Proxmox direct attached network passthrough feasability.

[Lascar12F]

Howdy,

I have a use case that is probably pretty strange and may sound scadalous to some but I think it fits me.
So, I'm trying to replace the shitty "box" router that my ISP forces me to use, with Pfsense by tricking the ISP into believing I have the original box. The ISP router plugs into an ONT that has fiber on one end and rj45 on the other.
While I'm at it i'd like that server to pull multiple duty, hence proxmox. I'm a total noob in the server world, or linux for that matter, but I've heard great things.
The plan is to go 10gig from my PC to my server, and simple 1gig to the ONT.
I live alone, and I own only one PC I need to connect with ethernet, so buying even the least expensive 10gig switch would be an utter waste, as it would literally only have two things plugged into it, my server and my pc.

So after all this backstory, here come the real question. Could I just use the Proxmox NAS functionality as direct attached storage, while runing Pfsense as a VM, and the 1gig plug on my server's motherboard plugged into the ONT ?

So it would go fiber->ONT->1gig plug on motherboard->pfsense->10gig card on server->10gig card on pc. no switch

Is that something that is possible or am I doomed to buying a 10gig switch for just one user ?

PS. Added a shitty MS paint drawing of what I mean in case I'm not being very clear with what I'm saying.

 

[t.lamprecht]

Hi!

So after all this backstory, here come the real question. Could I just use the Proxmox NAS functionality as direct attached storage, while runing Pfsense as a VM, and the 1gig plug on my server's motherboard plugged into the ONT ?

I cannot talk for the ONT stuff and your ISP side, that either works or not and is rather outside of Proxmox VEs control sphere,
but assuming that part works, and you get interwebs inside the PVE node, then yes, the rest is doable.

So it would go fiber->ONT->1gig plug on motherboard->pfsense->10gig card on server->10gig card on pc. no switch

Is that something that is possible or am I doomed to buying a 10gig switch for just one user ?

No, that's possible just fine, and actually quite common even with more servers e.g., with a two port 10G NIC you can connect three servers in a full mesh, avoiding the switch (cost and some latency) there too - we even have how-tos for that in our PVE wiki.

PS. Added a shitty MS paint drawing of what I mean in case I'm not being very clear with what I'm saying.

Great stuff, both text and drawing were quite clear to me actually.

 

[Lascar12F]

Thank you so much for the very fast help Thomas ! This is great news, I thought I was doing something a bit stupid here but it sounds like it should work a treat!
Any clue if I should do broadcast or routed method ?
Again, thanks a lot man.

 

[BobhWasatch]

If that ONT is from AT&T Uverse then you may have some issues with authentication.

The router they give you has a certificate built in that is needed to get on their network. Supposedly this can be worked around by passing auth requests to the original router but I've never been able to get that working reliably. Your mileage may vary.