelab environment beyond just reading off the specifications of the device (because those are already published online).

[@2Bad.]

Jason sent me here... subscribed.

[@homenetworkguy]

Thanks! I appreciate it! I’m planning to do an OPNsense full network build series next (to complement the written guide I’ve done). Probably will break it down into 3-4 episodes.

[@GCheung55]

Thank you for the review! Makes me more confident about Protectli and I’m thinking of getting the VP2420. Do you happen to have a Protectli discount code? 😅

[@homenetworkguy]

Glad you found the walkthrough helpful! Unfortunately, I do not have any discount codes. I don’t even earn affiliate income unless it is purchased from Amazon, which has limited options. If you go to their store, you can fully customize the system to get exactly the options you want so you could potentially get the system cheaper than Amazon if you chose other configurations.

[@JasonsLabVideos]

You are about to receive a package from me too !!

[@homenetworkguy]

Sounds like more good days ahead!

[@ninjarider443]

Protectli whole or product line is made up of 5+ year old hardware. If you are going to build a firewall - why would you use hardware that is plagued with vulnerabilities (MIMO, Spectra/Meltdown, etc..)? Not sure why you would recommend such old hardware to defend someone's network as a professional. Kind of concerning. Do this - install ipfire on the protecli device. In ipfire there is an option in the UI that shows "hardware vulnerabilties". Also, you can just google the outdated and old chip they use and check out all the vulnerabilties. Chips 2021 or later are preferred, but most of the chips protecli use are 2014-2019 which are crap. When building out security for folks and posting these videos you want to make sure you are looking at the entire package of the device you are recommending.

[@homenetworkguy]

Thank you for your feedback! I would like to address your concerns. Your assessment is that CPU processors 2021 or newer are recommended. The VP2420 that you commented on is using a processor (J6412) that was released in 2021 (ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/214758/intel-celeron-processor-j6412-1-5m-cache-up-to-2-60-ghz.html) so by your own assessment, the VP2420 should be recommended! The VP2420 is one of their newer models so it’s using a newer processor. The release date post was December 22, 2022 and is a using a 2021 CPU. So their entire product line is certainly not using 5+ year old hardware. CPU vulnerabilities such as Spectre and Meltdown have been patched with microcode or OS patches (with a performance penalty but it doesn’t make the CPU completely unusable). A 2022 article by Kaspersky (usa.kaspersky.com/blog/spectre-meltdown-in-practice/26100/) discusses the impact of those 2 vulnerabilities 4 years later. Here is the TDLR version in case you do not have time to read it all: “The most impressive theoretical work (in terms of possible consequences) is the NetSpectre attack. The researchers managed to demonstrate remote exploitation with data exfiltration at a speed of 15 to 60 bits per hour. The limitations of the attack are clear: low data transmission rate, exfiltrated data contains a huge amount of junk traffic, plus vulnerable code on the attacked server “in the right place” for success. Most realistic proofs of concept were patched, and even without patches, their exploitation requires a large set of conditions. Even though media reports about real “Spectre exploits” have not been confirmed, security vendors have added tools to detect known attacks just in case”. As for newer CPUs, a few minutes of searching has revealed several CPU vulnerabilities: Hertzbleed (up to 11th gen 2021 CPUs): arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/06/researchers-exploit-new-intel-and-amd-cpu-flaw-to-steal-encryption-keys/ Downfall (up to 11th gen 2021 CPUs): www.techspot.com/news/100814-intel-knew-about-downfall-cpu-vulnerability-but-did.html Reptar (up to 11th gen 2021 CPUs): arstechnica.com/security/2023/11/intel-fixes-high-severity-cpu-bug-that-causes-very-strange-behavior/ Intel actually has a full list of known CPU vulnerabilities for 2022-2023 CPUs which are newer than the 11th gen CPUs (and also has a list of 2018-2021 CPU vulnerabilities): (www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/topic-technology/software-security-guidance/processors-affected-consolidated-product-cpu-model.html). It has 13 vulnerabilities that are currently being tracked across all of their newest processors! The nice thing about Protectli boxes is coreboot support which offers increased assurance that the firmware hasn’t been tampered with which may potentially be a greater concern than CPU vulnerabilities that often are only replicated in lab environments under very specific conditions. If you don’t trust the source of the hardware at least you can have firmware you can trust with coreboot (which makes use of the TPM module among other things to verify firmware). As an FYI and full disclosure, I’m not a professionally trained cyber security professional. I did earn my CCNA almost 25 years ago, but I didn’t pursue network engineering as my career (I went the software development route). With that said, all of my content is home network focused so what I feel is good enough for many home users may not necessarily be recommended for the enterprise where more stringent security requirements are necessary to protect data assets. Home users generally don’t need enterprise grade security unless they are high value targets. Having as much security protections in place as possible is beneficial, of course, so I’m not advocating having a minimal amount of security for home users. Thanks to your feedback I learned about some new vulnerabilities on newer CPUs that I haven’t heard about. It’s hard to keep track of them all! Also I could try to put more disclaimers in my video for awareness but I don’t want to include so many that it distracts from the topic(s) at hand.

[@smokeythebear1633]

Thanks for this video. Very helpful

[@homenetworkguy]

Glad you found it helpful!

[@knofi7052]

Sorry, but Protectly is much too expensive for the hardware they are selling!

[@homenetworkguy]

No problem. You don’t need to apologize to me, haha. You are paying extra for great support (easier and much quicker to replace/return your item than Aliexpress) and you get extra security features with the coreboot BIOS if you are interested in maximizing security of your firewall appliance by ensuring your system’s firmware has not been compromised by a malicious actor.

[@glynnetolar4423]

I think he gets oasis by the word. He rambles.

[@homenetworkguy]

Thanks for the feedback. My videos so far are unscripted and raw. I’m still new at video content so hopefully I can improve over time. I’m so busy and I only do this in my free time so I’m unable spend a lot of time making video content.