I am setting up a Pi3 B+ as a homeserver. Intended uses are running a Pi-Hole, using it as NFS share and to automate stuff like backups.
I decided to use CentOS for its reputation of running smooth and stable. I have quite some Linux experience, running Manjaro on my desktop, but I am a virgin in regards to CentOS and the network setup is quite confusing.
What is the relation between NetworkManager, firewalld and iptables?
I read iptables is slowly dying in favor of nftables. firewalld is a wrapper around iptables, but is a more modern choice and is propably continued as wrapper around nftables, even after the death if iptables. I also read that firewalld is dependent on NetworkManager. Neither do I know why, nor did yum stop me from uninstalling NetworkManager while firewalld was installed and running.
What is the current combination of tools to use?
I heard
NetworkManager causing some issues, which I ran into myself, fixed according to the answer in the linked question, but then managed to revitalize by trying to put NetworkManager to work again. Would I even need something like a network manager when not running in multiple networks? Are those viable alternatives even on CentOS?
I am very inclined to use firewalld as a wrapper around iptables, is that possible without NetworkManager?
Additional information on use-case
Ideally, I would want to run a NFS share locally, and provide SSHFS service for remote (meaning not via LAN) access. Further, if everything runs as intended I would grant my other in the LAN access (looking at Kerberos for that). So I would like to have a convenient but flexible way of configuring the firewall and any further network configs surprising me on the way.
