WireGuard Hub with VLAN Split

Stand up a WireGuard jump point, segment guest vs admin traffic with VLANs, and route lab access through the tunnel.

Goal

Build a small WireGuard hub that drops you into your lab, while keeping IoT and guest networks isolated behind VLANs and firewall policy. No WAN port forwards; you ride the tunnel for admin access.

Prereqs

  • Router/firewall that supports VLANs and policy-based rules.
  • Tagged switch uplink to your AP; SSIDs mapped to VLANs (e.g., IoT, Guest).
  • WireGuard-capable host (thin client/VM) on the management VLAN.

Network Layout

  • Mgmt/Lab VLAN 10: 192.168.10.0/24 (Proxmox, NAS, proxy, WireGuard).
  • IoT VLAN 20: 192.168.20.0/24 (deny east-west; allow only specific flows).
  • Guest VLAN 30: 192.168.30.0/24 (internet-only).
  • AP trunks SSIDs to VLAN 20/30; wired trunks carry 10/20/30.

WireGuard Hub Setup

  1. Deploy a lightweight host (Alpine/Debian) on VLAN 10 with static IP.
  2. Install WireGuard (`apt install wireguard`); enable IP forwarding.
  3. Create peer for each device: give them AllowedIPs = 192.168.10.0/24 andDNS = 192.168.10.2 (your resolver).
  4. Firewall: allow UDP 51820 from WAN to WireGuard host OR use a tunnel provider that supports UDP passthrough; otherwise run WG behind a TCP forward if you must.

Firewall Policy

  • Allow WG clients to VLAN 10; deny to VLAN 20/30 except specific destinations.
  • Block IoT/Guest to VLAN 10; allow internet only (and NTP/DNS to resolver).
  • Log drops from IoT to lab; rate-limit DNS/DoH from IoT/Guest.

DNS & Split Horizon

  • Run Pi-hole/Unbound in VLAN 10; DHCP option per VLAN points to it.
  • Internal records for lab services (*.lab.local) resolve to VLAN 10 IPs.
  • Do not expose Pi-hole to WAN; permit only per-VLAN resolver traffic.

Validation

  • From a WG client: reach hypervisor/NAS; confirm IoT/Guest subnets are blocked (ping or curl should fail).
  • Confirm mDNS/SSDP is not leaking between VLANs (no random device discovery).
  • Run traceroute from WG client to ensure you stay inside the lab path.

Hardening

  • Use preshared keys on peers; rotate keys quarterly.
  • Restrict WG port exposure to specific WAN IPs if possible.
  • Back up WireGuard configs; test restore on a spare VM.

- Crafted by Axiom|Spectre