GL.iNet Brume 2 (GL-MT2500) in a 10-inch rack

The Brume 2 is GL.iNet’s palm-sized VPN gateway: a dual-core MediaTek box with one 2.5 GbE WAN port, one Gigabit LAN port and OpenWrt-based firmware. It suits racks that need a dedicated WireGuard or OpenVPN endpoint without spending much power or shelf space on it.

At a glance

Where it fits in a mini rack

The Brume 2 is a single-purpose box, and that is its strength. Give it the VPN job and leave routing for the whole home to something else. Typical roles:

• Remote access into the homelab: a WireGuard server that lets your laptop or phone reach the rack from anywhere.
• Site-to-site link: one Brume in the rack, another at a second location, tunnelled together.
• VPN client gateway: everything behind the LAN port leaves through a VPN tunnel, without configuring each device.

The firmware is GL.iNet’s own build on OpenWrt 21.02, managed through the Web Admin Panel, with GoodCloud and AstroWarp for remote management. The USB 3.0 Type-A port can take a drive or another peripheral.

What it is not: a main router for a busy network. There is one LAN port, it is Gigabit, and the VPN figures sit well below the 2.5 GbE WAN link speed. Treat the 2.5 GbE port as headroom, not a promise of multi-gig VPN.

How it fits a 10-inch rack

At 70 × 70 × 22 mm, the Brume 2 takes up a corner of a shelf:

There is no dedicated mount for the Brume 2 in the catalogue. It sits on the 10i hex shelf, flat in 1U including the deck or upright in 2U, both 154 mm deep, and both fit all six RackMate frames from the four-unit RackMate T0 up. Nothing is blocked.

Flat is the natural choice. The box is small enough that the same 1U shelf can carry other compact devices beside it, a mini switch or a single-board computer, which makes good use of a unit you would otherwise spend on one 60 g gateway.

The catalogue models the lavender plastic GL-MT2500, not the aluminium GL-MT2500A, and the 60 g weight applies to the plastic version. Check which one you own before planning around the catalogue model.

Power

GL.iNet states consumption below 2.6 W, and the catalogue budgets 2.6 W as an upper bound. No separate idle figure is published, and USB peripherals are not included in that number.

The supply is USB-C at 5 V / 2 A. That rating describes the adapter, not the device’s draw. In rack terms the Brume 2 is close to free, but the adapter still needs a socket, so plan it on the power strip with the rest.

Networking and cabling

Both Ethernet ports are on the face that points to the rack front: the 2.5 GbE WAN and the Gigabit LAN.

• WAN: if the Brume 2 is the edge device, the ISP line typically enters through a rear keystone, and a short patch from that keystone’s front socket reaches the WAN port. Behind a main router, the WAN port simply patches to a front-facing switch port instead.
• LAN: patch it to a front keystone or straight to a front-facing switch port. Everything on that side of the network then sits behind the VPN.

Keep both patches short and inside the frame. With both ports at the front, there is no reason for a cable ever to leave it.

How it differs from the Brume 3

The Brume 3 (GL-MT5000) is the faster sibling. It has a MediaTek quad-core at 2.0 GHz, the same 1 GB DDR4 and 8 GB eMMC, and three 2.5 GbE ports: WAN, LAN 1 and LAN 2. GL.iNet quotes WireGuard up to 1,100 Mbps and OpenVPN-DCO up to 1,000 Mbps. It draws under 5 W from a 5 V / 3 A USB-C supply and measures 92 × 75 × 25 mm.

Both sit flat on the hex shelf in 1U. If your line and your VPN needs stay under the Brume 2’s figures, it is the lighter, lower-power choice. For near-Gigabit tunnels or two multi-gig LAN ports, step up to the Brume 3.

Full specifications

Plan it

Open the GL.iNet Brume 2 in the catalogue to place it on a hex shelf in a rack plan alongside the rest of your network.

For the faster sibling, read the Brume 3 guide. For a tiny wireless companion on the same shelf, see the MikroTik mAP lite guide.