I’d like to install an open source router/firewall OS on a Proxmox VE VM on a Protectli FW6D but I’m unsure which OS to pick.

I was leaning towards pfsense but I recently read that they’re now blocking features behind a paywall.

I’ve come across opnsense, ddwrt, and opnwrt as alternatives but would appreciate it if someone can provide insight into which option would be best.

Background:

I have a Proxmox VE server running an Ubuntu VM with Emby, Sonarr, Radarr, NZBGet, Transmission, Prowlarr, Bazarr, & Portainer in Docker containers. It’s a 150tb machine running snapRAID, MergerFS, & a daily sync crontab that emails a report once completed. PCIE passthrough NVIDIA Quadro P2000 and LSI 9201-16i HBA. I want to eventually add a Home Assistant VM to this machine.

Also have a Raspberry Pi 4 running Debian with Pi-Hole and Wireguard VPN. I want to eventually switch this to Proxmox VE with a secondary Pi-Hole VM and a Magic Mirror VM.

Which brings me to the new Protectli. I want Proxmox VE so I can create a cluster. I’d also like the primary Pi-Hole VM on it. I’m unsure if this is even possible but a backup Home Assistant VM that works when I’m working on the main server would be amazing.

So is there an open source router/firewall os that would be best for this scenario?

Or is there anything else I should consider before diving into this project?

  • SirLagzBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Really depends on whether you’re more comfortable with a WebUI or Command line.

    pfSense CE is still perfectly fine, and a lot of features that are behind the paywall are more for commercial users, less for homelabs/home users.

    If you are still worried, then Opnsense is a pfSense alternative that’s built from the same base as pfSense as it was forked from pfSense a few years ago.

    Also, you won’t be able to run Proxmox on the Pi. There is Pimox, but I don’t know how that would behave if it was in a cluster with Proxmox.