Bespoke router versus disaster recovery

This is my 9th blog post for the Blaugust 2026 community blogging project. Join me all this month for more blogging. Back in March 2026, my router died. I did not have a recovery plan. So, I had a paniced scramble to get a replacement. After a lot of anguish and several days, I was back online. But you know what I didn’t do? I didn’t create a viable recovery procedure for next time. And next time turned out to be last Friday. I’ve been building my own routers for nearly 20 years, using various open source router operating systems like OpenWRT, pfSense, and, most recently, OPNsense. I liked using fanless mini-PCs. All I needed was an X86 box with a couple of gigabit Ethernet ports – preferably Intel, for driver compatibility. I was a fan of Beelink products. They are well-made and affordable. The hero image on this blog post is my old Beelink router that I bought on AliExpress. The problem with building a router on these devices is that they typically had to be ordered from China. I…