Mini PC for pfsense/opnsense or all-in-one router

[Westingham]

I'm looking to gain more control over my personal network. Currently my ISP router provides networking and wireless but it's locked down and dumbed down in an incredibly infuriating way.

 

I was thinking about getting my own all-in-one router and simply putting the ISP router into bridge mode. Since I would like to experiment with vlans to keep IoT devices off the internet, a lot off the routers I'm seeing are in the $300-500 CAD range.

 

For that type of money, I figure I could get a mini PC and a wireless AP and have even more control over my network.

 

What I'm looking for here are recommendations for either path: which do you think would be best, any recommendations for hardware on either side, etc.

[Westingham]

Bumping for visibility 

[Alex Atkin UK]

On 11/19/2023 at 4:03 AM, Westingham said:

I'm looking to gain more control over my personal network. Currently my ISP router provides networking and wireless but it's locked down and dumbed down in an incredibly infuriating way.

 

I was thinking about getting my own all-in-one router and simply putting the ISP router into bridge mode. Since I would like to experiment with vlans to keep IoT devices off the internet, a lot off the routers I'm seeing are in the $300-500 CAD range.

 

For that type of money, I figure I could get a mini PC and a wireless AP and have even more control over my network.

 

What I'm looking for here are recommendations for either path: which do you think would be best, any recommendations for hardware on either side, etc.

If you're wanting to play with advanced features then I don't think you can beat a mini PC.

[LIGISTX]

On 11/18/2023 at 8:03 PM, Westingham said:

I'm looking to gain more control over my personal network. Currently my ISP router provides networking and wireless but it's locked down and dumbed down in an incredibly infuriating way.

 

I was thinking about getting my own all-in-one router and simply putting the ISP router into bridge mode. Since I would like to experiment with vlans to keep IoT devices off the internet, a lot off the routers I'm seeing are in the $300-500 CAD range.

 

For that type of money, I figure I could get a mini PC and a wireless AP and have even more control over my network.

 

What I'm looking for here are recommendations for either path: which do you think would be best, any recommendations for hardware on either side, etc.

You can run pfsense on basically any PC that’s a decade old or newer. If you have one laying around, or know of a friend of family member looking to dump an old machine, could be a great way to repurpose it. You’d just need a 2 (or 4) port NIC (make sure it’s an Intel NIC), and you’re good to go. 
 

Also, don’t use pfsense as a switch. Only use two ports, one for WAN, one for LAN. You could separate out subnets physically on the different ports, but I wouldn’t unless you have a perfect use case for that. For most home stuff, just get managed switches and use vlans as you planned, and have them all go over a single management interface which would be on a single physical port (all this to say, don’t try and use more then 2 ports, one for LAN one for WAN). 

[Westingham]

6 hours ago, Alex Atkin UK said:

If you're wanting to play with advanced features then I don't think you can beat a mini PC.

Any recommendations on a mini PC? Specific manufacturers or retailers?

[Alex Atkin UK]

On 11/21/2023 at 1:54 AM, Westingham said:

Any recommendations on a mini PC? Specific manufacturers or retailers?

This is what I have, specifically the N100 model as its vastly overpowered as I plan to upgrade to 2Gbit fibre once available.  The CPU makes the UI a little faster and can be relevant if you use OpenVPN (as I've had issues with Wireguard), but other than those things the N5105 and N100 easily handle up to 2.5Gbit (I have both as I got the former before the latter came out and wanted a backup).

 

The N5100 is a good deal too and you shouldn't need more than 4GB RAM 128GB storage, though it doesn't hurt to go larger.  Either should spend most time around 11W (maybe a bit higher in the US as 230v conversion is usually slightly more efficient).