The Home Networking Megathread - Yes the OP is out of date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 The Home Networking Megathread - Yes the OP is out of date

Agrikk: Oct 17, 2003; Take care with that! We have not fully ascertained its function, and the ticking is accelerating.

Okay, so what's the zeitgeist on home mesh wireless?

I have a pair of ASUS RT-AC68U routers that are configured to use as AiMesh internal access points using the internal LAN ports as gig switches and wired backhaul to my network core.

And I am sick to death of these POSes. They spontaneously break mesh, isolating half of my house. They lock up and kill wireless completely. Blah blah blah.

So I'm looking for a new set of access points that have full-mesh capability and have a few questions/requirements:

1. Is there a need for cat-5e gigabit wired backhaul lines anymore? I'm currently using them for my ASUS WAPs, but if technology has moved on, then so be it

2. I am looking for access points only. No managed firewall, no parental controls, no security addons

3. a couple of ethernet ports is a nice to have so I can use them as switches for additional wired gear

4. I have a 4 bedroom 3000' two-story house (with an entertainment center and extensive home office) that's rectangular in shape with bedrooms along the length of the upstairs and an entertainment center

5. at the moment there are 20+ devices using my wireless network (smart watches, laptops, phones, IoT devices) spread evenly across both WAPs

6. SNMP and syslog capability is a nice to have

# ¿ Dec 25, 2022 23:36

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 03:33

Agrikk: Oct 17, 2003; Take care with that! We have not fully ascertained its function, and the ticking is accelerating.

Three weeks ago I upgraded to a Deco x55 mesh.

3 antenna with 3 Ethernet ports each means that I can get rid of the couple of dumb switches behind the tv cabinet and book shelves around the house. An app for iOS or Android makes setup a cinch in either gateway mode or access point mode (with back haul mode either way).

Roaming through the house is seamless and I can watch in real time on the app as the connection jumps to a closer antenna. It�s pretty slick and I am impressed with the setup, and I caught a sale on Amazon which made it even more appealing.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2023 19:51

Agrikk: Oct 17, 2003; Take care with that! We have not fully ascertained its function, and the ticking is accelerating.

Lee Outrageous posted:

By running them in access point mode that enables them to be run from a gateway rather than needing to connect to a modem? I've been in need of improving my wireless signal coverage and the Deco seems very suitable and low fuss if it can be configured to work off of one.

That's correct. I have a NSA4500 firewall connected to a PowerConnect switch. I connected each of the three antenna to the switch via cat-5e cable and set each antenna up in AP mode with ethernet backhaul.

The default is router mode so when I first set up the first antenna I'd actually created a new network that NAT-ed to my home network which then transited my firewall and out to the internet. I had to switch the antenna to AP mode at which point it worked like I wanted to. Adding the second and third antenna was a simple matter using the app on my iphone. Although I am not thrilled at the idea of my access points phoning home so that the app works. These antennas apparently send client information back to Deco somewhere.

# ¿ Jan 25, 2023 23:03

Agrikk: Oct 17, 2003; Take care with that! We have not fully ascertained its function, and the ticking is accelerating.

Krailor posted:

If you're good with the current switch prices it's certainly doable and will run over whatever ethernet you're already using for 1Gb. The only real advantage to waiting would be cheaper switches.

I just have a hard time seeing a use case for it for most people.
Almost no one has >1Gb internet.
If I want to connect computers at high speed (ex NAS to Workstation) I'd be much better off going with sfp+ for 10Gb.

This. if you had a need to go faster than 1 gig, you'd know it. Otherwise upgrading infrastructure to over-1gig speeds isn't worth it yet.

# ¿ Jan 25, 2023 23:09

Agrikk: Oct 17, 2003; Take care with that! We have not fully ascertained its function, and the ticking is accelerating.

Kreeblah posted:

Does anybody here have experience with buying soundproofed racks? I got a deal I couldn't pass up on a switch that I've had my eye on for a while, but my one worry seems to have borne out, which is that it's pretty loud. Unfortunately, I live in a condo, so I don't really have a place like a garage to put it where it won't be bothersome. My next best option (I think) is to buy/build a soundproofed rack to get the noise down. Even just 10-15dB of sound absorption would probably be enough.

Really, I'm wondering whether there are there good places to get these things used. The prices I'm seeing for new ones are pretty expensive, so if I can save some money by getting something used, that'd probably be the best way for me to go.

