The Home Networking Megathread - Yes the OP is out of date

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The Home Networking Megathread - Yes the OP is out of date

text editor: Jan 8, 2007

Not an Anthem posted:

Hi. 72 hour newegg sale, kind of want to finally upgrade. Using a stock wrt54gl from.. I'm not even sure, whenever it first came out.

My networking goal is to stream hd movies from my desktop in my bedroom to my laptop in my living room, to be played on a projector. I live in a pretty small/average apartment (chicago, not new york small).

I want to get this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122326

NETGEAR WNDR3700-100NAS

I need an N adapter for my laptop and desktop then. I am new to N.. how do I match an adapter to this thing? Any dual band adapter or do I look for 300mpbs+ specifically listed?

Speaking of things being on sale on newegg, I got and email notifying me that some Intel gigabit desktop NICs are on sale:

EXPI9301CTBLK PCIe x1, 82574L Controller
PWLA8391GT PCI, 82541PI Controller

Intel NICs are the poo poo, in my experience they have been 100% stable, give me the fastest throughput and the lowest speeds.

Also, they are incredibly well supported across operating systems (almost always out of the box, even on Linux, FreeBSD, and OpenBSD)

Pretty much worth the extra $30 for you system (well, 23-25 on sale now)

# ¿ Mar 11, 2012 01:12

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 10:22

text editor: Jan 8, 2007

Anyone have experience with the Aruba instant on series of APs? Moving into a new place and not sure I want to deal with ubiquiti's "which firmware is the good one?" game. I need to upgrade my parent's place too, who have 2x of them with probably-not-working roaming and intermittent dropping problems after I upgraded and downgraded the firmware, since the upgrade caused issues too

Can 2x InstantOns be configured to roam? I think they hand some mesh controller mode at one point like the Ruckuses did

Edit: side note for the people I've seen mention ER-X in this thread: the best firmware for them is OpenWRT. Much easier to configure and more flexible

text editor fucked around with this message at 02:17 on Dec 31, 2020

# ¿ Dec 31, 2020 02:12

text editor: Jan 8, 2007

rufius posted:

Neat. Didn’t know OpenWRT was ported to the ER-X.

Can OpenWRT make use of the offload hardware capability? That stopped me previously with the ERLite and some other non-Ubiquiti OS. Needed the hardware offload to actually hit gigabit throughput.

yes, with the caveat that SQM is not compatible with it enabled

https://forum.openwrt.org/t/ubiquiti-edgerouter-x-loading-openwrt-and-performance-numbers/27470

# ¿ Dec 31, 2020 03:20

text editor: Jan 8, 2007

Twerk from Home posted:

I'm on AT&T Gigabit internet, meaning that I have to use their provided router. It's a Pace 5268ac, and it's pretty bad. The wifi on it was awful, which I solved by getting two ubiquiti access points. I'm getting tired of the router itself being terrible to configure (I run some servers at home), and occasionally being slow for DNS resolution. I recently set up pi-hole, and learned that you cannot configure a separate internal DNS server for the ATT router's DHCP, meaning that I can't have devices automatically use pi-hole for DNS resolution. I'm inclined now to get my own router, put it behind the AT&T one and put it in the DMZ just have double-NAT.

What routers should I be looking at for gigabit routing? I don't need wi-fi, my wireless solution is very well sorted. I'm already running a Uni-Fi controller on a server at home, but have heard less than stellar things about Ubiquiti routers. I was planning on getting a Mikrotik RB4011, but it looks like that can't route at line speed.

For a simple, wired router that can route gigabit at line speed, what am I looking at? Or should I be getting a managed switch and setting up a router-on-a-stick config using a linux server as a router instead to route at gigabit speeds?

looks like you went through everything I did with the pace. ultimately I ended up just manually configuring dns on all the hosts that needed it to avoid the double NAT DMZ

# ¿ Feb 1, 2021 21:18

text editor: Jan 8, 2007

H110Hawk posted:

Double posting because this cracked me up. Our fs.com rep sent us this amazing email, complete with reddit homelab link and screenshot.

