Homelab

The N100 hardware for my new soft router/home server was assembled and ready. The grand vision involved virtualization, allowing this single machine to run my router, NAS, and potentially other services simultaneously. The chosen foundation for this was Proxmox Virtual Environment (PVE), a powerful, open-source hypervisor based on Debian Linux. Installing PVE: The First Hurdle Installing PVE itself is relatively straightforward, similar to installing any Linux distribution: Create Installation Media: Download the PVE ISO image. On my Mac, I used Balena Etcher to write the ISO to a USB drive. My first attempt failed – turns out the old USB drive I grabbed was faulty. A newer drive worked perfectly. Boot from USB: Connect a monitor and keyboard to the N100 box, plug in the USB drive, and boot into the BIOS/UEFI settings (usually by pressing DEL or F2 during startup). Set the USB drive as the primary boot device. PVE Installer: Follow the graphical installer prompts. Key settings during installation: Target Hard Disk: Select the Fanxiang NVMe SSD. Location/Timezone: Set appropriately. Hostname: Set to something memorable, like pve.local. Network Configuration: Crucially, assign a static IP address for PVE’s management interface (e.g., 10.0.0.2), along with the gateway (10.0.0.1 - my eventual router VM’s address) and DNS servers. I chose one of the four physical ports (e.g., enp1s0) for this initial management access. The installation completed smoothly, and PVE rebooted. I could access the command line directly on the N100, and more importantly, access the web UI from my Mac at https://10.0.0.2:8006. Stage one complete! ...

My journey to achieve reliable home networking, particularly stable IPv6, had hit roadblocks with both my ISP’s modem and a powerful-but-faulty Netgear R8000 running OpenWrt. It became clear that consumer-grade hardware, even with custom firmware, might not offer the raw power, flexibility, and reliability I craved. It was time to explore the next level: x86 Soft Routers. What is a Soft Router? Unlike traditional “hard” routers with proprietary hardware and software, a soft router is essentially a small, dedicated PC running a specialized router operating system (like OpenWrt, pfSense, OPNsense, or RouterOS). The “x86” refers to the standard PC processor architecture (Intel/AMD), offering significantly more power and flexibility than the ARM or MIPS chips found in most consumer routers. ...