# Building Home Network Suggestions ?



## Durvelle27 (Jan 12, 2021)

What's up fellow TPUers 

Need a little nudge in the right direction in terms of building a strong dedicated network at home. The plan is to have dedicated wiring to all rooms and a strong WIFI signal through out. For my ISP I have Xfinity with the Unlimited Gigabit Pro plan which is 1000/1000.

In my head the idea is to run 4 Cat6 cables to each room total 6 rooms for devices that beenfit from wire (ie. Consoles and desktops).In terms of wiring is Cat6 ideal or is it better to go Cat6a.

For all the connectivity I'd be using a Dell Power Connect 24 port Gigabit 1U Switch. I don't have a patch panel but is one really needed ?

I'm also going to use a 1U Supermicro Server to handle our storage or transcoding for Plex

I guess what has me really hung up is wireless. There are so many different routers out there all flashy but what is a decent router that offers good coverage and is AX compatible. The plan is to use my XB7 Router and a second router in conjunction to cover the whole house


----------



## Kursah (Jan 12, 2021)

Congrats on getting into this! I can't wait to do the same in the future.

I'd look at a decent router option, be it from Ubiquiti, Netgate/pfSense (or build your own pfSense or opnsense box), SonicWALL, Sophos, etc., don't get a combo unit. I would bypass the XB7 (assuming that's the ISP unit?) and see if you can either:

A. Have them provide a modem only or you provide a modem only solution that they allow on their network.
B. If they want to keep the modem/router combo, have them enable bridge-mode so that your provided router is the acting gateway for your network. 

Running two routers in a row presents a double-NAT situation which could lead to some broken sessions, routes, etc. More often these days its all pretty transparent and error-free, but can add latency and issues not as easily diagnosed when one forgets a double-NAT environment exists. Try to avoid it and you'll avoid potential future headaches. I also find ISP-provided routers are woefully insufficient for gateway security, QoS, routing, and generally only do basic port forwarding. Get something decent. 

For home-use I prefer Ubiquity gateways or pfSense/opnsense options. I personally built an m-ITX system that's my pfSense router. Cost me about $350 back in 2016, still runs like a champ, I have extra security and filtering stuff enabled, doesn't even skip a beat. I decided to leave the wifi stuff out of it and go separate. Its nice management-wise to have that separated. The router can still be the DHCP server and DNS relay for the LAN and WiFI. But say the WiFi fails, at least your Ethernet still works, sometimes with combos, if one component fails, the entire device fails...which I've had happen to me. Also most all-in-one router/wifi combos are usually insufficient in processing power, wifi strength, security and overall packet throughput and performance. You want to maximize that gigabit WAN, you'll likely want more business-grade hardware that's built for that kind of bandwidth. Fortunately Ubiquity and pfSense gear is generally more affordable than the likes of Cisco, SonicWALL, Sophos, Fortinet, etc.

Good wifi coverage comes from having a good wifi system. Depending on the size of your house, dedicated wireless access points or even a decent mesh system will ensure you have the coverage you need. Separating it physically from the router is a good idea IMHO if you're going into this sort of home poweruser network territory. A cool thing would be having a PoE (Power over Ethernet) switch to power the AP's through the Ethernet cables, 1 cable for data and power makes installs nicer.

The switch should suffice quite nicely for home-use for a long time. 

I do recommend doing it right and using a patch panel. You label/number the runs on the panel, and that keeps things clean, organized. Patch cables 1'-3' are dirt cheap or easy to make if you have the time. You can use different colors to identify different things like WAN, WiFi, workstation, etc. Check out r/homelab if you want to see some crazy setups.

It really depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go, how much work you want to do now and maintain later, some things you skimp on now could cost you in time and money later, or maybe not at all until you move. 

I like using Ubiquity UniFi HD and nano-HD access points, they're reliable, affordable (when considering they're business/education-grade), and easy to manage. You will need a separate device or virtual appliance to manage them, but that's really not a big deal since you'll have a rack mounted server. I would assume you're running virtualization? 

Have you considered backup solutions for that server as well? Better safe than sorry.

I know this post probably didn't help all that much, but hopefully it gives you some ideas and spurs some more questions so you can make your plan that much more clear when you go to act on it. 

Also @Solaris17 is an excellent resource in this area.


----------



## xrobwx71 (Jan 12, 2021)

Whats the budget for the router?


----------



## kayjay010101 (Jan 12, 2021)

Are two routers necessary? Would a secondary access point not be the better solution? I use a ubiquiti unify ac-lr for our downstairs (and one upstairs) and it works great. PfSense box handles router-duties


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 12, 2021)

Kursah said:


> Congrats on getting into this! I can't wait to do the same in the future.
> 
> I'd look at a decent router option, be it from Ubiquiti, Netgate/pfSense (or build your own pfSense or opnsense box), SonicWALL, Sophos, etc., don't get a combo unit. I would bypass the XB7 (assuming that's the ISP unit?) and see if you can either:
> 
> ...


To my knowledge Comcast doesn't offer just a modem only the Modem/Router Combo
Bridge Mode can be enabled by me no need to call up the ISP

And I chose to use their Combo as its cheaper. With using their modem I receive unlimited data versus if I use my own I have to pay extra for it and it get's costly when you exceed over a TB every month



xrobwx71 said:


> Whats the budget for the router?


I'd say no more than $500



kayjay010101 said:


> Are two routers necessary? Would a secondary access point not be the better solution? I use a ubiquiti unify ac-lr for our downstairs (and one upstairs) and it works great. PfSense box handles router-duties


Not necessary i just did it to work like a mesh but the router I have now is old and is crapping out. the XB7 wifi is decent but doesn't have a strong reach due to the internal antennas


----------



## phill (Jan 12, 2021)

Subbing as I need to do a bit of thinking when I move home and this might be a good place to start


----------



## Solaris17 (Jan 12, 2021)

I think @Kursah really hit it. I would go with opnsense or ubiquiti and would reccomend access points from the same as opposed to a router.

If you have already ran into reach issues with halfway decent equipment then more of the same wont fix it. The idea here is more coverage not amplifying the broadcast.

I think you would be happier with this setup in the long run, as its more modular should something fail, but more importantly, its more easily adjusted if you want the stack in a different room, or decide to move house all together.

As for a patch panel, I couldn't agree more. They are needed imo. Always. Not only is it ok to pass POE through them, but the idea isnt just cable management, its longevity.

If you have cables running through your wall and you are unplugging replugging, or have weight on the ends you have and are likely to break a cable that lives in a wall.

Instead of capping a cable ran through the wall and using it on actual devices, you punch it down into a patch panel, this way the only cables you interface with are the small patch cables, if those go bad NBD.





the 2.5gb/s port means jack shit here but I am going to assume you already knew that.


----------



## xrobwx71 (Jan 12, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> To my knowledge Comcast doesn't offer just a modem only the Modem/Router Combo
> Bridge Mode can be enabled by me no need to call up the ISP
> 
> And I chose to use their Combo as its cheaper. With using their modem I receive unlimited data versus if I use my own I have to pay extra for it and it get's costly when you exceed over a TB every month
> ...


