How to install OPNSense on PCEngines’ APU2

I have been looking for a good alternative which could handle my gigabit internet connection and I believe I made a good choice going with PCEngine’s APU2 embedded system.

I tried following various tutorials dedicated for installing both pfSense and OPNsense on this device, however they didn’t quite work on the APU (or in my case), so I tried a personal method which proved successful.

Configuring static IP address and virtual interfaces in Webmin

When assigning multiple IP addresses to a single server by using virtual interfaces on the same single main interface it is necessary to switch to a static IP configuration.

Doing network configuration remotely is a bit risky but with the correct sequence of steps it is possible to switch from DHCP to static IP without any downtime.

Disable BIND recursion while keeping local queries resolvable

For security and efficiency reasons, a hosting system DNS server should not answer recursive queries (solve DNS requests for domains it is not authoritative for).
However, the DNS server needs to accept recursive queries for the services hosted on the same system for these services to work correctly and be able to resolve forward and reverse hosts/IPs.