1400 can buy you a good amount of used Aruba or Brocade stuff that is just as trustworthy, probably more reliable, and more functional. I don't even think any of the FS stuff supports Cumulus, at least at that price point, which was the only reason I had ever considered one of their white box switches

# ¿ Feb 6, 2021 04:48

text editor: Jan 8, 2007

codo27 posted:

See a lot of talk about wireguard, can anyone post a good guide on getting set up with it, particularly as it relates to tunnels?

what platform at each end of the tunnel

# ¿ Feb 25, 2021 20:29

text editor: Jan 8, 2007

I'm not sure how to configure it in EdgeOS since I'm running openwrt on mine, but the way to imagine how is functions is as a 6 port switch with the six port being wired to a router in the case.

Since the router only has a single "cable" going to the switch, it can only act as a router by faking having 2 ports with VLANs. One VLAN is a WAN VLAN, containing the first real port plus the router's internally wires port, while the LAN VLAN would contain only that same internally wired port and your second external port. the other 3 exist with a separate, probably default VLAN. just find a way to tag them with the same VLAN as the second port you get the connection through

# ¿ Mar 1, 2021 23:25

text editor: Jan 8, 2007

WAN VLAN:
ethernet0
cpu0 #1

LAN VLAN:
ethernet1
cpu0 #2

OTHER VLAN:
ethernet2
ethernet3
ethernet4

# ¿ Mar 1, 2021 23:28

text editor: Jan 8, 2007

codo27 posted:

Just to clarify,

eth0=ISP
eth1=desktop
eth2=office switch
eth3=living room switch
eth4=ap

I have internet connectivity fine on the desktop. I cant imagine why they would just make 2-4 be separated out of the box, and even if so why those wouldn't have access to the internet. I just want everything on the network to be able to talk to each other but I cant find any clear guides on doing just a simple setup like that.

I think they expect the other ports to be configured for different subnets or something and think users will run cables out of them to a core switch first

# ¿ Mar 1, 2021 23:56

text editor: Jan 8, 2007

Biowarfare posted:

Netgate has had a few interesting scandals/history of hating open source, including one this month regarding some apparently ludicrously insecure and rushed security code

worse they were trying to pushed a bloated and buggy version of their code into freebsd upstream and threw a tantrum and a half when the guy who defined the wieeguard protocol stepped in to rewrite it from scratch

# ¿ Mar 24, 2021 20:02

text editor: Jan 8, 2007

I just bought into the protect stuff, which forces SSO. My APs were always gonna be replaced of reconfigured with openwrt, but goddamn Ubiquiti is awful

# ¿ Mar 30, 2021 22:24

text editor: Jan 8, 2007

Rescue Toaster posted:

Since I was getting ready to rebuild my unifi controller docker container, and I only have two access points, I might as well ask has anyone either:

a) Replaced the unifi software on one of the AC access points with openwrt?

b) Generally have experience running openwrt as access point only and disabling all the router features. (Notably setting up things like vlan tagging per ssid or client isolation, etc...)

Yes and yes, there were tutorials for both on the wiki, but step 2 is actually harder just for the stuff you have to hunt down

# ¿ Apr 1, 2021 04:18

text editor: Jan 8, 2007

I was sick of dealing with Ubiquiti's dogshit firmware QA and the security issues so I picked up a new Ruckus R310 on ebay for $130 and it has already been more stable and has a better range than my AC-Lite

# ¿ Apr 21, 2021 00:16

text editor: Jan 8, 2007

Cenodoxus posted:

I just replaced my ERL with OPNSense on an AliExpress mini PC a few months back. Absolutely no regrets, it's been fantastic. In hindsight, the EdgeRouter web UI was awful and always has been, but I never cared because I preferred the console. OPNSense runs circles around it and I don't miss using the console.

At one point I had the ERL, a UniFi 24 PoE switch, and two AC Pro AP's. The switch was a joke. Now I'm down to just the APs, but I'm getting the urge to replace those too so I can ditch the POS UniFi controller.

Is WiFi 6 a worthwhile upgrade over 802.11ac if I already have good coverage with multiple APs?

