Ready to take your home network to the next level? This is where OPNsense can make a big difference by offering better control over your home network versus your ISP-supplied router. You can enjoy better management features, the ability to expand the functionality of your firewall and router through plugins, and future software updates on your own hardware, which can be swapped out and upgraded as necessary. If this is your first time considering OPNsense, you'll need to bear a few things in mind to ensure as few mistakes are made as possible.

9 Ignore official documentation

OPNsense provides plenty of information on the official website, which can be relied upon to get started, learn more about the software, and troubleshoot any issues you encounter. You'll find everything from OPNsense software requirements to fine-tuning various parts of the firewall. It's an invaluable resource that should be used with unofficial support from the community on social channels, including Reddit. You won't be the first (nor the last) to start using OPNsense and your queries may have already been asked and answered, which can be configured with a quick search.

8 Including Wi-Fi on your firewall

Wireless connectivity shouldn't be handled by your OPNsense-powered firewall. While it would keep everything on one device, this would mean you'd need to deal with increased processing on the firewall and things can get messy should you encounter issues with instability or a need to work on fixing one or the other. I recommend using access points (APs) suited to handling wireless connections and can even be powered using PoE through the network switch. You can also look to place these APs around the home in better locations for signal coverage.

7 Use cheap hardware from unknown brands

OPNsense doesn't have strict requirements. You can install the software on almost anything, including countless cheap passively-cooled mini PCs from your favorite online retailer. While you can grab a firewall from an unknown brand for around $100 with decent specifications, you'll run the risk of the device not running as expected, running too hot under general OPNsense loads, or outright failing prematurely. That's not to say all affordable firewall units are bad. I am currently using one and it's handling our home network traffic without issue, but it's worth doing a little research and looking at reviews.

6 Buying a firewall with too few ports

It's vital you do not underestimate how many ports you require. If all you need to hook up to the firewall is an AP, a PC, and a printer, you can probably make do with a single unit with a couple of ports. Although more expensive firewalls will come with more than four ports, I recommend using a network switch to expand the number of LAN points available. Just make sure the firewall device has ample bandwidth. 1Gbps is standard and 2.5Gbps is great for busier networks. Link aggregation can also be implemented to

5 Forgetting a redundant power supply

Power cuts are your network's worst enemy. Should the supply to your property be interrupted for whatever reason, you'll lose all access to the outside world. Sure, this is where your mobile device can take over with hotspot capabilities, but that will drain the battery quickly and you may require it should the power outage last longer than expected. This is where an uninterruptable power supply (UPS) can prove invaluable for your home LAN. With your firewall, modem, access points, and switches all connected to a UPS you can remain online for hours, depending on the UPS capacity and power draw.

4 Opening up your LAN to the world

Your LAN is precious and should be protected. All of your systems and devices connected to the LAN are vulnerable to outside attacks should your firewall not be up to the job. OPNsense is pretty secure as a default install. The firewall is configured accordingly and everything should be blocked outside of monitored access. Things can get complicated when you start messing with ports, and rules, and opening up external access. Be careful when working on the firewall as it's a live environment and any mistakes could render your entire network susceptible to attack.

3 Not exploring the world of VLANs

A virtual local area network (VLAN) is an incredible tool for network admins at home. With VLANs, you can create specific networks for hardware, guests, and more. If you have a bunch of IOT tech and wish to separate it all from the rest of your network, a VLAN can achieve this. At the very least, you should consider building out a VLAN for guests who visit your house. This will keep clients separate from your important hardware without outright blocking access to the outside world. You can configure VLANs differently, depending on what you plan to use them for.

2 Not backing up your config

Always, always, always back up your configuration for OPNsense! Carry out a backup after installation and whenever changes are made to the backend. Especially when first starting, you may mistakenly make a change that utterly decimates your OPNsense, which is where a quick backup can come in handy. Exporting and importing configuration files within OPNsense takes a couple of seconds and there's no excuse for not having your firewall configuration backed up somewhere.

1 Preparing excuses for network downtime

Last but by no means least, you'll need to prepare some responses to the inevitable tech support queries or complaints from family members about network performance or availability. This is part the parcel of home lab and DIY networking. So long as you follow guides and create the firewall without venturing too far down the rabbit hole, you'll be fine. It may be worth working on VLANs, VPNs, and reverse proxies when the house is quiet, everyone is asleep, or through a dev instance using other hardware or virtualization.

OPNsense is secure enough out-the-box

Once you have OPNsense up and running on a compatible device with enough LAN ports, you'll find the default installation more than adequate for home use. Everything is configured so that you can start using devices online without touching anything in the web admin GUI, though I recommend spending time getting used to where all the various functions are located. Still, although the default config is rock solid, there'd be no point in setting up an OPNsense firewall if you didn't plan to tinker with it and set up more advanced networking features, such as VLANs, reverse proxies, VPNs, SSL, and more.

That's where the incredible community resources come into play. You can access forums, Reddit communities, documentation, and countless tutorials. Even many of the Pfsense resources can be used for OPNsense since both software share the same backend. OPNsense and networking as a whole are fairly easy to get started with but if you put in the time, you can become knowledgeable enough to perform (and troubleshoot) anything with your OPNsense firewall and home LAN. Just remember to keep your excuses at hand for when family members question why the network is down.