PFsense as a pseudo layer 3 switch - possible ?

[caffrey]

Our network don't have a true core switch and the entire network is ran on netgear layer 2+ which works fine, I'm planning on some network changes that would require I think a layer 3 core switch in the cab (dhcp / vlan routing) but budgets being budgets I can't really stretch to one - I was thinking of using a pfsense box to provide DHCP over vlans instead - is this viable ? That or find a cheap L3 like a gsm7328s.

[SYNACK]

Yes, you can use an Linux or even windows server install to act as a layer 3 router. Either one switch port and Nic per vlan or one or more clan tagged ports going to the 'router' to handle it depending on the traffic requirements. Low end layer 3 stuff could be better or worse depending on how fast it is at routing. Untangle, smoothwall express and many other out of the box installs like pfsense will make this easy depending on you hardware.

[caffrey]

Thanks SYNACK, just as I thought