Replacing router with OpenWRT on Proxmox

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What is the point in installing OpenWRT on something that is not a router?
I use it, i have it on a few different WiFi access points...

but what would be the reason to install on a regular pc, whether on VM or not?

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It would be fun as an experiment, but keep in mind using wifi adapters as an AP generally doesn't work that well. Most of us are running an external AP such as Unifi hardware.

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It's a handy router OS, why not?

Consumer router hardware generally under performs a lot, so running your router on better hardware solves that.

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Well currently I have a nest wifi pro router that doesn't allow a lot of customization. (I used to be a Google fan). And since I had a beelink I figured I would try it. I was also wanting to be able to run a VPN on my router and the nest doesn't allow clients.

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Both great questions. I did not check the hardware and I definitely should have..as far as passthrough I have not. I really only ran the helper script to install the Proxmox VM and configurations. I'll have to check the settings when I'm back home to see what exactly it did.

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There's a huge list of reasons why this is not going to work, or not work well.

I'll stick to the biggest issue though, which is that OpenWRT expects exclusive control over the wireless chipset, you're trying to run it through a VM on whoknowswhat hypervisor settings. Even if nothing else on the host machine uses the Wi-Fi adapter, OpenWRT has specific builds and kernel patches for specific drivers and specific hardware combinations. If it doesn't see exactly what it's expecting, it's not going to work.

Now...even if you DID manage to get it to work, it will constantly crash or panic if you engage the wireless chipset on a hypervisor because it's going to throw some disallowed instruction expecting exclusive control and access to the hardware.

I know this, because this is how it works, they say so in their own docs, and you can see people say the same thing over and over again this exact same thing. It's not going to be a good time.

If you want to just use software portions for network services or whatever, that shouldn't cause issues, but again, doing it through a VM is like dressing a Yugo up as a Ferrari and expecting the same performance.

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Thanks for the advice. It isn't an end all if I can't get it to work in this way. Just thought I'd give it a try since I saw there was a helper script for Proxmox. I wasn't aware of the limitations that may come with this though. I guess either upgrading routers in the future for something for customizable may be a better option.

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GL.Inet for an OpenERT hardware set. I recommend them all the time.

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I would make sure the adapter you're using (internal or USB) supports AP mode. Most intel ones don't: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000030429/wireless.html

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Any specific ones to look into?

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Models? The Flint 2 is pretty damn great. Really nice hardware selections, and a form factor most people expect. Out of the box capable of being a gateway for a large network without flinching. Wireguard performance is fantastic.

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Better hardware is not a VM in Proxmox. You want quality gear with each component doing one job.

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You want a dedicated Firewall and at least on access point. Your USB adapter is not designed to support lots of devices. It almost certainly has one channel.

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I will definitely check this out. Sounds really promising from the quick glimpse and most importantly, adorable.

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Adorable? How is that?

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Back in the day I ran a pfsense VM on ESXi before broadcom bought them. I found it easier to just purchase a cheap Unifi AP and spin up a VM for the Unifi controller app (I'm assuming you can still run that on your own hardware, its been a few years). I think I got a UAP 6 lite or something like that. If I recall it was about $130 CAD with the PoE injector.

Techincally its not ideal to run your firewall on the same device as other things, but I never had any issues.

Also, does the mini PC have multiple NICs? You will have a bad time if it does not.

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If you're going to dive in to openwrt from google wifi you should probably start with ready made hardware.

https://forum.openwrt.org/t/best-newcomer-routers-2024/189050

Please keep in mind that to duplicate mesh functionality it's going to take a significant effort and you need to make sure the hardware you buy is compatible with 802.11s. Open WRT forums have hardware compatibility rundowns of known working routers so it's not too difficult to find them.

This is a much bigger uphill battle rolling your own hardware unless you just plan to buy a separate access point or two for hardware and skip the mesh functionality.

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It can be used as a VPN router, any VM that needs a VPN can be connected to a network bridge that is forward through the VPN. This could also be done on the primary router and a VLAN.

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For just an AP, I've used a number of the GL-AR300 and they've been fine as AP and repeaters, but only 2.4 GHz. I have no interference issues where I am so that's fine for me, but if you're somewhere populated, YMMV.

They also have the full firewall/router set on them, but I generally don't use them for that.

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These days almost all hardware is compatible with 802.11s

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Replacing router with OpenWRT on Proxmox