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Should I or should I not use a VLAN? I have trouble understanding the benefits for home use (feddit.nl)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/selfhosted

27 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Hey everyone,

I am completely stripping my house and am currently thinking about how to set up the home network.

This is my usecase:

home server that can access the internet + homeassistant that can access IoT devices
KNX that I want to have access to home assistant and vice versa
IoT devices over WiFi (maybe thread in the future) that are the vast majority homemade via ESPHome. I want them to be able to access the server and the other way around. (Sending data updates and in the future, sending voice commands)
3 PoE cameras through a PoE 4 port switch
a Chromecast & nintendo switch that need internet access

Every router worth anything already has a guest network, so I don't see much value in separating out a VLAN in a home use case.

My IoT devices work locally, not through the cloud. I want them to work functionally flawless with Home assistant, especially anything on battery so it doesn't kill its battery retrying until home assistant polls.

The PoE cameras can easily have their internet access blocked on most routers via parental controls or similar and I want them to be able to send data to the on-server NVR

I already have PiHole blocking most phone homes from the chromecast or guest devices.

So far it seems like a VLAN is not too useful for me because I would want bidirectional access to the server which in turn should have access from the LAN and WiFi. And vice versa.

Maybe I am not thinking of the access control capability of VLANs correctly (I am thinking in terms of port based iptables: port X has only incoming+established and no outgoing for example).

I figure if my network is already penetrated, it would most likely be via the WiFi or internet so the attack vector seems to not protect from much in my specific use case.

Am I completely wrong on this?

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

It all comes down to what you trust each type of device to do and how you want to handle their traffic.

I have seven VLANs, with each one's traffic being treated very specifically. The subnets for each VLAN route to specific interfaces on a virtualised OPNsense firewall, which is where my traffic handling and policy enforcement takes place.

Also remember VLANs are just plain useful for segregating traffic, particularly broadcast traffic, without having to invest in separate switching/routing for each subnet. Having a single managed switch that limits the broadcast domains for you is a really efficient way to (physically) setup your network.

[–] CMahaff 4 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Out of curiosity, what switch are you using for your setup?

Last time I looked, I struggled to find any brand of "home tier" router / switch that supported things like configuring vlans, etc.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 7 months ago

Believe it or not, a Netgear. Specifically this one. I don't have any fibre connected gear (yet!) and 180W of PoE+ was more than enough for my few PoE cameras and WAPs.