Everything

[TransformX]

Finally, optic-fiber infrastructure is being installed in the neighborhood. So instead of renting equipment from the supplier, I've oredered on AliExpress a computer that will do (almost) everything!
For the old people like us, this box in the picture below is worth an entire server cabinet 20 years ago and it consumes less than 30 watts.

Fortunately I already have a managed POE switch with optical input (the old version without the plus) and old Ruckus Wifi gear, which means that on the hardware side I'm set.

How is everything supposed to connect?

The box in question will run XCP-NG Hypervisor and in a virtual machine, I'll have OpenSense.

But there is only one network port!? indeed.
For the geeks among us, the answer is here: Router on a stick.

What is received in the end, in the line of profit and loss?

1. Do not rent equipment from the end supplier.
2. Do not buy a dedicated router (black box) with current and future limitations of one kind or another.
3. I have a lot of cores, memory and free storage space left for machines and other applications of any kind.
4. Everything is under full control with replacement and software upgrade options.

Your thoughts?
Screenshot 2023-07-02 184703.jpg

[Umfriend]

I would consider going for 2TB storage. But I do not udnerstand all you post, I am assuming the PC will be used by user(s).

[UtwigMU]

Cannot see the screenshot. Hypervisor and firewall are OK since you probably picked what you can administer.

[TransformX]

Mini-PC AMD Ryzen 7730u, 32GB RAM, 512 GB storage.

I don't really know either hypervisor and firewall yet, I mean it as a learning experience

Also, no 'users'. The idea is for this PC to replace the router and Raspberry Pi (running Pi-Hole) while having enough resources to run other virtual machines as needed.

[Belwarrior]

This is a great setup, i would use it as my normal working desktop for the next ten years

[Umfriend]

Mini-PC AMD Ryzen 7730u, 32GB RAM, 512 GB storage.

I don't really know either hypervisor and firewall yet, I mean it as a learning experience

Also, no 'users'. The idea is for this PC to replace the router and Raspberry Pi (running Pi-Hole) while having enough resources to run other virtual machines as needed.

Nice. Would love to read how you set that up. But if it is going to run VMs, don't they all require at least some storage even without data? Maybe you do even want to run a terminal server or somesuch?

[TransformX]

The plan is to run Type-1 hypervisor and host whatever I need as virtual machines.
Considering those VMs are mostly going to be 'appliances' their footprint ought to be minimal, bare bone (server) linux and the platform/server/application installation.

Hopefully, this means such machines won't require more than 3 vCores, 2GB of RAM and up to 60GB of disk space (each, at most).
With the Ryzen 7 7730u offering 8 cores (16 threads) @ 2Ghz base clock with 20MB combined cache and a default TDP of 15W, I ought to have enough juice to run all the network services I may need for much less than half the overall CPU and RAM capacity, leaving ample space for whatever silly notion I want to have running on it as well.

Well, that's the plan at least, once I get the PC, I'll see how easily reality agrees with it.

[VJ]

Why did you go for XCP-NG as HyperVisor?
(as opposed to ProxMox, VMWare, ...)

From the small screenshot it seems to have one NIC, do you plan on additional ones via USB?
It can help some to give some virtual machines their own dedicated network connection - especially if you want to have them truly separated.

[UtwigMU]

I would also go with ProxMox.

[TransformX]

I intend to use a single NIC since it's full duplex 1Gb using Vlans, as explained here.
This way the fiber conenction will only be visible to the 'Router' VM.

What are the benefits of ProxMox over XCP-NG?
I was under the impression that XCP-NG has a friendlier remote interface for setting up machines, virtual switches etc.

My aim is to use and thus learn a popular type 1 open source solution, as opposed to the VMware and other commercial ones.

[VJ]

I missed that line in the original post.
It is all possible with a single LAN connector and VLANs, but if it is the router than all internet traffic will go over that cable in both directions. Add the additional traffic of the virtual machines and the single LAN it may become a bottleneck. I don't know which internet speed you have, but I have here the slowest possible and that is already 300 Mbps (one step up would be 600 Mbps and subscriptions are already allowing for 2 Gbps), and that speed is really reached or even exceeded (I made the mistake of getting too slow a router - a Ubiquiti Security Gateway - which only allows for DPI at 85 Mbps, so I have disabled full packet inspection in order to have the full internet speed). Planning to upgrade at some point in the future but it is not that urgent.

Proxmox is quite popular and there are many appliances available. But I haven't used it, I just haven't read much about XCP-NG.

[TransformX]

Fiber didn't arrive just yet but I'm expecting anything between 200Mbps to 2.5Gbps to be available.
The 'cost' of using a single 1Gb NIC for all traffic means that I will be able to achieve more than 700-800Mbps (TCP) download speed at best, assuming I get a 1Gb line.

If I can get a 500Mbs-1Gb line for a reasonable price, I'll be very happy with that.
There isn't much happening on my Wifi internally other than MusicCast or streaming an occasional movie from my PC to the TV.
Other expected VM might be Pi-Hole which is a DNS server, so very low traffic there.

[VJ]

Yes, if not much is happening on the server, it should be no issue. I assumed there would be more VMs that may require traffic (NAS-interface, local media server, ...).

With the 2 GB subscriptions, they clearly add that it is 1 GB per device: the FTTH-modem-router supports only 1GB ports on LAN side (and no teaming), so putting your own router behind the FTTH-modem-router would limit the speed to 1GB.

[TransformX]

Since my Lancom GS-2310P has a fiber optic interface, I hope to avoid any and all ISP equipment.

The basic idea is to have all the copper based ports with no VLAN while the port with the SFP will be assigned a VLAN accessible only to the Router VM.

So the 'center' is the switch, Internet data goes as tagged packets from the SFP port to and from the copper port of the Mini-PC, while LAN data isn't tagged on the switch.

[VJ]

That is not always possible. Some operators limit which optical device you can use (and which GPON standard). I would love to replace my ISP router, but as it is FTTH and the operator is not open to other optical devices, there is no guarantee it will work. I've read mixed stories on such attempts of clients of my ISP, but mostly it turned out to be frustration...