The networking thread

[jeshikat]

We're all techie people so I figure we should have a thread for discussing networking. I'll start off with a question:

I'm considering upgrading my home network in the next few months. Right now I just have a consumer-grade Netgear wireless router but I want something that's more configurable without going overboard.

I only need 2 wired ports and only a few wireless devices will be connected most of the time, mainly I want the ability to more robustly isolate the guest WiFi from the rest of the network, so VLANs. But I don't want to have to use CLI to configure the router and I'm not really interested in setting up a pfSense box.

So right now I'm looking at a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite and UniFi AP AC Lite combo. Thoughts?

 

[BirdofPrey]

Which router do you have now?

It really depends on what sort of price range you are looking at and what version of 802.11 you want.
I just got a Linksys WRT1900ACS, and it's pretty good, if a bit pricey. The interface is good, and it has specific provisions in its GUI for a guest network, and you can even set up different SSIDs for the 2.5 and 5 GHz ( it supports 802.11ac) bands. It also has support for things like OpenVPN,media prioritization using the router as NAS with USB attached storage (though I figure you probably already have a home server), and supposedly lets you flash to a custom ROM.

When I researched the router, it seems to bubble up to the top a fair bit along with a couple ASUS and Netgear routers (model varies by review site and what they focus on, but ASUS AC68U and Netgear Nighthawk come up a lot) along with the TP Link Archer, but if you don't need 802.11ac, the best choices are likely to be different. As far as the number of ethernet ports, I can't say I've seen much, if any that only have 2 ports, the standard seems to be 4.

 

[Phuncz]

Others have warned me about the EdgeRouter Lite being a whole different beast than a consumer router and they were right: out of the box this thing does nothing. You can upload a standard config and be done with it, but that doesn't make the configuration of other properties much easier:

This is just for a NAT rule, Firewall rules, DNS, DHCP, subnets, routes, etc is all of the same: you have to know exactly what you're doing or you'll not get anywhere. I know somewhat about networking and have completed the CCNA1 or what's it's called with around 90% score while picking my nose, but this router expects you to know basically everything non-exotic about layer 2 and layer 3 networking.

I got this one mainly because I want to learn all this crap, since I don't manage the firewalls at work and I someday want to be able to. But if you want a good performing router which a mortal entity can manage, take a gander at http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/

The Ubiquiti AP AC Lite can work on any router by the way, we have a few dozen at our company and the software is much, much easier for people that aren't networking engineers. So you could also combine that with a router or switch that supports VLAN tagging. Or use the one in the wireless router as a guest network and the AC Lite as your personal network, or vice-versa ofcourse. Many routers support guest-networking.

Maybe I'll say something different when Cerberus arrives at my doorstep

 

[jeshikat]

Which router do you have now?

It's a WNR2000, nothing special.

When I researched the router, it seems to bubble up to the top a fair bit along with a couple ASUS and Netgear routers (model varies by review site and what they focus on, but ASUS AC68U and Netgear Nighthawk come up a lot) along with the TP Link Archer, but if you don't need 802.11ac, the best choices are likely to be different.

I've setup a few Nighthawks at work and they're really nice for consumer gear. Not a fan of TP-Link though, I've had quite a few of their nicer wireless-N routers flake out on me after a year.

Don't need AC since all the devices I own are just N.

I got this one mainly because I want to learn all this crap, since I don't manage the firewalls at work and I someday want to be able to.

That's partly why I was looking at the ERL. I figure I could use the setup wizard to get it up and running and then tinker with it afterwards.

The Ubiquiti AP AC Lite can work on any router by the way, we have a few dozen at our company and the software is much, much easier for people that aren't networking engineers.

What router do you typically use for your business clients? At work our business clients are typically just 5-20 users but I'm tired of using consumer routers that flake out after a year or two and a lower-end Ubiquiti router + AP combo isn't that much more money than a higher-end consumer router but seems much more reliable and flexible.

 

[Phuncz]

Ours are supplied by the provider, Cisco 800-series mainly.

I've had the best home router experience with the Apple Airport Extreme (802.11n). Not only was it absolutely rock solid, it's performance was also above average on every regard. I could run a game, have a torrent downloading, multiple wireless devices streaming and everything went perfectly. The benefit of it having a single light on it that tells you something's wrong, with the software telling you exactly what's wrong and how to fix it, it just warped my mind that a router could also be user-friendly for the tech-unsavvy.

 

[jeshikat]

Ours are supplied by the provider, Cisco 800-series mainly.

You're lucky. The ISPs around here just provide junk modem/router combo units. I've seen a few residential boxes that are still using WEP and businesses don't get much better :0

with the software telling you exactly what's wrong and how to fix it, it just warped my mind that a router could also be user-friendly for the tech-unsavvy.

I haven't had much chance to mess with the Apple routers. Few people around here own Macs and even fewer have Airports. That does sound neat though, I've spent many a phone call walking people through power cycling their modem and router to troubleshoot internet connectivity issues.

 

[Phuncz]

You're lucky. The ISPs around here just provide junk modem/router combo units. I've seen a few residential boxes that are still using WEP and businesses don't get much better :0

It's basically their responsibility to get a good one, since the routers have to have VLAN tagging, multiple WLAN ports, WLAN failover, etc. which ofcourse we pay for. We also have a SLA (Service Level Agreement) on the important locations to keep everyone connected as much as possible.