[ale] Desirable networking equipment nowadays

[Ken Cochran]

I like the idea of separate pieces for the gateway/router,
the radio-frisbee :) & any switch(es).  Means I can place &
replace hardware as necessary.  I especially like the idea of
being able to run the likes of pfSense on it.  Can I do that
with a Ubiquiti gateway?  Maybe something else "better?"
(or cheaper, etc.)  PfSense.org has their own hardware,
maybe that?  Thanks for the pointers/ideas,  -k

> To: ale at ale.org
> From: DJ-Pfulio <DJPfulio at jdpfu.com>
> Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2017 05:05:11 -0400
> Subject: Re: [ale] Desirable networking equipment nowadays
> Reply-To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts <ale at ale.org>
>
> +1 for this type of setup.  pfSense is dead easy to maintain.
> OpenSense is a fork. I've never tried it.
>
> Avoid consumer wifi-routers. The firmware just isn't updated
> often enough - even dd-wrt/openwrt/tomato aren't.
>
> BTW, Ubiquiti WAPs aren't "hockey puck" sized.  More like a
> small frisby. ;)
>
> I use an old wifi router that cannot be trusted to be internet
> facing as a Guest WAP internally. Always prefer wired over
> wifi. Always.
>
> On 09/20/2017 10:53 PM, James Sumners wrote:
> > I very recently moved to using a Ubiquity 8 port switch (4 non-PoE, 4
> > PoE) with an AC-PRO access point. My router is a little mini-ITX Celeron
> > system I built that runs pfSense. This combination has been fantastic.
> > I'm able to segregate IoT stuff from the rest of my network with a vlan
> > and clamp it's allowed bandwidth. And once I got everything going, I
> > haven't even had to think about the management software. I _might_ get
> > the management dongle just for ease of use at some point, but it's
> > definitely not high on my priority list. 
> >
> > From everything I have researched, I would not recommend the gateway
> > piece. Stick with pfSense. You'll have way more flexibility. 
> >
> > On Wed, Sep 20, 2017 at 22:42 Ken Cochran <kwc at theworld.com
> > <mailto:kwc at theworld.com>> wrote:
> >
> >     Hey ALE I could use some advice/pointers for some networking stuff.
> >
> >     I need to set-up/update networking at a home & a small office.
> >
> >     Probably need something like an 8-port switch for the house
> >     along with wifi.
> >
> >     Office doesn't need but a coupla ports + wifi.
> >
> >     I've had good luck over the years with Asus, a RT-N16 running DD-WRT
> >     and a RT-AC68P.  Both got lightning-toasted sometime back & I picked
> >     up another RT-AC68P.
> >
> >     I was thinking of another couple of the 68Ps but recently there
> >     was nice discussion here of Ubiquiti gear; maybe I should
> >     be looking more into that?  Asus works nicely with DD-WRT,
> >     etc. & according to DD-WRT's hardware list, so does Ubiquiti.
> >     (Don't know how appropriate though I guess.)
> >
> >     With Ubiquiti, it looks like they separate the various
> >     components, so I'd guess that per location I need a gateway,
> >     a switch and a couple of those hockey-puck wifi transceivers(?)
> >     No need for rack mounting.
> >
> >     Thoughts?
> >
> >     Thanks, -k
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> > --
> > James Sumners
> > http://james.sumners.info/ (technical profile)
> > http://jrfom.com/ (personal site)
> > http://haplo.bandcamp.com/ (music)
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