If this is for internal only you can setup OpnSense to do DNS records either through static IPs or add hostnames to the DNS records via DHCP. If you want this externally that’s a whole other ball of wax.

Neither require you to purchase a domain name. Just use whatever you want .internal While you can use other things like .lan, .internal is the only one that is actually reserved for LAN use.

*I’m pretty sure you can add firewall rules in OpnSense as well to redirect from port 80 or 443 to whatever port you’re actually using but that may cause more problems than it’s worth. If you can’t change the port in the app itself then, honestly just bookmark it with the actual port so you don’t have to remember it.

I do get blocked by engines occasionally which can have a drastic impact on results.

Networking isn’t my forte but I thought IP addressing required layer 3 switching? Which is going to be dependent on your switch supporting it.

It will come back if you set it to start on boot. Make sure you set its priority to start before anything else that requires network connectivity. If you ever move to having a cluster it’ll be a real headache because you won’t have a network for quorum and so you’ll have to physically access the box to force start it. I would highly recommend going out and getting a NUC or some other dedicated hardware as a priority before any other expansion.

Yeah, I did it briefly to test if I wanted to use it before getting a dedicated Protectli Vault. But gateway and NAS are both things I recommend not running on Proxmox long term.

Router - for one you can’t form a quorum for a cluster if there is no network so you’d have to physically access the box every restart.

NAS - You lose access to any backups you’re doing and ability to restore if that node fails.