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The Gateway

Raspberry Pi network gateway

Short answer

Section titled “Short answer”

A Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 is a good The Gateway host for a home, lab, or travel network when expected throughput fits the hardware and the Pi has a clear routed boundary. A second Ethernet interface or VLAN-capable topology is preferable for a permanent home gateway.

What you need

Section titled “What you need”
  • Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 running a supported 64-bit Linux distribution.
  • Reliable storage and power; avoid an unknown or worn SD card.
  • One upstream and one downstream network path, either with two interfaces or a deliberate single-interface/VLAN design.
  • Console or SSH access for recovery.
  • Your own WireGuard or OpenVPN configuration if protected exits are required.

Installation path

Section titled “Installation path”

Use the rpi profile from the installation guide. It applies Raspberry Pi-oriented defaults, including lower-write logging choices suitable for flash storage.

After installation:

  1. Confirm the management UI and API are reachable only from intended networks.
  2. Define devices or groups before applying protected routes.
  3. Add one tunnel and validate it before adding splitting or bridges.
  4. Test the fail-closed path by stopping the tunnel.
  5. Back up the known-good configuration.

When it fits

Section titled “When it fits”
  • Home routing for tens of devices.
  • A travel gateway where portability matters more than maximum throughput.
  • A small lab that needs repeatable policy and DNS controls.
  • A federation edge paired with a remote VPS.

When to choose a mini-PC instead

Section titled “When to choose a mini-PC instead”
  • Near-gigabit encrypted throughput is a requirement.
  • Several high-throughput tunnels will run simultaneously.
  • You need additional NICs, storage, or hardware redundancy.
  • The gateway will serve a business-critical network with no spare unit.

Sizing & performance explains how to choose and measure hardware. Run the method on Performance evidence & release verification on your actual Pi before committing to a throughput target.

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