I currently have the exact same question in my head. I think I’ll go the following route: Install opensense in a VM on my Proxmox host (it has 2 NICs) and just put my lab stuff behind it in it’s own lan. Everything connects to the router via firewall.

Benefits:

• The rest of the lan (e.g. partner’s devices) do not rely on my firewall working
• I don’t need to buy anything, I can switch to bare metal later if I need to and have figured out what exactly I need

I think the best thing of reddit is them having so many actually active niche subreddits. Many people saying Lemmy doesn’t need to grow don’t seem to care much about that which surprises me a bit.