It looks like others have filled in the blanks with some sound advice! I hope you get it sorted.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 13, 2021)

Solaris17 said:


> I think @Kursah really hit it. I would go with opnsense or ubiquiti and would reccomend access points from the same as opposed to a router.
> 
> If you have already ran into reach issues with halfway decent equipment then more of the same wont fix it. The idea here is more coverage not amplifying the broadcast.
> 
> ...


Any specific model

interms of router I wouldn’t say what I have is decent. One of them is a pretty low end TP link router. It can’t handle a lot of trafficing before speeds start tanking 

Alright looking at the Monoprice Cat6 24 Port Patch Panel


----------



## Solaris17 (Jan 13, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> Any specific model
> 
> interms of router I wouldn’t say what I have is decent. One of them is a pretty low end TP link router. It can’t handle a lot of trafficing before speeds start tanking
> 
> Alright looking at the Monoprice Cat6 24 Port Patch Panel



You mentioned you have a server and you have a switch. Do you have like a little 1/4 rack to put this all in? To be honest, I would connect everything to to the switch if possible, Inter network traffic the switch will handle. It's a misconception that all traffic transverses the router. I don't even have my router giving out IPs or doing my DNS.

My router is literally just a link to the internet. My WAN cable goes to my fiber box on the side of the house. Then I have the downlink cable to my core switch.

I mention this so you can think about capacity, or lack thereof. You can get a route with a few ports or you can get one with literally 2. First, where do you want to put it? Can it be rack mounted?


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 13, 2021)

Solaris17 said:


> You mentioned you have a server and you have a switch. Do you have like a little 1/4 rack to put this all in? To be honest, I would connect everything to to the switch if possible, Inter network traffic the switch will handle. It's a misconception that all traffic transverses the router. I don't even have my router giving out IPs or doing my DNS.
> 
> My router is literally just a link to the internet. My WAN cable goes to my fiber box on the side of the house. Then I have the downlink cable to my core switch.
> 
> I mention this so you can think about capacity, or lack thereof. You can get a route with a few ports or you can get one with literally 2. First, where do you want to put it? Can it be rack mounted?



Yes the server is mostly for media and storage and the switch is unmanaged 

I plan to have everything installed in a 12U rack

So if I’m following

I can do it like this


----------



## 1freedude (Jan 13, 2021)

Subbed.  I need ideas for my new (very old) house that has Fios on order.

Just for another thought....has MoCA entered the picture at all?  My network will include coax, but not for cable TV.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 13, 2021)

1freedude said:


> Subbed.  I need ideas for my new (very old) house that has Fios on order.
> 
> Just for another thought....has MoCA entered the picture at all?  My network will include coax, but not for cable TV.


From my understanding Mocs is only used for X1 TV

Or


----------



## 1freedude (Jan 13, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> From my understanding Mocs is only used for X1 TV


Right on.  I'm gonna do it strictly for academics, as the lan side of moca will be 2.5 Gbps.  

Might be fun to put in a few adapters to experiment.  From what I gather, MoCA is really smart, and won't interfere with other services on the coax.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 13, 2021)

So as you guys said to utilize a access point instead of a router

I'm looking at the

Ubiquiti UniFi 6 Long Range Access Point. It's currently available for preorder for $179. I can't find anything to see how much it can cover but if it's long range I assume it should cover a decent amount. I'm looking to Cover about 3200SQft with 2 Stories.


----------



## v12dock (Jan 13, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> So as you guys said to utilize a access point instead of a router
> 
> I'm looking at the
> 
> Ubiquiti UniFi 6 Long Range Access Point. It's currently available for preorder for $179. I can't find anything to see how much it can cover but if it's long range I assume it should cover a decent amount. I'm looking to Cover about 3200SQft with 2 Stories.



I have a Unifi 6 LR on my main floor and a AC Pro in my basement running at a lower TX signal. The speeds on the UI 6 are great but i'm not sure if I would recommend it covering 3200 sqft. The signal gets a bit wonky when i'm in my basement and outside in my backyard. I do make A LOT of VoIP calls with my job working from home(basement) and they super sensitive to wifi signal issues. All of that I still would recommend the UI 6 like I said the speeds are great and it has zero problems handling 20+ clients on multiple SSIDs with VLANed traffic.

I use a Untangle router I built and it has zero problems handling my 400/100 connection.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 13, 2021)

v12dock said:


> I have a Unifi 6 LR on my main floor and a AC Pro in my basement running at a lower TX signal. The speeds on the UI 6 are great but i'm not sure if I would recommend it covering 3200 sqft. The signal gets a bit wonky when i'm in my basement and outside in my backyard. I do make A LOT of VoIP calls with my job working from home(basement) and they super sensitive to wifi signal issues. All of that I still would recommend the UI 6 like I said the speeds are great and it has zero problems handling 20+ clients on multiple SSIDs with VLANed traffic.
> 
> I use a Untangle router I built and it has zero problems handling my 400/100 connection.


How did you get the 6 as it shows Pre-order only right now and it won't be available until the end of the month


----------



## v12dock (Jan 13, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> How did you get the 6 as it shows Pre-order only right now and it won't be available until the end of the month



I am in their early access program. There is a sticking on the back that says "beta".


----------



## Kursah (Jan 13, 2021)

Solaris17 said:


> You mentioned you have a server and you have a switch. Do you have like a little 1/4 rack to put this all in? To be honest, I would connect everything to to the switch if possible, Inter network traffic the switch will handle. It's a misconception that all traffic transverses the router. I don't even have my router giving out IPs or doing my DNS.
> 
> My router is literally just a link to the internet. My WAN cable goes to my fiber box on the side of the house. Then I have the downlink cable to my core switch.
> 
> I mention this so you can think about capacity, or lack thereof. You can get a route with a few ports or you can get one with literally 2. First, where do you want to put it? Can it be rack mounted?



Yep same. I manage a domain that hosts my DHCP, DNS, etc. My pfsense router is my gateway, DNS and IP filter via pfBlockerNG (and OpenDNS forwarders), Snort filtering, OpenVPN server, Squid cache used for logging, etc. It all connects to my core switch. At some point I'll get a true rack, at the moment I'm on a dad budget so I gotta "run whatcha brung" approach this thing for a few more years lol.



Durvelle27 said:


> So as you guys said to utilize a access point instead of a router
> 
> I'm looking at the
> 
> Ubiquiti UniFi 6 Long Range Access Point. It's currently available for preorder for $179. I can't find anything to see how much it can cover but if it's long range I assume it should cover a decent amount. I'm looking to Cover about 3200SQft with 2 Stories.



I believe Unifi LR AP's have a range up to 600ft where standard AP's are up to 400-450ft. But it appears they stopped advertising and listing specs that way.

The UniFi Nano-HD has a transmission rate of 23 dBm on 2.4GHz with 2X2, and 26dBm on 5GHz with 4x4. This newer UniFi 6 LR AP has a TX rate of 26 dBm on 2.4Ghz with 4x4, and 26dBm on 5GHz with 4x4, so it will definitely have a farther reach through walls and in general on the 2.4 range. More powerful processor and updated antennas should help with overall range too I would imagine.

