Does anyone keep Home Assistant and it’s sensors and devices on a dedicated wifi network, eg, separate from the one you use for laptops and phones?
While this ought to provide better security, I’m afraid it will be a huge hassle to maintain. Anyone with experience in this area? I supposed you’d have to have two network interfaces on the HAOS device and configure it so that the UI faces the regular wifi network, and the ‘service’ network is configured for devices…
I have a separate IoT network, with associated firewall rules, for my HA stuff. It does provide better security if properly configured and maintained.
If you have the right network equipment and experience, you can create a VLAN for your HA stuff too. Search for “what equipment is needed for a VLAN” to see for yourself if it is a hassle for you. You do not need two network interfaces on your HAOS device.
VLANs and firewall rules are your friends here. Once set up, there is very little to maintain other than remembering to set any Wi-Fi sensors up to the appropriate IoT VLAN
Has it ever become a blocker, say for example there’s a device that you really need direct access to? I suppose you could hop over to the other network temporarily.
Also curious if you have any consumer-grade devices that need to be in the main wifi…do you make exceptions for those?
It has never been a blocker for me because I setup rules so that I can access the Iot network directly from my secure VLAN if needed. ALL my “consumer-grade” devices are on the Iot network even if they are not associated with HA. Only my PCs are on the secured VLAN - everything else goes to Iot. And I have a “guest” network for friends and family.