Selfhosted
A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.
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Thank you! Pfsense is one thing I'm confused about... Its a software, right? Does it matter the type of router you use it on? Or do you buy routers that specifically have it installed?
It's sort of both.
Netgate is the company that develops pfSense. They make pfSense available as a download that you can run on your own hardware or your own VM. They also sell pfSense routers that have official support and a free upgrade to their slightly nicer 'pfSense Plus' version. I generally recommend the official hardware (support the project and all that, and it's good quality if a bit more expensive). However if you want to save a few bucks you can get a cheap NUC-type PC with a few Intel Ethernet ports from Protectli or similar brands on Amazon.
So would a router running pfsense then also become my primary WiFi routers too? Or is it best to keep pfsense strictly as a firewall and have a separate router strictly for WiFi?
pfSense doesn't really do WiFi. So you'd use it as a router/firewall, then have something else do your WiFi. I generally recommend Ubiquiti.
It's worth noting that a 'WiFi router' is usually 3 separate things in one box- a router/firewall, a WiFi access point, and a small switch of usually 4-6 ports. In a home you usually want these things in the same place so they're in one box. In an enterprise, the router/firewall is usually in the basement where there's no WiFi, network switches may be in many places and a tiny one in the router won't help you, and WiFi is up by where the workers are. So it's that sort of setup that pfSense is designed for.
The way I have my place set up- a pfSense machine is the router/firewall. I then use Netgear managed switches (there's a few, mainly GS110TP's), and Ubiquiti WiFi. The Ubiquiti controller runs inside Docker on a small Synology box. Highly recommend this setup.
But I'd just as highly recommend going Ubiquiti all the way. Dream Machine Pro SE is a great base router/firewall, and it has a built in PoE switch so you can hang a few U6 Pro access points off it. You get a bit more flexibility with pfSense but in most home environments it's not needed.
Wow thanks for the info, sounds like some hefty stuff to learn lol. So I'm kinda broke and can't afford new hardware ATM. I only have a tp Link archer ax1800 WiFi 6 router and a belkin rt3200 because I read its great for openwrt. Wellll openwrt completely overwhelmed me so I never got a chance to properly implement it. One of these days I'll need to sit down with more patience and try to understand the firmware better
Try dd-wrt firmware. Lets you dip your toe into the water so to speak, with a lot less of the complication of openwrt. At least it used to when I last used it several years ago.
If you have a spare old PC, pfSense is a great way to screw around. Even if it only has one NIC there is (or at least used to be) basic hostap support so you could use the builtin wifi card as a base station. Otherwise spend $20 on a supported USB-Ethernet adapter and you've got yourself a router to play with.
thanks but I dont think either of my routers are dd-wrt compatible unfortunately