For your square square footage, I would probably go with two AP's if you want full indoor coverage and some outdoor coverage, maybe even a third depending on if you have a garage or deck/patio that gets subpar signal that you want to improve.

I always try to go for the opposing side/floor too. Say the upstairs AP goes into a room on the East side of the home, the ground floor AP would then go in a West side room. They are omni directional, and in most cases that provides decent coverage, you can also use this to leverage if you have a West side garage or driveway or East side deck/yardspace that needs coverage.. You may want to do some mock mounting to optimize where you end up putting them. There are plenty of free Android apps for WiFi signal strength tests so you can do your own wireless site survey and adjustments.

Once you have the optimal placements, you can do your drops and permanent mounting.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 13, 2021)

v12dock said:


> I am in their early access program. There is a sticking on the back that says "beta".


Now that makes perfect sense



Kursah said:


> Yep same. I manage a domain that hosts my DHCP, DNS, etc. My pfsense router is my gateway, DNS and IP filter via pfBlockerNG (and OpenDNS forwarders), Snort filtering, OpenVPN server, Squid cache used for logging, etc. It all connects to my core switch. At some point I'll get a true rack, at the moment I'm on a dad budget so I gotta "run whatcha brung" approach this thing for a few more years lol.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


So if i go 2 APs, would the Unifi 6 Lite be better with 2

here’s an example I presume of the 2 options 

option 1: 1 AP





Option 2: 2 APs




These are for the first level


----------



## windwhirl (Jan 13, 2021)

Bookmarked. I only have 2 PCs and a phone, but what the hell, too many good ideas here.

And I've been dreaming of overpowered and overbuilt (for my case) network setups since forever lol


----------



## Kursah (Jan 13, 2021)

If you're going to do one AP, I'd suggest the beefier Unifi HD, yes it's $360, but it competes with $800 AP's. I would mount it centrally on the second floor and test.

Otherwise, if you want to go with a couple of lites, or nano-HD's, I'd do one per floor and test.

So like Option 2, but one of the AP's would be on the other floor still on the opposing side of the house. This ensures fuller coverage in my experience. Testing is key, especially if you have an older house that's been remodeled a few times and has some hidden brick and mortar or other materials that are harder for wifi signals to penetrate. 

Going with the AP 6 Lites, you might still be fine going one per floor. I would think 2AP's that close on the same floor would cause some issues with devices switching AP's, which can be an issue at times. Lowering TX signal strength can help here, but obviously will also mean degraded signal in some areas which may or may not matter. Again, best to adjust and test for best results.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 13, 2021)

Kursah said:


> If you're going to do one AP, I'd suggest the beefier Unifi HD, yes it's $360, but it competes with $800 AP's. I would mount it centrally on the second floor and test.
> 
> Otherwise, if you want to go with a couple of lites, or nano-HD's, I'd do one per floor and test.
> 
> ...


Looking at specs

isn't the UniHD and new Uni 6 LR the same in terms of range


But to sum it up

i need

Patch Panel
Cat6
AP(S)

and that's it


----------



## v12dock (Jan 13, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> Now that makes perfect sense
> 
> 
> So if i go 2 APs, would the Unifi 6 Lite be better with 2
> ...



I would run with two AP and tune the TX as necessary. I believe 802.11k/r are supported with unifi as well.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 13, 2021)

So is this all I need


1. Modem (I'll use the XB7 in Bridge Mode)
2. Access Point (Undecided)
3. Patch Panel (Ordering the Monoprice 24port Cat6 Panel)
4. Switch (I have the Dell Power Connect 2724)
5. Cat6 Cable
6. Accessories (Keystones, Wall Plates, etc..)




v12dock said:


> I would run with two AP and tune the TX as necessary. I believe 802.11k/r are supported with unifi as well.


With Ubiqiuiti there are so many choices, The Unifi LR 6 and Unifi Lite 6 are the newest models that support Wifi 6 which my devices do support


----------



## Kursah (Jan 14, 2021)

What router are you going with?

You can go with the latest and greatest, there's just a risk you'll have to endure growing pains, bugs and wait for fixes. Not all that dissimilar to newly released video games. Ubiquiti is no saint in this department, great hardware but software & firmware can take a year or two to catch up and provide the hardware's potential at times. That being said, bang for the buck is still there.

The UniFi HD is a bigger AP, bigger antennas so while it might be the same dB TX signal, having a better antenna array might make the difference. That being said, I have 0 experience with the AP 6 line and thus haven't been able to directly compare. I can attest that the nanoHD and HD are solid in my experiences with them.

Monoprice patch panels are great too, that'll be worth it. Get a punchdown tool and CAT45 crimper with some CAT45 tips too, which you may already have or planned on.

Looks like you're getting sorted!


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 14, 2021)

Kursah said:


> What router are you going with?
> 
> You can go with the latest and greatest, there's just a risk you'll have to endure growing pains, bugs and wait for fixes. Not all that dissimilar to newly released video games. Ubiquiti is no saint in this department, great hardware but software & firmware can take a year or two to catch up and provide the hardware's potential at times. That being said, bang for the buck is still there.
> 
> ...


I haven’t chose I router my thought process is router equals WiFi 

I’ll look into the Unifi HD, at the price point I’d only be able to get one though vs 2. I wish the UnifiHD was WiFi 6 though as it’s more future proof 

Yea I ordered the Monoprice 24 Port Patch Panel, 200 Cat6 Connectors, Keystones, Wall plates, and 500ft Cat6 Sold Pure Bare Copper

I have some old hardware laying around, Do you guys think that a AMD A8 can run pfsense


----------



## kayjay010101 (Jan 14, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> I have some old hardware laying around, Do you guys think that a AMD A8 can run pfsense


None of the A8 processors supported AES-NI instructions, so you'd not be able to update. The latest update was supposed to cut off support for processors without AES-NI but it's still supported for processors without them, but subsequent updates will probably remove support for non-AES-NI procs. So I wouldn't recommend doing PfSense on an A8 as you'd be limited to the current update and it's still recommend even for the current update to have AES-NI support. You can technically do it though.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 14, 2021)

kayjay010101 said:


> None of the A8 processors supported AES-NI instructions, so you'd not be able to update. The latest update was supposed to cut off support for processors without AES-NI but it's still supported for processors without them, but subsequent updates will probably remove support for non-AES-NI procs. So I wouldn't recommend doing PfSense on an A8 as you'd be limited to the current update and it's still recommend even for the current update to have AES-NI support. You can technically do it though.


