L0 
L4: Noob Ok, cool! Thanks for the detailed response JBM, You rock!!
Happy to help anytime!
Those mini PC/routers are suuuper nice, I have a couple old computers kicking around so I think I’m gonna poke around with pfsense on one of those first. I am not a solo staker right now (hopefully one day) so it’s not that urgent.
It’s definitely a splurge item. That’s a good idea! If you have the space, there’s nothing wrong with
using an old PC all the time. I did it for years until I decided to treat myself recently. You need 2 network cards to make it work.
PCI network cards are pretty cheap used on eBay though. I would recommend anything with an Intel chipset as they’re usually the most compatible. You don’t have
to have the mini pc to make this work.If I go the dedicated hardware route, could I have my validator and a home server for my small business website both behind the pfsense firewall but still isolated enough from each other that I could play around on my server fiddling with websites without worrying about endagering the validator? Currently my site is on a DO droplet I managed to set up a few years ago, if I’m getting more into home network gear I would like to save on the monthly server costs.
Sure! PFSense and OPNSense both provide an option for “port isolation” which can do that, but each device you want isolated from the others will need its own ethernet connection to the router (PFSense PC), so if you’re buying a new network card already get one that has 4 ports. Then you can use the one built into your motherboard for a management port, which would be connected to your LAN with your desktop pc. The other 4 you can plug devices into and isolate them from each if you want. That keeps all that stuff separated from your home LAN, but you can still interact and manage the server from your home LAN.
Sounds complicated but if you need help when you’re setting it up I’m be happy to help.