Only if you have a lot of WiFi6 devices, and chances are you don't because there's not a lot of chipsets on the market

# ¿ Apr 21, 2021 04:54

text editor: Jan 8, 2007

Kreeblah posted:

I got a couple of used R710s to replace my AC HD APs, and after reflashing them with the Unleashed firmware (it's free from CommScope/Ruckus and has nearly all the features of the regular one, but you don't need a separate controller, don't need a maintenance contract/software license to use/update them, and have a max of 25 APs you can have in the network), they've been pretty good. I used to have drops when migrating between APs with my Unifi gear (I'm guessing something with their 802.11r/v/k implementations), but with the Ruckus APs, I can be connected to a meeting over my work VPN, and it will just seamlessly transfer. Plus the range is pretty great. I'm sure my neighbors hate me, but I can get a usable signal all the way down the block. Their proprietary antenna magic really does seem to do something worthwhile.

There have only really been two downsides so far. One of them has to do with the very latest Unleashed firmware for them (200.9.10.4.233). I was getting kernel panics on it, so I had to use the immediately prior build (200.9.10.4.212) instead. Supposedly, it has something to do with having wifi calling prioritization enabled on that build, so if I really cared, I could try turning that off and upgrading again to test, but I haven't really cared enough to do that since they're apparently working on fixing it for the next release.

The other issue has to do with me living in a condo complex with lots of neighbors. If I turn on the option to have the APs automatically select the best channels to use, they sometimes switch multiple times a minute just due to how congested things are here, which dumps all the connected clients on the AP while that happens. So, unless I move somewhere else that's less congested, I just can't use that feature.

I know when I got my Ruckus switch that the servethehome thread that gave me the idea to buy one had a recommended firmware for that a few versions back. probably the same for most equipment

# ¿ Apr 30, 2021 14:14

text editor: Jan 8, 2007

astral posted:

Is it wired for telephones, by chance?

My townhouse does (Cat5e) but I cannot find the white recessed media box it all should be wired to anywhere - my neighbors across the street showed me a picture of theirs in the garage, but I'm almost wondering if contractors put it in an adjacent unit

Even though contactors use cat5 for these things, they still sometimes do weird poo poo with it

# ¿ Jul 26, 2021 16:45

text editor: Jan 8, 2007

Sous Videodrome posted:

I want to run a network cable from my basement to the upstairs. The basement is currently unfinished but I'm going to finish the walls later this year. I have fiber internet. The fiber cable runs in through the basement wall and connects to the modem. The modem connects to the router. I want to run the network cable upstairs to run a second router for better wifi signal upstairs.

1. What sort of faceplate should I plan on using for the fiber cable where it comes through the finished basement wall to connect to the modem? A brush plate? Or should I get something else and terminate the cable at the faceplate behind the wall, then use another cable to connect the faceplate to the modem? I'd prefer to avoid messing with the fiber cable as I've heard they are fragile.

2. What kind of setup should I have for the network connection between the upstairs router and the modem downstairs?
I have an amazon basics cat6 that's long enough. I could just run it through brush plates at both ends. Or if it's worth it I could get better cable and terminate it at real faceplates both upstairs and downstairs, and then plug into those using short male-male cables. What's the best practice here?

This sounds vaguely like my parent's house - I can write more about it later, but can you show us what this "fiber modem" is? Whether it's an ONT or something else you'll probably be best off having that be where the fiber ends in your house so you only have to deal with Cat6 after that. Unless it's in a truly terrible place, that can probably stay put.

AT&T put my parent's ONT in their garage and ran Cat5e from it to the media box in their bedroom closet, so I gave them a dumb cheap APC UPS to sit in their garage to do battery backup, fully expecting that summer or winter will kill it eventually.

My dad called me one day saying internet was down, when I went there I found he was drywalling the garage and while he didn't unplug the ONT, he did unmount it from the wall and let it dangle by the fiber, curbing is past the point where it broke internally. Had to have AT&T resplice it

# ¿ Jul 26, 2021 17:52

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# ¿ Apr 25, 2024 10:22

text editor: Jan 8, 2007

don't connect to your home poo poo with your work pc. buy a shot box laptop and drag it in with you and VPN from that, but don't build some tunnel from you work pc do your home desktop

if I need to do home poo poo at work, I find a way to make it work on my phone. And when I do work from home, the work laptop gets it's own isolated VLAN that cannot route to the others

keep that poo poo separate

# ¿ Sep 8, 2021 00:29

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The Home Networking Megathread - Yes the OP is out of date