From what I can dig up for AMD

"
Several AMD processors support AES instructions:


Jaguar processors and newer
Puma processors and newer
"Heavy Equipment" processors
Bulldozer processors[10]
Piledriver processors
Steamroller processors
Excavator processors and newer

Zen (and later) based processors
"

The AMD A8-5500 Is based on Piledriver ie Trinity


Extensions and Technologies
MMX instructions
Extensions to MMX
SSE / Streaming SIMD Extensions
SSE2 / Streaming SIMD Extensions 2
SSE3 / Streaming SIMD Extensions 3
SSSE3 / Supplemental Streaming SIMD Extensions 3
SSE4 / SSE4.1 + SSE4.2 / Streaming SIMD Extensions 4  ? 
SSE4a  ? 
*AES / Advanced Encryption Standard instructions*
AVX / Advanced Vector Extensions
BMI1 / Bit Manipulation instructions 1
F16C / 16-bit Floating-Point conversion instructions
FMA3 / 3-operand Fused Multiply-Add instructions
FMA4 / 4-operand Fused Multiply-Add instructions
TBM / Trailing Bit Manipulation instructions
XOP / eXtended Operations instructions
AMD64 / AMD 64-bit technology  ? 
AMD-V / AMD Virtualization technology
Turbo Core 3.0 technology
Security Features
EVP / Enhanced Virus Protection




What's even crazier I have this CPU installed in a case already that just so happens to be rack mountable (Silverstone GD09). What are the odss


----------



## kayjay010101 (Jan 14, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> From what I can dig up for AMD
> 
> "
> Several AMD processors support AES instructions:
> ...


My bad! I checked wikichip and saw "AES" without the NI part and thought they were different, but after some googling they're interchangeable. That will indeed work for PfSense then!


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 14, 2021)

kayjay010101 said:


> My bad! I checked wikichip and saw "AES" without the NI part and thought they were different, but after some googling they're interchangeable. That will indeed work for PfSense then!


Does Pfsense require alot of CPU power or is it more it just cares about Cores


----------



## kayjay010101 (Jan 14, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> Does Pfsense require alot of CPU power or is it more it just cares about Cores


What are you going to use it for apart from regular home network use? 
My pfsense is in a VM with 4 threads from a e5-2450L (so practically a dual-core at 1.7GHz), and sits at below 5% CPU usage even when I'm maxing out my 300mbps internet connection. Granted I haven't used any VPN service or anything else heavy, but in my experience pfsense will run on practically anything without any issues.


----------



## Kursah (Jan 14, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> Does Pfsense require alot of CPU power or is it more it just cares about Cores



Depends on what you're running. If you want to run things like Snort, pfBlockerNG, Squid, multiple VLANs here instead of a managed switch, etc. it'll appreciate decent CPU power. That being said, mine runs an Intel Celeron n3150 4-core, and it handles everything fine, rarely loads much beyond 10-20%. Most Netgates under $500 don't have that much processing power and deploying them at many sites of various sizes + Snort & pfBlockerNG for some, haven't had any issues. I run my virtual pfSense with 1CPU thread and 512MB RAM, no issues, in-fact at one point I forgot I was testing it in-place of my hardware pfSense for a few months when testing routing and VLANS in my home lab a few years ago.

My hardware pfSense has the N3150, 8GB DDR3 1600, 120GB SSD (Squid cache uses 60GB of it), Intel Pro1000 2-port NIC, Asus N3150-C board and a low power ITX PSU. It depends on what you plan to do. My hardware's been going for 5 years now and its still solid enough I'm not looking to replace it yet. 

For your network w/o extra security filtering and modules, an equivalent to the SG-3100 or maybe even SG-1100 would suffice, both are low-power dual cores. 

If you have an old PC kicking around, it'll likely do the trick. That's how many folks start down the pfSense/opnsense rabbit hole.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 14, 2021)

kayjay010101 said:


> What are you going to use it for apart from regular home network use?
> My pfsense is in a VM with 4 threads from a e5-2450L (so practically a dual-core at 1.7GHz), and sits at below 5% CPU usage even when I'm maxing out my 300mbps internet connection. Granted I haven't used any VPN service or anything else heavy, but in my experience pfsense will run on practically anything without any issues.


Just my network. I haven't gotten into VM or VPNs as of yet



Kursah said:


> Depends on what you're running. If you want to run things like Snort, pfBlockerNG, Squid, multiple VLANs here instead of a managed switch, etc. it'll appreciate decent CPU power. That being said, mine runs an Intel Celeron n3150 4-core, and it handles everything fine, rarely loads much beyond 10-20%. Most Netgates under $500 don't have that much processing power and deploying them at many sites of various sizes + Snort & pfBlockerNG for some, haven't had any issues. I run my virtual pfSense with 1CPU thread and 512MB RAM, no issues, in-fact at one point I forgot I was testing it in-place of my hardware pfSense for a few months when testing routing and VLANS in my home lab a few years ago.
> 
> My hardware pfSense has the N3150, 8GB DDR3 1600, 120GB SSD (Squid cache uses 60GB of it), Intel Pro1000 2-port NIC, Asus N3150-C board and a low power ITX PSU. It depends on what you plan to do. My hardware's been going for 5 years now and its still solid enough I'm not looking to replace it yet.
> 
> ...


My switch is not managed (PowerConnect 2724) but everything you just mentioned went right over my head as I'm no network guru so pretty new to this.

The hardware i have is already built and like mentioned its actually in a rack mountable case (I literally just found that out). The Hardware is a AMD A8-5500, Samsung 8GB DDR3 1600, Sandisk 256GB SSD, and a 450w PSU. Everything already in the case. It was a old HTPC I used before retiring it.


----------



## Kursah (Jan 14, 2021)

Snort = IDS/IPS = Intrusion Detection and Intrusion Prevention System, constantly scans network traffic against policies and filters to block malicious traffic.
Squid = Web cache, proxy, access log
pfBlockerNG = DNS and IP filter, can also do geo-IP filtering, is quite effective, also works well as a built-in ad-blocker for your LAN.
VLAN = Virtual LAN, you can have multiple subnets (192.168.100.0, 10.0.3.0, 192.168.1.0, etc) on the same infrastructure (hardware and wifi deployment) for different purposes, one could be having stuff for a home lab on one subnet, guest wifi on another, home smart devices on another, etc. You can limit access to other VLAN subnets, provide only access to the Internet, etc. This is best to do at a switch but a router can do it as well, just has more processing overhead. A switch is designed to process tens of thousands of packets a second, a router looks deeper into packs and has to route them accordingly and by various policies, through various filters, layers of encryption, etc. so there's more overhead and slowdowns at the router-level in some cases...not as often in home use small networks tho.

None of those descriptions may help, but hopefully do a little bit. 

That HTPC will work just fine as a pf or opnsense box probably for years.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 14, 2021)

Kursah said:


> Snort = IDS/IPS = Intrusion Detection and Intrusion Prevention System, constantly scans network traffic against policies and filters to block malicious traffic.
> Squid = Web cache, proxy, access log
> pfBlockerNG = DNS and IP filter, can also do geo-IP filtering, is quite effective, also works well as a built-in ad-blocker for your LAN.
> VLAN = Virtual LAN, you can have multiple subnets (192.168.100.0, 10.0.3.0, 192.168.1.0, etc) on the same infrastructure (hardware and wifi deployment) for different purposes, one could be having stuff for a home lab on one subnet, guest wifi on another, home smart devices on another, etc. You can limit access to other VLAN subnets, provide only access to the Internet, etc. This is best to do at a switch but a router can do it as well, just has more processing overhead. A switch is designed to process tens of thousands of packets a second, a router looks deeper into packs and has to route them accordingly and by various policies, through various filters, layers of encryption, etc. so there's more overhead and slowdowns at the router-level in some cases...not as often in home use small networks tho.
> ...


