VPN - Best use case for old Macbook Air 2013 running Proxmox, Raspberry Pi 3B and router Asus RT-AX56U?

VPN
1

The specs available:

  • Macbook Air 2013 - 4GB of RAM, 4 cores CPU, 128GB SSD
  • Asus RT-AX56U - 512MB of RAM, 4 cores CPU
  • Raspberry Pi 3B - 1GB of RAM, 4 cores CPU, microSD storage

Current software running on the devices:

  • Proxmox on the Macbook Air
    • HAOS on the Proxmox with 2 cores, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of the SSD
  • Asus-WRT Merlin on the Asus router with repeater mode to provide ethernet connection to the Macbook air (I know, no need to comment this, I am working on it)
  • Raspberry Pi - nothing

Desired setup (prioritised):

  1. Keep Proxmox and HAOS on the Macbook Air.
  2. [ASAP] Run a VPN server, to remote into home network (WireGuard).
  3. Have a router VPN client when accessing the home network remotely and connect working devices to said router.

Possible scenarios:

I want to prioritise VPN bandwidth and also meaningfully use the resources available.

VPN on Proxmox:

  • running the VPN server on Proxmox
  • use the Asus router as the VPN client

VPN on the router:

  • running the VPN server on the Asus router
  • using RPI as the VPN client?
  • or using another router/device for the VPN client?

VPN on the Raspberry Pi:

  • running the VPN server on the Raspberry Pi
  • using the Asus router as the VPN client

Summary

Based on the above, I ask for your advice on how to configure, what I have available, to run a VPN server in my home and have it run relatively quickly (at least 20Mbps on the connected client), also taking into consideration the resources available.

I’m kind of leaning towards running it in Proxmox but I am not sure how the Macbook would handle the traffic/manage the load.

Thank you!

2

ChatGPT response:

1432×474 38.4 KB

3

Your is Pi3B or 3B+??

Former one has only onboard 100Mbps LAN port while the later one has roughly 300Mbps speed.

4

From a quick search, I’d look at testing tailscale on the router and then tailscale on a container running on proxmox. Looks like you should be able to get this up and running pretty quickly and get some real world numbers on performance. You can have two tailscale configs setup in parallel and then just switch between the two on the client for testing.

Personally, i’d be nervous having a laptop power supply on 24/7 due to the heat they produce. Depending on where the laptop is placed, there’s also the risk of the power supply being pulled out inadvertently.

5

I am not sure unfortunately, but 100Mbps would be fine for me.