Cyber ,

You can get Mini-ITX 19" rack mounts.

IMHO, it’ll use less power than a server, plus, it’s about the right amount of processing power for a router / firewall (I use pfSense, but there are other router solutions out there)

You won’t want to virtualise / containerise that function, so anything more powerfull can be kept in a separate device.

dreyln ,

I’m running OPNsense on a Dell PowerEdge R210 II that I bought used. It’s been running great for 2 years or so. I’ve really liked OPNSense.

dreyln ,

Forgot to mention that before I got the R210 II, I had a Ubiquiti Unifi USG-PRO-4. It worked okay but the hardware is pretty low end. You get a nice pretty UI and many more options/configuration compared to a consumer router, but it’s hamstrung compared to what you can do with OPNsense/pfSense IMO.

JJGadget ,
@JJGadget@lemmy.world avatar

On the exact same setup! it runs really well.

tailiat ,

Are you looking for something with a nice UI or just hardware you can install your OS on and roll everything yourself? What’s your budget?

Ubiquiti makes a pretty user-friendly rack-mounted router: store.ui.com/us/en/products/udm-pro

You can also check out pfSense, which is an OS that does routing and more. You can install it on your own hardware or buy a machine through them: www.pfsense.org/products/

If you’re just looking for a compact server that you can install your own OS on, then SuperMicro has a sale going on right now: store.supermicro.com/us_en/catalogsearch/result/?…

Just know that whatever you pick to replace the router-portion of your current Netgear device, you’ll also have to invest in a separate WiFi access point to provide your wireless network.

namnnumbr ,

I’d recommend OPNsense over PFsense due to multiple shady moves by netgate (the parent company of pfsense), including moving to closed-source:

If you don’t mind the drama, both PFsense and OPNsense are perfectly competent router OSes.

Regarding hardware:

  • OPNsense also sells rack-mountable server hosts.
  • OP may not actually need a rack-mounted server – I have several machines just sitting on a 2u rack-mounted shelf. My opnsense install runs on a cheap protectli box, and there’s enough room for a handful of raspberry pis and their power bricks on the shelf next to it.
Moonrise2473 ,

I watched the opnsense.com on wayback machine in 2016 and… Omg that’s so shitty. How old are them, 8?

jgkawell ,
@jgkawell@lemmy.world avatar

I really like my UDM Pro, but you can also run OPNsense on off the shelf hardware.

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