Is there a difference between opnsense and pfsense

Since i have the HTPC i can install either and play around with it. Just need to find a nic

Is this NIC good

Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter I350-T2V2​or​Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X540-T2​


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 14, 2021)

So far this is what I have gathered 

1. XB7 in Bridgemode
2.Custom PFsense Box (I need to find a NIC card)
3. MonoPrice Patch Panel
4. MonoPrice Solid CAT6
5. Dell Power Connect 2724 Switch
6. Ubiquiti Unifi 6 AP lite (2 Units)


----------



## Kursah (Jan 14, 2021)

I prefer pfSense only because I want to eek a sharp edge on managing it for our clients, but opnsense is a little better for users overall and provides a lot of the stuff pfSense does with a better UI, and less monetized support. I haven't spent as much time with opnsense, but as @Solaris17 attests to, in quite a few use-case situations it is the better solution and easier to get into. pfSense is still a solid option IMHO, and I implore folks to try both and decide for themselves.

I may run opnsense someday if we stop selling/supporting Netgate pfSense appliances, but at this point we sell and support lots of them, and the quirks and issues I see at a higher level you'll likely never run into in your use-case. 

List looks good.

As-far-as the NIC's I'm sure they'll work, pfSense has been really good about supporting Intel NIC's but they've really increased support for broadcom and realtek in recent years. Back in 2016 when I first deployed my home pfSense build the Realtek NIC on my Asus N3150-C wasn't even visible, now it is. I don't use it because I have the intel 2-port NIC. But I can if I want to. So odds are you'll be fine.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 14, 2021)

Kursah said:


> I prefer pfSense only because I want to eek a sharp edge on managing it for our clients, but opnsense is a little better for users overall and provides a lot of the stuff pfSense does with a better UI, and less monetized support. I haven't spent as much time with opnsense, but as @Solaris17 attests to, in quite a few use-case situations it is the better solution and easier to get into. pfSense is still a solid option IMHO, and I implore folks to try both and decide for themselves.
> 
> I may run opnsense someday if we stop selling/supporting Netgate pfSense appliances, but at this point we sell and support lots of them, and the quirks and issues I see at a higher level you'll likely never run into in your use-case.
> 
> ...


Great

I got everything I need ordered than

So a huge facepalm

The switch I have is managed


----------



## Kursah (Jan 14, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> Great
> 
> I got everything I need ordered than
> 
> ...



Congrats and that's a good facepalm issue to have!


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 14, 2021)

Kursah said:


> Congrats and that's a good facepalm issue to have!


So how do I run

I presume like this


----------



## Kursah (Jan 15, 2021)

Patch panel between AP's, workstations, any wired runs, ports etc.

Modem >Patch Cable(s) > Router (OPNSense) > Patch Cable(s) >Backbone (Primary) Switch > Patch Cables > Patch Panel > Cable Runs > End-user Devices, Servers, AP's, IP phones, Keystones, etc.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 15, 2021)

Kursah said:


> Patch panel between AP's, workstations, any wired runs, ports etc.
> 
> Modem >Patch Cable(s) > Router (OPNSense) > Patch Cable(s) >Backbone (Primary) Switch > Patch Cables > Patch Panel > Cable Runs > End-user Devices, Servers, AP's, IP phones, Keystones, etc.


So like this


----------



## Kursah (Jan 15, 2021)

Yep that'll do it. Some folks do ALL connections through the patch panel, I don't. If its in the rack, its a direct connection, if its an infrastructure run (wire run) to other locations, I punch it down on the patch panel. So your map looks good to me.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 15, 2021)

Kursah said:


> Yep that'll do it. Some folks do ALL connections through the patch panel, I don't. If its in the rack, its a direct connection, if its an infrastructure run (wire run) to other locations, I punch it down on the patch panel. So your map looks good to me.


Sweet 

thank you guys for all the help


----------



## 300BaudBob (Jan 15, 2021)

If you are going to the trouble of running cable through walls or conduits than I'd go with best spec the budget can afford so you don't have to worry about it becoming a future weak point and then needing to run new cables.  Especially if you have long runs and/or noisy (as in stray RF) environment. Of course 6a or 7 need matching more expensive RJ45 etc.  But you'll be ready for future higher speeds should they ever become available at your location.  
But I'm biased as I hate cable running.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 15, 2021)

300BaudBob said:


> If you are going to the trouble of running cable through walls or conduits than I'd go with best spec the budget can afford so you don't have to worry about it becoming a future weak point and then needing to run new cables.  Especially if you have long runs and/or noisy (as in stray RF) environment. Of course 6a or 7 need matching more expensive RJ45 etc.  But you'll be ready for future higher speeds should they ever become available at your location.
> But I'm biased as I hate cable running.


But to my understanding Cat6 can handle upto 10Gb under 100ft so i don't think it would be much of a limitation as residential won't see those type of speeds for a very long time

But something that has hit me in the head, I'm looking for Keystones for the wall jacks and I'm seeing Cat5e, Cat6, and Cat 5e/6. Is there a difference if so why do some market both Cat5e & Cat6




Ubiquiti Order Placed


----------



## 300BaudBob (Jan 15, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> But to my understanding Cat6 can handle upto 10Gb under 100ft so i don't think it would be much of a limitation as residential won't see those type of speeds for a very long time
> 
> But something that has hit me in the head, I'm looking for Keystones for the wall jacks and I'm seeing Cat5e, Cat6, and Cat 5e/6. Is there a difference if so why do some market both Cat5e & Cat6
> 
> ...


Yeah 6 can handle 10... but 6a is better sheilded as I recall.  Anyway it was just some considerations it depends a lot on individual circumstances.
As far as I know all cat6 is also 5e compatible so if someone is charging more for a 6/5e vs. just 6 that would be a marketing ploy.
And 6e actually has a shorter rated distance for 10bT just to make things confusing.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 19, 2021)

Just some updates

my server came in today along with my keystones and 12U rack. Sadly the rack had to get returned. I bought it from Amazon and it came missing the 2 main rails.


----------



## OrlyP (Jan 19, 2021)

I also have a relatively big home network. I use a number of secondhand enterprise-grade equipment as they're typically more capable and oftentimes, cheaper, than consumer-grade ones.

Untangle HomePro NGFW on HP N40L
Cisco 3560G Layer-3 switch (VLANs and inter-VLAN routing)
Cisco 2621XM with CallManager Express (phone system)
Ubiquiti UniFi Access Points 

Pictures:
Full network diagram
VLAN Setup (Wired)
VLAN Setup (Wireless)


----------



## DrCR (Jan 19, 2021)

OP, just FYI, for those Ubiquiti Unifi APs, Ubiquiti makes it super easy to run the controller software on Ubuntu, if that's of interest to you.


