All articles
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Best OPNsense Hardware Appliance for Home: Protectli, Deciso, and What to Skip
The best OPNsense hardware appliance for home use comes down to NIC chipset, AES-NI, and honest sizing. Here are the purpose-built picks across three price tiers.
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OPNsense DNS Blocklists: Unbound Setup and Tuning
OPNsense blocks ads and tracker domains natively through Unbound DNSBL. How to choose lists, scope them per VLAN, and fix the breakage they cause.
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OPNsense on Raspberry Pi: What Actually Works
OPNsense ships amd64-only images, so it will not boot on a Raspberry Pi. Here is what the Pi can still do for your firewall, and what to buy instead.
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OPNsense Port Forwarding: NAT Rules That Actually Work
OPNsense port forwarding needs a destination NAT rule plus a filter rule that matches the internal IP. Here is the correct order and the hairpin fix.
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OPNsense Training: A Self-Paced Learning Path
A staged OPNsense training path for homelab operators: seven lab exercises from first install to CARP failover, each with a build and a verification step.
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OPNsense Firewall Rules Explained for Beginners
A beginner walkthrough of OPNsense firewall rules covering rule evaluation order, every field, block vs reject, aliases, and reading the live log.
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How to Install OPNsense on Proxmox VE: Step-by-Step Guide
A walkthrough of how to install OPNsense on Proxmox VE: WAN and LAN bridge setup, VM sizing, the installer wizard, and interface assignment.
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Best Mini PC for OPNsense Homelab 2026: NIC and CPU Sizing
Choosing the best mini PC for an OPNsense homelab comes down to dual Intel NICs, AES-NI, and enough CPU headroom for Suricata. Here is what works.
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OPNsense vs pfSense for Homelab: Which Wins in 2026?
A practitioner's comparison of OPNsense and pfSense for homelab use — update cadence, licensing, IDS/IPS, VPN support, and when to pick each.
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OPNsense Multi-WAN Failover with Gateway Groups
Configure two ISP uplinks on OPNsense with gateway groups for automatic failover or load balancing: monitoring, NAT, DNS, and pitfalls that break it.
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Zenarmor (Sensei) on OPNsense: Free NGFW Setup and Tuning
Install and tune Zenarmor (formerly Sensei) on OPNsense for application-aware filtering and web category blocking, plus what the Free edition includes.
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HAProxy Reverse Proxy on OPNsense with Let's Encrypt
Use the os-haproxy and os-acme-client plugins to put one HTTPS front end in front of every homelab service on OPNsense, with automatic Let's Encrypt certs.
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OPNsense WireGuard Road Warrior: Remote Access Setup
Configure WireGuard on OPNsense for secure remote access: create the Instance, add Peers with the built-in generator, assign the interface, and write rules.
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OPNsense Initial Setup: Complete Installation Guide (2026)
Install OPNsense on a Protectli vault or mini-PC step by step: installer options, interface assignment, WAN and LAN setup, and first-boot hardening.
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OPNsense VLAN Configuration: Segment IoT, Guest, and Trusted
How to create and enforce VLANs on OPNsense to isolate IoT devices, guest Wi-Fi, and your trusted LAN, with the firewall rules that block inter-VLAN traffic.
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OPNsense Suricata IDS/IPS: Installation and Tuning Guide
Set up Suricata as an inline IPS on OPNsense: install the plugin, enable ET Open and Abuse.ch rulesets, choose alert or drop, and tune out false positives.
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Best Hardware for OPNsense in 2026: Protectli and Mini-PCs
How to size CPU, NICs, and RAM for OPNsense in 2026, with picks across three tiers: fanless Protectli vaults, mini-PCs, and refurbished enterprise gear.
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OPNsense High Availability with CARP: Active-Passive Failover
Configure OPNsense HA using CARP virtual IPs and pfsync state synchronization for sub-second firewall failover, with the addressing prerequisites people miss.