Join Community Brainstorm And Get Limited Badge: Home Networking With ZimaBoard

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:ringer_planet: Join Community Brainstorm And Get Limited Badge: Home Networking With ZimaBoard

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pfSence and OpenWRT are both popular open-source operating systems used for building customized network routers and firewalls, and we wrote 2 tutorials to provide some assistance.

:brick: DIY Your Own Cool OpenWRT Router Based on Zimaboard

:brick: Build a Powerful Home Router with ZimaBoard and pfSense

pfSense:

  • pfSense is a powerful, feature-rich firewall and router platform based on FreeBSD. It offers a user-friendly web interface for easy configuration and management.
  • It provides advanced security features such as stateful firewalling, VPN support, intrusion detection and prevention, and traffic shaping.
  • pfSense supports high availability and failover configurations, making it suitable for business and enterprise environments.
  • It offers extensive package support, allowing users to add additional functionality like DNS filtering, caching, and proxy services.

OpenWRT:

  • OpenWRT is a Linux-based operating system primarily designed for embedded devices and wireless routers. It focuses on flexibility, customization, and performance optimization.
  • It offers a command-line interface (CLI) and a web interface (LuCI) for configuration and management.
  • OpenWRT provides extensive hardware support, making it compatible with a wide range of routers and devices.
  • It allows users to install additional software packages to extend functionality, such as VPN clients, ad-blocking, and network monitoring tools.
  • OpenWRT emphasizes community-driven development and has an active and passionate user base.

What are your thoughts on building a home router with ZimaBoard? Reply this topic to show your ideas!

Your insights will not only inspire others but also foster knowledge-sharing within our community.

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This is a super great idea.
As a Cyber Security Engineer i’m all too aware of the risk most people take using a stock router. Whilst the inbuilt protection in a lot of systems is ok for most users, It’s always nice to have that extra piece of mind to have control over hardware you own and keep that extra layer of security out of other people’s hands.

I currently use the ZimaBoard 432 with an Unifi AP to run my home network. I installed OPNSense and utilised the free version of Zenarmour to offer all the port requirements, static IP addressing MAC address filtering and customisable firewall rules to keep my home network safe.

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You can even run pfSense as a vm on the zimaboard and home assistant at the same time.

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I purchased my Zimaboard specifically to replace my linux home/office server. I use koozali-smeserver and the latest 10.1 version installed without a gripe on it. I also test installed proxmox with smeserver as a vm, but its a bit more efficient barebones. After a month or so of testing I did a fresh smeserver install and migrated it into production and its been happily ticking away ever since, at less than 1/30th of the power consumption of the old server. With the completely passive setup of the Zima I am anticipating long life for this unit as well as great power savings over time.

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Great video :slight_smile: being dyslexic I always appreciate the video medium for learning as it makes most sense to me

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Agree with this for sure. I used to run several mini pc / server / full desktops and have been really impressed with what can be done on these boards with such little power. Now I have 3 boards. One for my networking, one for all my docker containers and one as my daily driver including light cad work :slight_smile:

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Wow thanks for the nice sharing! Congraz on receiving a pioneer badge :smiley:

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The video is great and hope to see more in the future:) Pioneer Badge rewarded

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I bought the 216 off the Kickstarter specifically to use it with VyOS, and it works great. I do want to test some PCIe interfaces with it, but tbh the dual NIC is enough for my setup.

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Definitely will set up with my server that is build with old gaming pc parts CasaOs is game changing in home server environments and it got me started to learn more about the server world side of things.

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I am also one of the people whom bought a ZimaBoard to replace my router. I bought the 832 model and installed OPNSense on it. Runs like a champ with my 200Mbps U/D fiber connection.

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I love this idea, and as soon as I get a second zima board (or maybe a blade) this will be the project I work on. I love the idea because it doesn’t require investing in a lot infrastructure or hardware research. It makes it very accessible to people looking to learn!

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You can also use Sophos’s UTM or XG software. UTM is older and isnt gettig updates other than security ones but the home editions are free.

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Thinking about replacing my old pc that is running Proxmox and just use a zimaboard instead. Low power consumption and small footprint.

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