----------



## kayjay010101 (Jan 19, 2021)

DrCR said:


> OP, just FYI, for those Ubiquiti Unifi APs, Ubiquiti makes it super easy to run the controller software on Ubuntu, if that's of interest to you.


Good shout, I run my controller on a debian VM. No real need for a dedicated controller box


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 19, 2021)

More piece arriving


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 20, 2021)

APs came in. I must say I’m so shocked by how small they are. I honestly thought they’d be bigger. I’m also sad they didn’t include Poe injectors


----------



## Kursah (Jan 20, 2021)

There's usually different Part Numbers for ones that come with PoE injectors. That's how they've done it in the past, so if you wanted to save $20-30.

Looks like the UniFi 6's, at least in their current phase don't include a PoE adapter or P/N for an UniFi 6 w/ PoE injector at this point. But if they follow their previous track record they will. Here's a snip from the product page:





Any standard PoE injector that pushes the above voltage and can handle that wattage load (which is pretty average) should be just fine. Or you could always get a PoE switch, but if its only for a couple AP's that's kind of a waste. If you were doing more with PoE for access control, NVR/Surveillance, IP phone, etc. then it'd make sense IMO.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 20, 2021)

Kursah said:


> There's usually different Part Numbers for ones that come with PoE injectors. That's how they've done it in the past, so if you wanted to save $20-30.
> 
> Looks like the UniFi 6's, at least in their current phase don't include a PoE adapter or P/N for an UniFi 6 w/ PoE injector at this point. But if they follow their previous track record they will. Here's a snip from the product page:
> 
> ...


I only have the 2 POE devices. Nothing else is POE


----------



## Kursah (Jan 20, 2021)

I've used many of these TPLink and they've been pretty solid little units. https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Passive-Injector-Ethernet-Supports/dp/B07JCB5XWF

Or you can get the Ubiquiti ones, they are solid as well: https://store.ui.com/collections/operator-accessories/products/poe-injector-48vdc-24w

Just make sure you get the 48v ones from them, their first gen AP's used 24v and so there's TONS of 24v PoE injectors out there. Won't harm your AP's, they just won't power on and you'll have to replace the injectors.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 20, 2021)

Kursah said:


> I've used many of these TPLink and they've been pretty solid little units. https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Passive-Injector-Ethernet-Supports/dp/B07JCB5XWF
> 
> Or you can get the Ubiquiti ones, they are solid as well: https://store.ui.com/collections/operator-accessories/products/poe-injector-48vdc-24w
> 
> Just make sure you get the 48v ones from them, their first gen AP's used 24v and so there's TONS of 24v PoE injectors out there. Won't harm your AP's, they just won't power on and you'll have to replace the injectors.


I don't like the price  


I was looking at this POE









						PoE Adapters
					

Ubiquiti PoE injectors that can power UniFi PoE, PoE+ or PoE++ devices with wireless mesh applications, or offload PoE switch power dependencies.




					store.ui.com


----------



## Kursah (Jan 20, 2021)

So if my maths are correct, output of 48v * 0.32A = 15.36W, you're coming up just over 1W short of the recommended wattage specifications.

802.3af standard is rated up to 15.5W iirc, and with the AP seeking more, you're pushing into PoE+ territory and the 802.3at-2009 or more recently 802.3-2012. Its easier to do the math to find the output than keep track of PoE and wifi standards lol!

Spend the extra few bucks and get the beefier PoE adapter. Odds are with that cheaper 802.3af one that it'll be fine, until its not. Then you'll have to order another one or a beefier one. Then you'll be spending another $20 instead of saving. Those adapters do work well in the right applications.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 20, 2021)

Kursah said:


> So if my maths are correct, output of 48v * 0.32A = 15.36W, you're coming up just over 1W short of the recommended wattage specifications.
> 
> 802.3af standard is rated up to 15.5W iirc, and with the AP seeking more, you're pushing into PoE+ territory and the 802.3at-2009 or more recently 802.3-2012. Its easier to do the math to find the output than keep track of PoE and wifi standards lol!
> 
> Spend the extra few bucks and get the beefier PoE adapter. Odds are with that cheaper 802.3af one that it'll be fine, until its not. Then you'll have to order another one or a beefier one. Then you'll be spending another $20 instead of saving. Those adapters do work well in the right applications.


I just looked back at your screen shot but it seems to be different specs

From my spec sheet this is what it shows


----------



## Kursah (Jan 20, 2021)

The specs I pulled were for the UniFi 6 LR, not the Lite which matches your screenshot above. Sorry I assumed you were still getting LR for some reason. With that in mind, 12W of consumption, the 802.3af injectors will work fine.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 20, 2021)

Kursah said:


> The specs I pulled were for the UniFi 6 LR, not the Lite which matches your screenshot above. Sorry I assumed you were still getting LR for some reason. With that in mind, 12W of consumption, the 802.3af injectors will work fine.


I changed my mind on the LR as alot of you guys said the LR would have interference issues in a normal neighborhood. So I opted to get multiple lites instead of LRs. And I steered from the HDs as the Antenna setups are nearly identical but the HD only supports WiFi 5


----------



## jeremyshaw (Jan 20, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> I changed my mind on the LR as alot of you guys said the LR would have interference issues in a normal neighborhood. So I opted to get multiple lites instead of LRs. And I steered from the HDs as the Antenna setups are nearly identical but the HD only supports WiFi 5


o.0 LR in WiFi 6 Unifi AP seems to be more analogous to the WiFi5/ac Unifi's HD, IMO. I'm probably wrong in that interpretation, though.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 20, 2021)

jeremyshaw said:


> o.0 LR in WiFi 6 Unifi AP seems to be more analogous to the WiFi5/ac Unifi's HD, IMO. I'm probably wrong in that interpretation, though.


I'm going to be honest

I have no clue about what you just said


----------



## Aht0s (Jan 26, 2021)

I might be late, but there is also Aruba Instant ON available as well for APs. No controller, cloud based. If you plan to add  PFSense, you can control https only to Aruba server and nothing else.
My AP and Ecobee are in the same VLAN as they are actively on the web. I just created separate rules for those devices. I have it at my brother's house so I don't have to drive there when he has issues, just pop the APP or https and look at what's going on. I don't think they are pricier than Ubiquiti and seeing you are in the states price should be competitive not so much here in Canada...


----------



## Durvelle27 (Jan 26, 2021)

More goodies


----------



## Durvelle27 (Feb 2, 2021)

It took a few days but I finally got opnsense installed. I could not get it to install as it kept erroring out. It would state the drive couldn’t mount with error 19. Luckily I found a thread describing how to get around it. Apparently the APU systems have an issue when trying to install from a USB 3.0 flash drive, but switching to a USB 2.0 drive and using the USB 2.0 port solved the issue


----------



## DrCR (Jun 10, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> issue when trying to install from a USB 3.0 flash drive, but switching to a USB 2.0 drive and using the USB 2.0 port solved the issue


Not the first time I've seen this, though I don't recall wherever else this may be encountered. Glad you got it sorted in the end. :thumbsup:


----------



## Durvelle27 (Sep 6, 2021)

Just wanted to give an update on this

This is the new layout diagram to get a much better idea


----------



## eidairaman1 (Sep 6, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> Just wanted to give an update on this
> 
> This is the new layout diagram to get a much better idea
> 
> View attachment 215741


I would suggest putting in "smart panels" with Cat 7 or 8 lines along with coax.

