For a Homelab, I cannot imagine going with anything other than older used SFF boxes for my router. I’ve been running PfSense and then OPNSense on them for over a decade.
[Mini PC] Very DIY, would feel afraid of misconfiguring the device and exposing myself to security issues
The risk is there for every router software, and the form factor won’t change that. The OPNSense software is pretty solid and the tutorials are less likely to lead you astray. You will learn a lot with a deep dive on OPNSense. So I’d say just go for the used hardware. The nice thing is your entire OPNSense config is a single file making it easy to back up and restore. If the hardware it craps out on you in 5 years, you take your OPNSense config (regularly back it up with one of the plugins) and a new mini PC and you are running again.
A general PC will crush most routing tasks. The only concern is encryption but anything newish should be fine. Multi gig connections and 10G inner network has been great on my Optiplex.
Does anybody have any suggestions for PoE capable switches and access points that play nicely with OPNSense - I’ve been considering MicroTik but I’m not entirely sure what to look for.
They should all be fine. OPNSense is your router and firewall, and IMO it doesn’t really influence my downstream hardware choices (switches, APs, etc.).
Not sure how the used market is in UK. Last year I decided to go 10G so bought a used
Brocade ICX 7250 48x PoE+ RJ45 8x 1/10 GbE SFP+ Gigabit Switch for $78 on ebay. Its been so nice! 48x PoE ports and 6x 10G ports. It takes a detailed walkthrough and some head scratching to get it running well so I wouldn’t really recommend it specifically without a bit of experience. But it is easily the best bang for your buck. Throw in 10G SFP+ PCIE module into all your important machines and use passthrough DACs and you’ve got a flexible 10G setup for $200-$300.
I am not familiar with FritzBox so not sure how that changes the calculus.
For a Homelab, I cannot imagine going with anything other than older used SFF boxes for my router. I’ve been running PfSense and then OPNSense on them for over a decade.
The risk is there for every router software, and the form factor won’t change that. The OPNSense software is pretty solid and the tutorials are less likely to lead you astray. You will learn a lot with a deep dive on OPNSense. So I’d say just go for the used hardware. The nice thing is your entire OPNSense config is a single file making it easy to back up and restore. If the hardware it craps out on you in 5 years, you take your OPNSense config (regularly back it up with one of the plugins) and a new mini PC and you are running again.
A general PC will crush most routing tasks. The only concern is encryption but anything newish should be fine. Multi gig connections and 10G inner network has been great on my Optiplex.
They should all be fine. OPNSense is your router and firewall, and IMO it doesn’t really influence my downstream hardware choices (switches, APs, etc.).
Not sure how the used market is in UK. Last year I decided to go 10G so bought a used Brocade ICX 7250 48x PoE+ RJ45 8x 1/10 GbE SFP+ Gigabit Switch for $78 on ebay. Its been so nice! 48x PoE ports and 6x 10G ports. It takes a detailed walkthrough and some head scratching to get it running well so I wouldn’t really recommend it specifically without a bit of experience. But it is easily the best bang for your buck. Throw in 10G SFP+ PCIE module into all your important machines and use passthrough DACs and you’ve got a flexible 10G setup for $200-$300.
I am not familiar with FritzBox so not sure how that changes the calculus.