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Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

jeffgeerling.com

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Re: Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

#151

Post by sgtnoodle »

ye-olde-sysrq wrote: post #89

I run wg-easy https://github.com/WeeJeWel/wg-easy for this sort of thing. I use the docker container, and it's great. "Just works". Also, unrelated, I just decided I don't like the sentiment of "PiMyProjectName" branding. I know most projects don't just run on a Pi, and that the intent is to say "you can self-host thing", but at this point if you want to run a home server sort of thing, just buy some cheap 100-200 do…

The Pi 4's Ethernet is pci-e now, and its USB3 ports are as well. The USB2 ports are still terribly inefficient.

About 8 years ago, I switched my home server from a pi to an Intel baytrail based system. I put it all together myself in a cube shaped case. It is passively cooled and runs off a 12V 2A power brick. I filled the space for the PSU with two 3.5" hard drive hot swap bays. I keep one drive in and synchronized to my desktop over the network, and pop another one in when it's time to make a cold backup. It's served me very well.

Re: Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

#152

Post by tlamponi »

yonatan8070 wrote: post #109
ye-olde-sysrq wrote: post #89

I run wg-easy https://github.com/WeeJeWel/wg-easy for this sort of thing. I use the docker container, and it's great. "Just works". Also, unrelated, I just decided I don't like the sentiment of "PiMyProjectName" branding. I know most projects don't just run on a Pi, and that the intent is to say "you can self-host thing", but at this point if you want to run a home server sort of thing, just buy some cheap 100-200 do…

The Pis shine primarily in terms of power consumption, under load, a mini PC could cosume 50W, where a Pi (and other ARM boards) will do an absolute maximum of 15W. And if you have multiple devices that run 24/7, that could be a significant saving

But the Pi also needs to run much longer under full load to achieve the same as a modern mini PC, so it might be still canceled out in terms of total power use.

Raspberry Pi chip sets are always older (less efficient lithography/structure size) ones, as they take over the ones currently being phased out for industrial use (so they get them cheap). Those have a hard time to compete with e.g., a modern Intel N100 CPU which has a TDP of 6W but at the same time 4 cores with a max freq. of 3.5 GHz and can even use DDR5 (or LPDDR5 for low power) and is available in many form factors, often fanless with a metal body as cooler at about 150€ (if lucky) to 200€ and those models then even including (often multiple) 2.5Gb Ethernet ports and NVMe M.2 slot.

That makes it at least for me an easy choice, and I am indeed looking out for using less power but still getting stuff done somewhat quickly.

Re: Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

#153

Post by bombcar »

ye-olde-sysrq wrote: post #89

I run wg-easy https://github.com/WeeJeWel/wg-easy for this sort of thing. I use the docker container, and it's great. "Just works". Also, unrelated, I just decided I don't like the sentiment of "PiMyProjectName" branding. I know most projects don't just run on a Pi, and that the intent is to say "you can self-host thing", but at this point if you want to run a home server sort of thing, just buy some cheap 100-200 do…

If you need Pi like but not specifically a Pi check out the Rock5B: https://www.sevarg.net/2023/01/01/battle-of-the-boards-2023/

Re: Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

#154

Post by zamadatix »

yonatan8070 wrote: post #109
ye-olde-sysrq wrote: post #89

I run wg-easy https://github.com/WeeJeWel/wg-easy for this sort of thing. I use the docker container, and it's great. "Just works". Also, unrelated, I just decided I don't like the sentiment of "PiMyProjectName" branding. I know most projects don't just run on a Pi, and that the intent is to say "you can self-host thing", but at this point if you want to run a home server sort of thing, just buy some cheap 100-200 do…

The Pis shine primarily in terms of power consumption, under load, a mini PC could cosume 50W, where a Pi (and other ARM boards) will do an absolute maximum of 15W. And if you have multiple devices that run 24/7, that could be a significant saving

Like others have said, the PCs you're looking at might be mini in form factor but specced more traditional desktops. There there are plenty of mini PC options that compete at 15 watts and lower range. One example I use is https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Windows-Dual-Band-Bluetooth-.... This gets you built in 128 GB eMMC, dual display output, more USB 3, about the same overall CPU performance but significantly higher single core scores, an open native SATA slot, Similarly there are boards even cheaper than this passively cooled, and will pull less than 15 watts under load as measured from the wall while being in a preassembled case.