And then to the outside where your dsl/fiber/cable lines from the isp come.

Just remember, don't run the lines right along side power lines due to emi (induction) which increases attenuation in the lines), proper clip/staple distance (12 inches+) and dont pinch the lines or kink them, no sharp angles.

From 2013-2014, I worked for AT&T and the management were assholes

You can use 3M scotch locks which are a permenant strong terminating connector, otherwise get quality punch down blocks.

Known as a 66 Block.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Sep 7, 2021)

eidairaman1 said:


> I would suggest putting in "smart panels" with Cat 7 or 8 lines along with coax.
> 
> And then to the outside where your dsl/fiber/cable lines from the isp come.
> 
> ...


Could you enlighten me, What's a smart panel

And like mentioned before is CAT7 or CAT8 really worth it over CAT6 as at this point I bought all CAT6 material

And about the emi. I won't be running the cables an licensed electrician will be


----------



## TheLostSwede (Sep 7, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> Could you enlighten me, What's a smart panel
> 
> And like mentioned before is CAT7 or CAT8 really worth it over CAT6 as at this point I bought all CAT6 material
> 
> And about the emi. I won't be running the cables an licensed electrician will be


Cat 7 isn't part of the Ethernet standard and Cat 8 is just going to make it harder to install, as it'll be stiffer cables, so my at least my opinion on the matter is no, at least not over Cat 6a cabling.

EMI can be weird, but if you run shielded cables (STP rather than UTP) it should be fine in most normal cases.

And I think he means patch panels.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Sep 7, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> Cat 7 isn't part of the Ethernet standard and Cat 8 is just going to make it harder to install, as it'll be stiffer cables, so my at least my opinion on the matter is no, at least not over Cat 6a cabling.
> 
> EMI can be weird, but if you run shielded cables (STP rather than UTP) it should be fine in most normal cases.
> 
> And I think he means patch panels.


The cable I have is 1000FT CAT6 CMR UTP

I have a rack mount patch panel


----------



## TheLostSwede (Sep 7, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> The cable I have is 1000FT CAT6 CMR UTP
> 
> I have a rack mount patch panel


Right, that's what I have as well, but I hope you're aware that it can't do 10Gbps on runs longer than 55 meters? 
Not sure how long each of your cable runs will be.
I only have short runs in already existing metal pipe ducts, so no real EMI issues.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Sep 7, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> Right, that's what I have as well, but I hope you're aware that it can't do 10Gbps on runs longer than 55 meters?
> Not sure how long each of your cable runs will be.
> I only have short runs in already existing metal pipe ducts, so no real EMI issues.


10Gbps is no concern for me. My isp is only 1Gb and my in home server transfer rate doesn't have to be more than 5Gb


----------



## TheLostSwede (Sep 7, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> 10Gbps is no concern for me. My isp is only 1Gb and my in home server transfer rate doesn't have to be more than 5Gb


Future concern? It doesn't make sense to do it all over again in a few years.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Sep 7, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> Future concern? It doesn't make sense to do it all over again in a few years.


It will be years before anything will hit that point. I highly doubt 10Gbp will be accessible in residential in the next 10 years. Plus CAT6 is good for 10G upto 55 Meters. I don't think none of the runs will be over 100 feet.


----------



## TheLostSwede (Sep 7, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> It will be years before anything will hit that point. I highly doubt 10Gbp will be accessible in residential in the next 10 years. Plus CAT6 is good for 10G upto 55 Meters. I don't think none of the runs will be over 100 feet.


Eh? I'm using it right now and have for several years.
You can get 10Gbps cards for well under $100.
In fact, 5Gbps isn't worth touching.
You want affordable, 2.5Gbps is the way to go.
The main reason for this isn't even the cost for the add-in cards, but the switch cost.
2.5Gbps switches are already down to ~$200 for an eight port switch.
There are no 5Gbps and below switches that I'm aware of, so you'd still have to go 10Gbps/multigig.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Sep 7, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> Eh? I'm using it right now and have for several years.
> You can get 10Gbps cards for well under $100.
> In fact, 5Gbps isn't worth touching.
> You want affordable, 2.5Gbps is the way to go.
> ...


I guess my point is outside of server use you won't be using 10Gbp

Internet speed will still be based on ISP service


----------



## TheLostSwede (Sep 7, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> I guess my point is outside of server use you won't be using 10Gbp
> 
> Internet speed will still be based on ISP service


Sure, but what does internet speed have to to with your internal network speed?
I only have a 200Mbps internet connection, but I have a 10Gbps connection between this PC and my NAS, as it makes everything go faster between the two.


----------



## ThaiTaffy (Sep 7, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> Sure, but what does internet speed have to to with your internal network speed?
> I only have a 200Mbps internet connection, but I have a 10Gbps connection between this PC and my NAS, as it makes everything go faster between the two.


I held off posting on this thread because my networking knowledge isn't the greatest but what Swede had said above is the main point if your hoping to set up a home network to share files between a LAN your best going as fast as budget will allow this not only allows future proofing but if you have say 4 devices all trying to connect externally to the internet your limited to the bandwidth of one port do you really want to bottleneck your devices when who is to say in the next few years your ISP decides to quadruple your current DL/UL speeds


----------



## Durvelle27 (Sep 7, 2021)

TheLostSwede said:


> Sure, but what does internet speed have to to with your internal network speed?
> I only have a 200Mbps internet connection, but I have a 10Gbps connection between this PC and my NAS, as it makes everything go faster between the two.


It works both ways you build the network for both internal and external speeds. My internet connection is 1000Mbps. I don't have a NAS, but I do have a server. It's mostly for media editing and transcoding.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Sep 15, 2021)

Have to buy some more wall plates


----------



## Durvelle27 (Oct 12, 2021)

Welp I got lucky. Got some good finds today. Found a 4 Post Server Rack for $50 and 2x 1320W UPS for $40


----------



## Durvelle27 (Oct 12, 2021)

Welp getting everything installed into the rack.
Funny thing the switch I bought doesn’t actually fit so I just screwed in one side and the rest is being held up by the UPS under it. Which by the way weighs a freaking ton


----------



## thesmokingman (Oct 12, 2021)

Takes me back to the early years when I got my cisco, ms, novel certs. I think everyone goes thru that phase where you want stuff a server rack in your closet and shit.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Oct 13, 2021)

thesmokingman said:


> Takes me back to the early years when I got my cisco, ms, novel certs. I think everyone goes thru that phase where you want stuff a server rack in your closet and shit.


