Follow-up: OpenBSD routers on AliExpress mini PCs
I got lots of replies to the last post showing the little OpenBSD internet gateway setup (super interesting; thanks!). Here’s more info and pictures:
https://www.srcbeat.com/2024/02/aliexpress-openbsd-router/
Something I’ve been meaning to share for years now.
“EVALUATION COPY BIOS” was the best bit
Is this a qotom? When I bought mine the description on Amazon said it could be turned on via power restore from bios but I have 0 power settings in bios. No wake on lan, nothing.
I’ve searched for how to update the bios (or if this would even help) but it’s hard to find clear information.
It might be a jumper on the board. Mine (Q770G4) boots on power, if I can organise some downtime with the family I’ll take a look at it (set it up ages ago so can’t remember).
Edit: CAB approval was easier than I expected! Mine is in the BIOS, under Chipset > PCH-IO Configuration, set State After G3 to Power On.
Yeah I also tried moving the jumper for the power pins on the mobo but all that accomplished was a long press, which caused it to turn on and then off again.
I’ll scroll through the bios again but I’m pretty sure I looked at every menu and submenu. 🤷♂️
@1couchpotato Nope, this one is https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003378019857.html
Is it an APTIO BIOS? My setting was hidden in IT813 Super IO Configuration —> Advanced —> Restore AC Power Loss. Took me ages to find it.
I guess I’ll have to take another look whenever I can get the family to agree to turn off the internet for a bit.
Well written article. Could you point to the instructions you followed to set up OpenBSD as your router + Firewall?
For starting out, Building a Router from the OpenBSD FAQ is helpful: https://www.openbsd.org/faq/pf/example1.html
Thanks, I’ve read the guide. Would like to know what you’ve added on top
I’m sorry if I seem obtuse but isn’t it easier to just set up OPNsense, which is a fully configured router/firewall on top of BSD?
It is easier, but it can be considered as feature-bloat if you don’t really need the breadth of capabilities that it offers. Aside from that, OpenBSD has made specific choices to make it more secure than FreeBSD by default, though the configuration will depend upon the user.
It’s also more fun to DIY it and you no longer need to rely on a specialist version of BSD. You are closer to the source, so to speak.
Some reasons might just be philosophical, others can be technical if you have specific configuration that you’d want to achieve.
Yup all makes sense. Thank you for explaining it to me.
This is really cool. I’ve been interested in running something like this. Does it make sense to have this as a dedicated firewall in front of my Unifi lan?
That’s how I’ve got mine set up, with OPNsense.
I’ve been using it a few years and I only know about half the stuff that pfSense/OPNsense can do. So I would advise newbies to just make small changes at a time because there’s a whole lot of stuff you can change. It’s worth learning, though. I wouldn’t use anything else for my main firewall/router nowadays.
yes, thats the purpose of this device. works very well for me so far.
What I meant was, I have a Unifi router and was thinking of putting a dedicated firewall in front of it. Does that make any sense or would the firewall on the unify be just as capable? Before the Dream Machine that is my current router I was running an opnsense router with my Unifi switches behind it so I’m not super unfamiliar with it I guess.
I think opnsense is way more capable than unifi devices, even better if you are familiar. You could try Proxmox too, makes the box more flexible.
If you already have a Unifi router/firewall that’ll work fine, you don’t need this.
Do you know what it’s idle power usage is? I’m guessing below 10W?
@czardestructo For the CPU Intel says 7.5W: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/81071/intel-celeron-processor-n2830-1m-cache-up-to-2-41-ghz.html
So all up I’m guessing under 10W. I don’t know how much other components affect the power usage, though. And I’m about 200km away from where it is installed! Hoping someone more expert in hardware could chime in here :)
Been thinking about buying a similar setup, and you just pushed me into buying a “Chinabox”
Let’s see how this goes, if It explodes you owe me a beer, and a pair of hands, and another chinabox (I’m not a quitter)
What would be the difference of running this as opposed to pf/opnsense? I know they use FreeBSD but I am not that versed in BSD based networking
I personally would stick to *sense. I personally used OPNSense there’s a huge community backing, well documented, and actively maintained. I like to use the CLI, but using the Web GUI was a breeze and I mainly wanted to set it and forget it.
Same, hopped from PF to opn last year and really haven’t had to do too much besides updates. For somethings E
pf/opnsense essentially provide web interfaces to the underlying
FreeBSD OS tooling. In this case I’m running plain OpenBSD. That means
configuring the system is mainly done by reading and writing text
files and doing stuff at the command line. There’s a whole bunch of
reasons why some people prefer one way or the other or even mix things
up a bit. My recommendation is, if you’re interested, have a go
administering a system without a web interface and see how you feel!
@Edgarallenpwn @selfhosted
Really cool! I never touched *BSD, I have a mini PC/NAS home that ended with a minimal Arch install. This is something I can do at some point.
And what about Wireless networks?
Normally you use a separate AP to do that. BSDs don’t normally have good support for WiFi cards. Consumer WiFi cards aren’t really meant for use as APs anyway.
@otl @selfhosted would you talk about it at ripe88.ripe.net ? Or post it to opensource-wg@ripe.net ?
@becha @selfhosted Sure I’d be happy to talk about it there!
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
Fewer Letters More Letters AP WiFi Access Point NAS Network-Attached Storage Unifi Ubiquiti WiFi hardware brand
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