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I essentially have a foot in both camps... I like having the control and autonomy of open-source networking hardware but I don't have enough spare time to make

I essentially have a foot in both camps... I like having the control and autonomy of open-source networking hardware but I don't have enough spare time to make it a full-on hobby. Right now my "happy spot" is: 1. An OPNSense firewall between my cable modem and the rest of the network running on a low-power PC Engines APU2. The web-based UI is funky but workable, full SSH access to the box for digging into the internals when needed, online upgrades are a cinch. 2. An 8-port gigabit unmanaged switch that everything hangs off of. 3. A Netgear WAX218 business-grade access point for wifi, running the stock firmware. Web UI is decent and doesn't require any cloud-based management bullshit. For around $100, it works much better than it has any right to, given the prices of mid-range APs and wifi routers these days. 4. A small fleet of Raspberry Pis for miscellaneous tasks. If I get more into IoT, it shouldn't be much of a hassle to add VLANs and maybe another switch.

fishtacos 4y ago
That sounds like a good "happy spot" and doesn't veer in hobby territory IMO. More like an interest. In retrospect, I lied a bit about not missing pfSense (or OPNSense in your case) because truthfully I miss the monitoring, packages, configuration and expandability options. At the same time, I also don't miss them, because 0 headaches and actually better latency is still a plus. Just need to login to that god awful ATT interface to open up a port, but these are 1st world problems... there's always VPNs and cloud VPS to fix that.
jon-wood 4y ago
Unless you're really into managing a small fleet of devices for basic functionality I'd highly recommend replacing them with a single Intel NUC or similar. I did the same after one too many SD card failures and was very happy with the results - you get a significantly more powerful server for a power footprint about the same as all the horribly inefficient USB power adapters running a bunch of Pis.

fishtacos 4y ago

That sounds like a good "happy spot" and doesn't veer in hobby territory IMO. More like an interest. In retrospect, I lied a bit about not missing pfSense (or OPNSense in your case) because truthfully I miss the monitoring, packages, configuration and expandability options. At the same time, I also don't miss them, because 0 headaches and actually better latency is still a plus. Just need to login to that god awful ATT interface to open up a port, but these are 1st world problems... there's always VPNs and cloud VPS to fix that.

jon-wood 4y ago

Unless you're really into managing a small fleet of devices for basic functionality I'd highly recommend replacing them with a single Intel NUC or similar. I did the same after one too many SD card failures and was very happy with the results - you get a significantly more powerful server for a power footprint about the same as all the horribly inefficient USB power adapters running a bunch of Pis.