Ehhh wouldn’t call it a phase more so I actually need a strong dedicated network at home


----------



## ThaiTaffy (Oct 13, 2021)

This is costing me with every post @Durvelle27 although slightly more modest I'm in the process of deciding on a firewall I'm looking at pfsense but finding a cheap alternative available in Asia for the hardware is slightly difficult my options seem to be either a clone or some sort of biostar board. I'm trying to keep tdp to a minimum also bit some of the old server blades here seem very enticing.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Oct 13, 2021)

ThaiTaffy said:


> This is costing me with every post @Durvelle27 although slightly more modest I'm in the process of deciding on a firewall I'm looking at pfsense but finding a cheap alternative available in Asia for the hardware is slightly difficult my options seem to be either a clone or some sort of biostar board. I'm trying to keep tdp to a minimum also bit some of the old server blades here seem very enticing.


To run pfsense you don’t need epic hardware. I’m only using a A10 APU, 8GB RAM, and a 256GB SSD. Uses under 100W


----------



## ThaiTaffy (Oct 13, 2021)

Yep  I been looking at an A10


----------



## Durvelle27 (Oct 13, 2021)

ThaiTaffy said:


> Yep  I been looking at an A10
> View attachment 220681


That would actually work great but you would need a NIC as the integrated wouldn't work


----------



## ThaiTaffy (Oct 13, 2021)

Yep I know from what I read I need a intel one, only thing that's confusing me is the speeds when I look at the Netgate options what controls the massive difference in speed? Processor/ram? As far as a nic I'm looking at sfp ones so I can then wire my fibre in without the need for a media converter.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Oct 13, 2021)

ThaiTaffy said:


> Yep I know from what I read I need a intel one, only thing that's confusing me is the speeds when I look at the Netgate options what controls the massive difference in speed? Processor/ram? As far as a nic I'm looking at sfp ones so I can then wire my fibre in without the need for a media converter.


It doesn't have to be intel. Broadcom NICs work as well. Intel is just the preferred choice. Speed shouldn't be an issue as long as the NIC can keep up.

MY ISP is 1.2GBps and in home is 10GBps and I have no issues achieving my speeds.


----------



## ThaiTaffy (Oct 13, 2021)

Sorry getting my network os's mixed up it's truenas that requires intel I think


----------



## Durvelle27 (Oct 13, 2021)

ThaiTaffy said:


> Sorry getting my network os's mixed up it's truenas that requires intel I think


Ahhhh ok. I have no experience with that as I run Opensense, FreeNas, and Windows Server


----------



## ThaiTaffy (Oct 13, 2021)

If broadcom works with pfsense this is a good option it seems and extremely cheap at less than $30


----------



## Durvelle27 (Oct 13, 2021)

ThaiTaffy said:


> If broadcom works with pfsense this is a good option it seems and extremely cheap at less than $30
> 
> View attachment 220687


I’m not sure. I can’t find anything on compatibility


----------



## ThaiTaffy (Oct 14, 2021)

I might have just scrapped the idea of custom building a pfsense box scrolling through online I've found a supplier of dell poweredge r210 ii servers for less than the price of the biostar board. No need to buy a nic or anything else and the power consumption isn't too bad either a quick search online confirms it can be used so now it's time to look at where to put it and do I buy a rack or make one.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Oct 14, 2021)

ThaiTaffy said:


> I might have just scrapped the idea of custom building a pfsense box scrolling through online I've found a supplier of dell poweredge r210 ii servers for less than the price of the biostar board. No need to buy a nic or anything else and the power consumption isn't too bad either a quick search online confirms it can be used so now it's time to look at where to put it and do I buy a rack or make one.


Not a bad idea. I have a server with dual nics but I chose to use it only as a server and not routing/firewall


----------



## ThaiTaffy (Oct 14, 2021)

I'm an idiot when it comes to networking so I don't really understand why I would need a server. 

My plan is to just have of sense running off this dell blade mainly for my wife's sake (she earns the money and uses an online platform) then connect to a switch, which will connect my pc, the Nas, a Poe switch for cameras and a wireless access point. 

The details I'll work out as I go along my only fear is the instability of the power grid here so some form of smart ups which will allow me to shutdown and startup everything with a power outage is what I really need to research and understand.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Oct 16, 2021)

ThaiTaffy said:


> I'm an idiot when it comes to networking so I don't really understand why I would need a server.
> 
> My plan is to just have of sense running off this dell blade mainly for my wife's sake (she earns the money and uses an online platform) then connect to a switch, which will connect my pc, the Nas, a Poe switch for cameras and a wireless access point.
> 
> The details I'll work out as I go along my only fear is the instability of the power grid here so some form of smart ups which will allow me to shutdown and startup everything with a power outage is what I really need to research and understand.


Any standard ups should do that as long as it has the sufficient power

I’m using a 1320W for the server, modem, router, and Aps

and the second 1320W for my desktop


----------



## ThaiTaffy (Oct 16, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> Any standard ups should do that as long as it has the sufficient power
> 
> I’m using a 1320W for the server, modem, router, and Aps
> 
> and the second 1320W for my desktop


Sorry I meant to automatically power down systems at say 50%battery then restart when the power returns. I know most decent Ups's can do this via the com port but it's my lacking knowledge on it I'm more worried about.
 So I'm going to need to learn a complete new skillset as I've never done any actual networking past basic stuff.
For now it's all on hold till I get my Nas sorted as the idea of a server rack scares my wife so I need to let the proposal mull for some time until I either give her too many pros to dismiss or she takes it as her own idea and calls me stupid for not suggesting it earlier.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Oct 17, 2021)

ThaiTaffy said:


> Sorry I meant to automatically power down systems at say 50%battery then restart when the power returns. I know most decent Ups's can do this via the com port but it's my lacking knowledge on it I'm more worried about.
> So I'm going to need to learn a complete new skillset as I've never done any actual networking past basic stuff.
> For now it's all on hold till I get my Nas sorted as the idea of a server rack scares my wife so I need to let the proposal mull for some time until I either give her too many pros to dismiss or she takes it as her own idea and calls me stupid for not suggesting it earlier.


The ones I have can have protocols set that will have that but you have to console in and have the proper software that will allow 

ehh my wife hates it especially the server as it sounds like a jet but ehh I’m still going to do me


----------



## ThaiTaffy (Oct 17, 2021)

Durvelle27 said:


> ehh my wife hates it especially the server as it sounds like a jet but ehh I’m still going to do me


I've already ordered it "better to ask forgiveness than permission" I'm hoping.

I'll do some tests with it first as it's been a long time since I've played with linux and I still haven't gone shopping the computer markets to see if I can find some sort of OEM GE Ryzen chip for my Nas. If I do ok with it all I might buy a more modern server as a Christmas present to myself something to run VMs on.


----------



## Durvelle27 (Dec 18, 2022)

It's been quite awhile but I was finally able to get my full house wired and setup

So the route I went is

BD1 3 CAT6
BD2 2 CAT5E
BD3 CAT5E
Living 3 CAT6
Office 3 CAT6

Ubiquiti WIFI 6 APs on each side of house 

All going to a closest with a Server Rack into a Patch Panel 

This is from my PC in the office


----------



## Durvelle27 (Dec 19, 2022)

I haven’t got the Pc I built to use as a router up yet. Kinda debating if it’s worth it or not


----------

