After years of working with consumer gear at home and enterprise gear at work, I decided it was time to dive into something more substantial in my homelab. Enter VyOS - an open source router and firewall platform that is supposed to have enterprise-grade features without the high price tag…or any price tag, potentially.
Why VyOS?
Honestly, I was getting tired of the limitations with my current home setup. Custom routing options were limited. Want proper VLAN management? Good luck. VyOS keeps coming up in forums and Reddit threads as a great solution for people who want real networking control via CLI and/or automation.
The Download
Getting the ISO was straightforward enough. VyOS offers rolling releases (daily updates) and their Stream previews (previews for the coming LTS version) for free, which is perfect for learning. I downloaded the latest Stream image; assuming this should be a bit more stable than the rolling releases. I'm just testing the live version on an old laptop, for now; it's more than capable of handling this.
The Install
The fact that you have to start with the live version is pretty convenient for starting out; I opted for the bootable USB rather than the PXE boot. The permanent install can be accomplished with the ‘install image’ command; answer some questions about customizing the install, reboot, and you’re done.
First Impressions
No flashy GUI here - score! VyOS drops you straight into a command line interface that feels like a hybrid between Cisco IOS and Linux - feels like home. The ‘configure’ command puts you into configuration mode, and everything feels deliberately structured.
My first goal was simple: get basic internet connectivity working. The configuration syntax is actually quite intuitive once you realize it follows a hierarchical tree structure. Setting up interfaces, DHCP, and NAT took maybe 30 minutes of reading docs and experimenting.
Familiar Workflow
Coming from a primarily Cisco background, the ‘commit’ and ‘save’ workflow is comfortable; though, having to type ‘commit’ is an extra step that will be easy to get used to. You make changes, enter ‘commit’ to test them, and only save permanently when you're confident. You can view the changes made before committing them with the ‘compare’ command. The ‘commit-confirm’ command sets a 10 minute timer to auto reboot if you don’t type ‘confirm’ before the timer runs out. This is exactly the kind of safety net that helps prevent you from locking yourself out…or taking down a network; something I may or may not have done before with other systems.
The documentation is solid, too. Clear examples, logical organization, and real-world scenarios that actually make sense.
What's Next
I'm still in the shallow end of the pool here. Basic routing works, but I haven't touched VPN configurations, advanced firewall rules, or any of the monitoring features yet. Those are plans for the near future.
The learning curve feels manageable; though, it certainly helps to have a little background with a NOS CLI. VyOS strikes a nice balance between powerful and approachable…at least so far.
Bottom Line
A couple days in, and I'm cautiously optimistic. VyOS feels like the kind of tool that can easily be adapted as your networking needs change. Sure, it's not plug-and-play like consumer gear, but that's exactly the point.
Off to pretend I'll update this more regularly.