The best part is it's easier to scale to your needs. E.g. if a single $200 box can get the latest generation CPUs that will absolutely demolish these cheap ARM boards in perf/watt, come with PCIe m.2 drives, support higher RAM limits, and have GPUs that are more on the usable side of things. As a result it can do the work of multiple devices (if you don't need them to be physically separate of course) and will last significantly longer in terms of usability.

Re: Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

#155

Post by txdv »

ye-olde-sysrq wrote: post #89

I run wg-easy https://github.com/WeeJeWel/wg-easy for this sort of thing. I use the docker container, and it's great. "Just works". Also, unrelated, I just decided I don't like the sentiment of "PiMyProjectName" branding. I know most projects don't just run on a Pi, and that the intent is to say "you can self-host thing", but at this point if you want to run a home server sort of thing, just buy some cheap 100-200 do…

Yeah, I agree, I am a geek though and wanted a linux machine with arm so I could do some assembly hacking on it (nothing serious). Just the general geek factor I think makes a lot of people buy it.

I use the Argon case with ssd over usb, since the sd cards failed like after 2 weeks. For me it is perfect, I get to host all my minimal things (vpn, ssh over it, host photos, videos, run a few services) and it is like super energy efficient, although that efficiency is more of an ego boost than actual use.

I think there are a lot of atom mini pcs which have normal ethernet and m2 connectors that are a better alternative.

Re: Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

#156

Post by _joel »

aborsy wrote: post #128
briancmoses wrote: post #23

At the price Raspberry Pis are being sold (scalped) for it's discouraging and disappointing to see content creators continually going to that well. You can buy a travel router like the GL.iNet GL-SFT1200 (Opal) for $39.99. All of Gl.iNet's devices run OpenWRT already. Setting up Wireguard on OpenWRT is easy, and using Tailscale is even easier! Edit: Jeff's been creating awesome Raspberry Pi content for a long time an…

Any concerns over routers made in China? It’s true that a lot of chips are made in China. Nevertheless, the question remains.

the gl-inet stuff runs OpenWRT just with another interface, you can flash with vanilla but I've never seen anything dodgy on the ones I've played with.

Re: Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

#157

Post by _joel »

distantsounds wrote: post #49

And then you hit CPU bottlenecks whenever you do literally anything bandwidth intensive. The limits of using hobbyist hardware, you get hobbyist level performance. A Raspberry Pi is a horrible solution for running Wireguard. You can get a tiny 1L PC running on an actual Intel or AMD processor with far more perf/$.

Wireguard doesn't use any aes cpu functions so it actually is highly performant on low end chips vs. OpenVPN. True, you're still limited by port speed and such but it's fine for most people. If you need more then you're not going to be running it on a pi (or old laptop etc) anyway.

Re: Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

#158

Post by philsnow »

twodave wrote: post #75

If you're going this far, might as well do as the author did and add a pi-hole to the mix, issue some credentials to your phone and block ads and/or other stuff via DNS everywhere you go. I also use this to remote into my work computer from wherever I am, using my travel laptop, an iPad or even just my cell phone.

pihole is really lightweight, you could just run it on your local laptop and save yourself the hop to your home network for all DNS requests

Re: Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

#159

Post by _joel »

lenova wrote: post #28

I have never met Jeff (the author of this blog post), but I come across his work randomly all of the time. Jeff, if you're reading this, I've always been impressed by your efforts, you're a work horse!

Should follow him on youtube, always fun vids.

Re: Build your own private WireGuard VPN with PiVPN

#160

Post by manmal »

ye-olde-sysrq wrote: post #89

I run wg-easy https://github.com/WeeJeWel/wg-easy for this sort of thing. I use the docker container, and it's great. "Just works". Also, unrelated, I just decided I don't like the sentiment of "PiMyProjectName" branding. I know most projects don't just run on a Pi, and that the intent is to say "you can self-host thing", but at this point if you want to run a home server sort of thing, just buy some cheap 100-200 do…

Indeed. You can build a power saving PC with eg a used Fujitsu D3401 board and a used Skylake or Kaby Lake CPU, or just get a used Esprimo P756/757 tower (E90+ for lower idle power) for 100 bucks or less. Those should idle at ca 15W (without spinning HDDs). And you can put in 4+ SATA HDDs, which is way more reliable than using an USB enclosure. Works great as an Ubuntu/ZFS server or with unRAID. Beats any Synology NAS in almost every metric.
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