Hello,
Right now I am using HP t530 thin client as a router configured as router on a stick with TP-Link TL-SG105E switch. I have 100/10 MBps FTTH connection.
t530 has 8 GB ram and to be honest it is totaly waste for as a router.
I would like to install Proxmox on t530 and virtualize OpenWrt inside Proxmox.
Has anyone tried similar configuration before? Am I able to do that with a single ethernet port? Do I need 2nd NIC for this purpose?
Do you have any recommendation for this situation?
Yes, I have some recommendations.
Your life will be a lot simpler if you maintain separate physical ports for the separate network functions.
If this tiny PC has an expansion port then insert a NIC.
I recommend to buy an intel i350version2 4 port. but you could struggle by with a dual port.
Life will be easier for you if you use the onboard ethernet to just access the Host Machine, and bind additional port(s) to a Proxmox Bridge(s).
Prefer OVS to Linux Bridge if you need to use VLANS.
If you don't have the necessary available PCIe slot to put a new NIC in then you can use a small managed switch with VLANS as a port expander.
You will probably find this is all too much difficulty!
Proxmox is a superb platform especially if you have a server-quality NIC which will allow you the flexibility of using SR-IOV and vf-io passthrough direct to VMs.
If you are running PVE and a VM with a Firewall in it, you should just use OPNSense or IPFire.
p.s. If your cannot satisfactorily resolve the issue of physical network ports then you can also run OpenWRT in a container. Look at Podman ( or LXD ).
p.p.s. If you are doing this kind of highly customised install then I recommend that you install Debian first and get it correctly configured, then follow the FAQ/ WIKI on howto add PVE on top of that.
Yes, this is all probably NOT what you wanted to hear.
In a home or SOHO environment, dedicated hardware (with 2+ ethernet interfaces) usually wins in regards to ease or mind and maintenance. Much less to configure, no different layers to take care of (managed switch, hypervisor host + VM, which both need to be configured properly to correctly hand off interfaces to the VM), much less to go wrong, much easier to replace in case of problems.
