I'm currently running OPNsense virtualised in Proxmox. It's a little confusing if you haven't run a custom firewall before but the setup was relatively simple and works flawlessly now that I understand it a bit better. The only downside being if you are running it on the same machine as your services and need to restart, your network will go down as well.
this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2023
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Same here, opnsense on proxmox. I'm very happy with it. Snapshots mean I don't have to worry about a "bad" update and I appreciate the easy console access through prox gui without needing an ipkvm or similar in scenarios where I've screwed something up and can't hit the gui or ssh. Plus, if you backup your *sense config after any changes you make, in the event you need to setup a new physical box it's a quick iso install and restore config. For me the pros outweigh the cons, even if a bit of performance is lost.
I'm seriously debating switching to opnsense. I'm in the process of upgrading my homelab to 10g, and wonder how pfsense will play with my 10g nics. I think I read before that pfsense plays with it fine.... But if not, I'll jump to opnsense.
I also wonder how long pfsense will keep things going for CE... Seems like the writing is on the wall that it isn't going to last, but we'll see.
I had a bad experience with a pfSense VM once when I was still learning.
TL;DR: I was trying to use 100% SDN in my lab and painted myself into a corner.
I was using that pfSense VM as my core router for my lab and got into a bit of a bootstrap problem after a long power outage because everything in my lab relied on DV switches through vSphere (which I couldn't manage and couldn't 'see' the hosts). After a tedious recovery, I pulled pfSense back to a physical box.
Lessons learned: always keep your core network router separate from anything that depends on it. lol. I do still use virtual pfSense for dev environments, though.
I run opnsense, which has a long a storied history with pfsense and in my opinion is better, on a VM in proxmox.
I have a cluster of three servers and I can live migrate the VMs around to do maintenance. It gets backed up to proxmox backup server so restoring from a bad upgrade, which I’ve never had happen, or severe experimentation, which happens frequently, is simple.
It’s also one less device to power on, and pay for. My cluster is running regardless and every watt less helps keep my wife happy.
I’ve never had any issues that I could attribute to it being run in a VM. It does my 1gbe fiber and a dozen vlans with no issues.
Are you me? Haha! Our setups are very similar, except I've stuck with pfsense (though I'm debating switching to opnsense as I upgrade to 10g). But the saving every watt to keep the wifey happy can't bemofe on point for me. Haha.
Nice! All my servers are 10gbe and at one point were 40gbe. I've had no issues but i also use bridge interfaces and not hardware pass-through for opnsense. I have ran opnsense with hardware pass-through or native in the past and had no issues. Both pfSense and opnsense are bsd based and anything working in one should work in the other.
My next step is to replace my brocade 6610 with a Mikrotik to further reduce power. I listed my full specs here: https://lemmy.cablepick.net/comment/62260
Yeah, I assume most things will work, but I know Linus just recently did a video showing that they were having issues with their 10gbe nics, which was driver support within pfsense. Switched to opnsense and problem was solved. I don't think I'll have any issues, cause I'm using older cards anyway (connectx-2's and connectx-3's).
I currently have a mix of mikrotik and ubiquiti. I've been dumping my ubiquiti gear in favor of mikrotik, just because I want any of my switches to have at least a couple 10gbe ports, and mikrotik is cheaper that ubiquiti for the switches I need.
I haven't had the mikrotik switches long, and I'm really only using one while I'm waiting for the rest of my 10gbe nics to arrive. But the one I'm using is quiet, and just worked (as a switch should). No surprises.
What hardware did you buy? I'm looking at building a new box for proxmox. Currently I'm using an old laptop with an extra ethernet port dongle to run proxmox and virtualize opnsense, unifi controller and a couple other lvms. From others posts i read, i the choice between bare metal or virtualized seems personal. I went with proxmox just to learn a thing or two about vm environments and its applications.
I run pfSense virtualized along with a wireguard vm and a couple of other vms for core services. A benefit of virtualization is that you can live migrate your router to another physical host if you ever need to do any hardware maintenance. It's nice being able to service the hardware without waiting until every user is asleep so you can safely bring your router down.
I currently use VyOS with it hosted on proxmox. I pass-through a 4-port network card and I get my full internet speed. It should be similar, but I will say it is nice being able to host other things on the proxmox host such as pihole. I keep only the router functions and core functions there, with another machine for other services
I bought the Intel Celeron n5105 from some vendor called wooyi store on AliExpress, from what a saw on yt that CPU is a little overkill for a router and it uses too much idle power, but I think it was a good purchase for me bc I don't plan to switch this router soom.
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