I watched this short video about the netstat command and found the topic very interesting. Where can I find more noob-friendly information about the theory of IP tables? Right now I'm interested to learn more within the context of Windows instead of Linux (so that I can follow along).

I'm very interested to learn how programs/services listen/operate in relation to firewalls and also antivirus software like malwarebytes and windows defender. (For example I thought that I had to specifically open a port in my router for a program to use, but when I use netstat I see that there are tons of programs/services running that are using all kinds of ports.)

The reason that I am asking here is because I would rather someone point me in the right direction than try to over-Google it and find too much irrelevant information. As a cytologist I could Google various cancer cells and be able to sort through everything that I see to prioritize relevant information, but that's because I'm a professional in the field. I have no such experience with networking.

I was looking into Tailscale which I thought to be complexly open source, but it turns out that their coordination server is closed source. If you want to run your own open source coordination server, Headscale is the go-to option.

This is no fault of their own (as they freely express this in their FAQ) it's just that I had always been told by people that Tailscale was fully open source. This got me wondering what else is not as open source as people widely accept it to be?

I am just starting to get into selfhosting so I wanted to see if this plan of mine looks ok? I can't start my self hosting journey until my network is set up, and you guys are so much more helpful than some of the other similar subs.

What switch would be good to run openWRT on that is proven reliable and resource capable? It would need at least 10x 1Gb ports, but I guess more would be better to use link aggregation. I only have 1.2 Gbs upload speed so I don't need anything too industrial.

I'm looking to spend under $500 on one and I'm perfectly willing to buy used from eBay. (I got my supermicro board and xeon and ecc ram used there for my NAS and they've been going great for a couple years now.)

EDIT: Ignore the Home Assistant app listed under TrueNAS. I won't be looking into that just yet.

I've gotten my hands on a EDS8PS and I'm a noob so I'm not sure if this thing will be useful in creating a self-hosted network or if it will be an overcomplication.