Your current setup is probably using the bulit-in firewall on your wifi router? So then as long as it is working, it’s probably “good enough” already*. Your Pi-Hole can be plugged into your network pretty much whereever you want, it’s just a DNS server so what matters is that your other systems look to it for DNS.

I cannot know what I need until I cover enough of the learning curve, but I cannot cover a sufficient space of the learning curve without knowing what I need!!

Given limited resources, I would hate to set up a networking infrastructure only to discover I have payed for equipment/services that are not effective, but have no budget to change.Īs I said, YouTube, blogs, Jay’s book, are all in the mix, but I would like to get some equipment ordered and it feels like a chicken/egg situation. I am continuing to research all of these things (and the other topics I post) via The YouTubes and Interwebs, but there is an overwhelming amount of information. Do I need an appliance like that to secure my network without slowing it down (say vs a virtual firewall)? Would my resources be better spent on something like the other option I mentioned because it would be “good enough”? Would that need to be plugged into the firewall instead? Does the firewall become the router? Does it supplant the I really like the looks and features of the Protectli, but this is one of the things that has me at a stand still. I assume I would put a firewall appliance between the two? I have a Pi-hole plugged into the wi-fi router.

Could anyone recommend a couple good resources that give a high level overview of what kit one might need/want for a homelab/home network, and how the parts work together? For instance, I have cable modem running into a wi-fi router.

Protectli vault 4 port