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How high-touch is this kind of setup? I have a separate access point and I am using a consumer-grade "wireless router" for DHCP. (and other things?) I'm more o

How high-touch is this kind of setup? I have a separate access point and I am using a consumer-grade "wireless router" for DHCP. (and other things?) I'm more of an app developer that does DevOps stuff when I have to. Is this something I can get done in a day or so? Is a Raspberry Pi enough, or do I need something more powerful?

somehnguy 7y ago
If you want a less touchy solution (not completely plug and play though!) I can't recommend Ubiquiti products enough. I run an EdgeRouter X and Unifi AP at home. Not big enterprise gear but way more enterprisey than whatever you'll find on the shelf at Best Buy. Updates are released regularly and once you get your initial configuration done they just chug along, no random 'internet is down, need to reboot something' issues that (used to?) plague mass consumer designed gear.
- aesclepius 7y ago
  Cheaper and older alternative is the Ubiquity Unifi Security Gateway + 8 port switch + UAC AP-PRO if you don't want the Edgerouter X cost. Less customizeable but if you're buying an EdgeRouter you know what you want.
  - harry8 7y ago
    how does power consumption compare with a setup like this vs some consumer all-in-one thing?
    - kazen44 7y ago
      to be honest, most routers like this have very low power usage. I think an edgerouter X has a power consumption of something like 5W under load.
  - kalleboo 7y ago
    Isn't the EdgeRouter X cheaper than the USG?
- PeterStuer 7y ago
  What WAN throughput can you get on an Edgerouter X with moderate Firewall and some basic QoS rules enabled?
  - somehnguy 7y ago
    I can't give you a good answer for that as the fastest plan my ISP provides in my area is 100/10. This setup maxes that out no problem (which isn't surprising or impressive), usually hitting about 130/15 due to turboboost or whatever word they're using for temporary speed increases these days. I think you can find some better info with a search though.
nly 7y ago
Low touch once it's working, but took me forever to get right. I recently added wireguard + policy based routing + a second route table + a VLAN so that all devices connected to a secondary wireless SSID are NAT'd to the Internet over a VPN. I don't know how you'd accomplish this with anything consumer, or even anything semi-Enterprise. The primary motivation for that one is that native wireguard (UDP) is blocked by several wireless networks I use on the move. So on those networks I have to use a shitty OpenVPN configuration over tcp port 443. OpenVPN on Android is buggy and prone to crash all the god damn time. Now, at home at least, I don't have to suffer it. The device I use has a metal case, is fanless/noiseless, the size of an AP, has 4 gigabit ports, 4 x86-64 Bay Trail cores, 8GB of RAM, runs standard Linux, and cost me like $150. Honestly I'm done with plastic off-the-shelf crap.
kaylynb 7y ago
It depends, and it's certainly not a consumer solution. I use Ansible manage my devices so it takes a bit more up front time to setup but it pays off in the long run. It's very low maintenance overall but you do need some technical knowledge. I recently switched from OpenBSD to Linux and it was mostly painless. nftables is almost as usable as pf. If you get a decent WiFi card you can just use hostapd and manage your wireless networks on the gateway; slicing it up however you want without needing vlan capable switches on your network.

somehnguy 7y ago

If you want a less touchy solution (not completely plug and play though!) I can't recommend Ubiquiti products enough. I run an EdgeRouter X and Unifi AP at home. Not big enterprise gear but way more enterprisey than whatever you'll find on the shelf at Best Buy. Updates are released regularly and once you get your initial configuration done they just chug along, no random 'internet is down, need to reboot something' issues that (used to?) plague mass consumer designed gear.

aesclepius 7y ago
Cheaper and older alternative is the Ubiquity Unifi Security Gateway + 8 port switch + UAC AP-PRO if you don't want the Edgerouter X cost. Less customizeable but if you're buying an EdgeRouter you know what you want.
- harry8 7y ago
  how does power consumption compare with a setup like this vs some consumer all-in-one thing?
  - kazen44 7y ago
    to be honest, most routers like this have very low power usage. I think an edgerouter X has a power consumption of something like 5W under load.
- kalleboo 7y ago
  Isn't the EdgeRouter X cheaper than the USG?
PeterStuer 7y ago
What WAN throughput can you get on an Edgerouter X with moderate Firewall and some basic QoS rules enabled?
- somehnguy 7y ago
  I can't give you a good answer for that as the fastest plan my ISP provides in my area is 100/10. This setup maxes that out no problem (which isn't surprising or impressive), usually hitting about 130/15 due to turboboost or whatever word they're using for temporary speed increases these days. I think you can find some better info with a search though.

nly 7y ago

Low touch once it's working, but took me forever to get right. I recently added wireguard + policy based routing + a second route table + a VLAN so that all devices connected to a secondary wireless SSID are NAT'd to the Internet over a VPN. I don't know how you'd accomplish this with anything consumer, or even anything semi-Enterprise. The primary motivation for that one is that native wireguard (UDP) is blocked by several wireless networks I use on the move. So on those networks I have to use a shitty OpenVPN configuration over tcp port 443. OpenVPN on Android is buggy and prone to crash all the god damn time. Now, at home at least, I don't have to suffer it. The device I use has a metal case, is fanless/noiseless, the size of an AP, has 4 gigabit ports, 4 x86-64 Bay Trail cores, 8GB of RAM, runs standard Linux, and cost me like $150. Honestly I'm done with plastic off-the-shelf crap.

kaylynb 7y ago

It depends, and it's certainly not a consumer solution. I use Ansible manage my devices so it takes a bit more up front time to setup but it pays off in the long run. It's very low maintenance overall but you do need some technical knowledge. I recently switched from OpenBSD to Linux and it was mostly painless. nftables is almost as usable as pf. If you get a decent WiFi card you can just use hostapd and manage your wireless networks on the gateway; slicing it up however you want without needing vlan capable switches on your network.