Shall I buy a new router or learn how to use OPNsense/pfSense?

Megahurtz400

Megahurtz400

Megahurtz400

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Hey all!

Networking newbie here, and wanting to learn more by setting myself fun projects and struggling through them :p

Have an Pi4 currently running my Plex, pihole and Wireguard, but have come across some issues and hinderances with the BT Smart Hub (FTTC) router. It doesn't allow you to change the DNS settings and is pretty locked down.

Was thinking of buying a new router which will allow me to tinker and play around with more complex projects/tasks, but then ended up reading about OPNsense/pfSense.

Correct me if i'm wrong, but something like the above would allow me to grab an openreach/BT modem, then use a "software" router running in a micro-pc Raspberry Pi, is that right? Then i'd probably need a Wireless AP for wireless devices such as phones etc?

Absolutely nothing critical runs on my network, so it's free for everything to go wrong and revert it all back to its original state :)

Just looking for some confirmation that the above scenario "could/should" work before I start spending the time researching/learning more, as sadly time is my most scarce resource :(

Thanks!
 
Always great to learn new tech. Opnsense in proxmox works amazingly.

I have a Lenovo m720q in sale section with dual network card. Perfect for opnsense. Proxmox etc. can have all your dockers and apps all on one box. It’s great!
 
It’s quite simple to set up, especially as you have some tinkering knowledge already by the sounds of it. I’d fully recommend going with OPNsense, it is superb.

You basically just need a mini pc from Dell/HP/Lenovo which can be picked up cheap. Ideally you need something with two Ethernet ports so a dual/quad Intel PCI-E card is something you’d want to get going too.

The physical setup depends on your ISP, but if you’re on FTTP you can usually just plug the Ethernet from the ONT straight into the router, configure a couple of settings specific to the ISP and there’s not much more to it.

You‘d need a wireless AP for sure, I use and can recommend UniFi access points but there are plenty of choices out there.

Check out YouTube videos from Tom at Laurence Systems for loads of great tutorials.
 
lmfy2k said:
I have a Lenovo m720q in sale section with dual network card. Perfect for opnsense. Proxmox etc. can have all your dockers and apps all on one box. It’s great!
Click to expand...
@Megahurtz400, I would snap this up. Throw Proxmox or ESXi on it, it'll run all of the stuff the Pi can, OPNsense, plus you can pass the iGPU through for Plex transcoding.
 
lmfy2k said:
Always great to learn new tech. Opnsense in proxmox works amazingly.

I have a Lenovo m720q in sale section with dual network card. Perfect for opnsense. Proxmox etc. can have all your dockers and apps all on one box. It’s great!
Click to expand...

Will take a look, however I have just built a machine out of some old components:

2700x
16gb DRR4 (Soon to be 64)

Would I be able to run Unraid on this (once I buy the disks for it), as well as my Plex server and an opnsense?

I’ve only got 60mb FTTC (no FTTP till 2026 :(), also don’t do a huge amount of moving data around.

Would this machine do the job for now, then I could pop a dual NIC pci card in there in the future?
 
Megahurtz400 said:
Will take a look, however I have just built a machine out of some old components:

2700x
16gb DRR4 (Soon to be 64)

Would I be able to run Unraid on this (once I buy the disks for it), as well as my Plex server and an opnsense?

I’ve only got 60mb FTTC (no FTTP till 2026 :(), also don’t do a huge amount of moving data around.

Would this machine do the job for now, then I could pop a dual NIC pci card in there in the future?
Click to expand...
Yep will run fine. Keep an eye on power consumption if that concerns you. Also for plex do use a gfx card to do the transcoding ? I’m not sure how well that cpu will do 1080p or 4k in plex. But give it a try.
 
lmfy2k said:
Yep will run fine. Keep an eye on power consumption if that concerns you. Also for plex do use a gfx card to do the transcoding ? I’m not sure how well that cpu will do 1080p or 4k in plex. But give it a try.
Click to expand...

Have an old GTX 670 in there! However won't be getting the disks for a month or so, just a bit of a fun project at the moment so dropping £500+ on disks isn't at the top of priorities at the moment :p

What I might do in the mean time is grab another pi to play around with OPNsense, would a 4b or above have enough grunt to run it? As mentioned before, there really isn't much traffic on the network.
 
The value in mini PCs vs building from spare tech is the power consumption and space that it takes(unless in a mini ITX case). I got a Topton mini PC and used some guides from the internet/Youtube to have proxmox with Opnsense and very happy with it.
 
Avathar77 said:
The value in mini PCs vs building from spare tech is the power consumption and space that it takes(unless in a mini ITX case). I got a Topton mini PC and used some guides from the internet/Youtube to have proxmox with Opnsense and very happy with it.
Click to expand...

Have just answered my previous question about the Pi, it doesn't look like OPNsense supports ARM architecture! So mini-PC it shall have to be!

While I do agree about the power consumption point, at the moment this is all just for fun and not running any essential services, so my "big" server is actually switched off most of the time! Once i'm in a situation where up time is important, i'll look to invest properly for a long term solution :)
 
lmfy2k said:
Always great to learn new tech. Opnsense in proxmox works amazingly.

I have a Lenovo m720q in sale section with dual network card. Perfect for opnsense. Proxmox etc. can have all your dockers and apps all on one box. It’s great!
Click to expand...

Looks like this has sold now?
 
This is the link I followed to setup Opnsense.
You will need to learn a bit about Proxmox but its not that hard tbh, all the details are in YouTube as guides.
 
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