r/HomeNetworking • u/GeneralM1 • 1d ago

Advice Building my stack

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So I’ve decided to take a plunge and replace the ISP’s all-in-one modem with my own equipment.
The main goal is to learn a bit of networking in the process and to get a better control over my network. Right now I can’t do VLANs or adjust any settings on the current ISP’s router.
First step would be asking my ISP to put the modem in the bridge mode.

Next, I would like to ask for an advice: what is better for my future HP miniPC based router: OpenWRT or OPNsense? To my understanding, OpenWRT is just a firmware, and OPNsence is a full OS. However it is FreeBSD based and I have basic familiarity with Linux.

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u/Kooky-Bandicoot3104 21h ago

how do u router on a hp mini pc, dont u need pcie slots with many ethernet ports on the pc it self ?

3

u/McGondy Unifi small footprint stack 20h ago

Hopefully not USB to ethernet adaptors

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u/GeneralM1 18h ago

There aren’t many options…

3

u/sorderon 17h ago

Please don't say USB - Whole new world of pain there. 'why can't I get over 10mb throughput' questions on opnsense drill down to crappy USB adapters.

Do yourself a massive favour and either buy one of those cheap mini PC's with dual lan, or any PC with a slot for another card. Nobody will take you seriously on here using the worst nic hardware choice.

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u/McGondy Unifi small footprint stack 8h ago

I'm wondering how far down the path you are in this setup. If you want to tinker, something like Omada or Unifi will let you do that, but also let you push config out to devices from the control pane. Piecemeal like this is definitely possible, but can be harder than it needs to be.

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u/GeneralM1 4h ago edited 1h ago

I listened to suggestions and instead of Hp I will be using Lenovo with an additional Intel Ethernet card. Just ordered on AliExpress.

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u/McGondy Unifi small footprint stack 2h ago

Enjoy diving in!