Software dev here. I had a few classes about networks in school but I’m not too skilled with it. I recently got into building a home network as I will soon be moving in with my gf, and want to make a reliable internet setup for the both of us. Also just want to have a bit of fun doing this. I watched a few hours of videos on YouTube to figure this out, and made a small high level drawing of how I would like to do it. Does this make sense ? Will, for exemple, my main VLAN be able to talk with my home server ? Or my IoT devices be able to talk to Home Assistant on the server ? (The text on the drawing is mostly in French, I figured it’s generic enough to be understandable, tell me if you want more explanation)
Your diagram is fine, and a pretty standard “Advanced Home Network” we see around here.
Anything can be made to talk to anything across different VLANs by choosing to allow it on pfSense. If everything on one VLAN needs to talk to a server in another, you should evaluate if that server is in the right VLAN, or does it really belong with the others.
The big problem with VLANs in home environments is that you need to make so many exceptions just to get everything to work like you want. If you’re trying to use VLANs as an extra step in security, how much security are you really getting with so many exceptions on pfSense?
Your layout and questions are not at all unusual, I guess I’m just always wondering if VLANs are being pushed too hard onto typical home users who will waste more time trying to tune them than any benefits they actually receive.
You’re into tech, so it won’t be a problem. I do suspect that you’ll become lazy over time and just stick things in the main VLAN with broken promises to “fix it one day” as your personal time diminishes.