WRITE-UPS / 01 · MINISTRY
Turning a mini PC into a firewall.
I wanted a network I controlled end to end, sitting behind a connection I didn't. So I virtualized one.
Proxmox · OPNsense · Wi-Fi uplink · NAT
The problem
The lab's upstream is a shared Wi-Fi network I don't administer. I couldn't change its routing, see its traffic or set its rules, which is everything I wanted to learn. The fix was to put my own firewall between that network and everything I own.
What I built
Proxmox runs on a small form-factor mini PC, and OPNsense runs inside it as a virtual machine, named Ministry. Its WAN side joins the upstream Wi-Fi as a wireless client. Its LAN side feeds a patch panel and switch, and everything behind it is translated onto a private network I control.
shared wi-fiMinistry · OPNsense VMprivate lab network