I built a 19� 4-post rack from a bunch of 2x4s and some rack posts from Startech. Total cost of materials was less than $100 and took me maybe four hours to build.

Later on I soundproofed it by adding MDF panels and doors lined with dampening material. I had maybe 24U of gear sitting right next to my desk and it was no louder than a desk fan on medium speed.

I think I have a blog post about it somewhere. Let me see if I can dig it up.

# ¿ May 4, 2023 05:58

Agrikk: Oct 17, 2003; Take care with that! We have not fully ascertained its function, and the ticking is accelerating.

Aredna posted:

Thanks!

It looks like using multiple SFP+ Ethernet adapters next to each other are not recommended due to heat concerns.

I only 100% require 1 to be Ethernet. If I want to set the other ports up on something else knowing I can put whatever NIC is required in target devices - is fiber my best choice?

Distance really doesn't matter for current reqs - 2-3m at most. Long term I can't see anything being more than 20-30m from the switch.

You might look into a used Force10 S4810P off of eBay. I have one in my house for my cabinet in my garage and as a feeder through the house. I use primarily fiber but the 48 SFP+ ports means that I can use Ethernet SFPs without bunching them up and having heat be a thing.

I also unplugged the 40mm fans and cut holes in the top of the case for two 120mm fans and the unit runs cooler and quieter than before. But I lose 1U to do it.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2023 18:04

Agrikk: Oct 17, 2003; Take care with that! We have not fully ascertained its function, and the ticking is accelerating.

Subjunctive posted:

What are people using for 10GbE home networking at this point?

I�m using a Dell Force10 switch for top of rack. It�s got 48 10g SFP ports and four 40g ports.

All of my cabinet gear is connected to the switch via Mellanox Connect-X 3 HBAs and a fiber run to my office PowerConnect 5324 switch and a powerConnect 6248P switch for misc devices and PoE ability.

# ¿ Jan 24, 2024 22:16

Agrikk: Oct 17, 2003; Take care with that! We have not fully ascertained its function, and the ticking is accelerating.

unknown posted:

The deco mesh wifi system is (Imo) junk. It's frequency checker tells you that the spectrum is fine when it's not, will select overlapping channels, won't attempt to force devices to use 5g instead of 2.4g, and you can't specify the output power/channels so devices will see the 2.4g network as stronger so will use that often.

Counterpoint: The Deco mesh is awesome. It�s been bombproof in my sprawling home with seamless transitions from one beacon to another while roaming around the place. Lower speed and higher speed devices connect to the appropriate channels and my three access points have been set-it and forget-it since I installed them a year ago.

# ¿ Feb 3, 2024 06:03

Agrikk: Oct 17, 2003; Take care with that! We have not fully ascertained its function, and the ticking is accelerating.

And add SNMP

Yes, I�ll die on this hill.

# ¿ Feb 27, 2024 15:48

Agrikk: Oct 17, 2003; Take care with that! We have not fully ascertained its function, and the ticking is accelerating.

Rescue Toaster posted:

I mean the sky's the limit but also you could easily compile in/out whatever you needed. I'm just so loving frustrated with the situation.

1) All these companies are making GBS threads out basically reference implementations of these powerful switch chips. OK fine, I don't expect much from them and the hardware is often at least functional.
2) They all have loving godawful web-based administration that is slow as poo poo and buggy and insecure. Maybe based on some reference from Realtek (or the other IC mfgs)?
3) All these youtubers and web sites encouraging people to use these horribly, horribly insecure pieces of poo poo and suffer through the terrible configuration experience. "OHHHH MAN LOOK AT ALL THESE 2.5GB PORTS FOR $100! Oh btw the web interface is buggy and loses configuration and is http-only and has a default password you can't change and the admin interface is for some reason available on all VLANs and you can't turn it off and there's no serial console and..."
4) Companies like Realtek being secretive assholes about the data sheets for these chips, and the toolchains to build for the internal micros. What are you so loving afraid of? No matter what they do with it they're still buying your chip. Releasing your register maps is not going to make it trivial for someone to clone the entire silicon.

Let the Chinese clone mfg keep cranking out the hardware, let the OSS community build a decent SW load for some of these Realtek chips, ffs.

I bought one of these after reading those exact reviews, thinking I�d found some amazing sweet spot for managed switches.

Hooo boy was I wrong. I had the switch set up for about four days before I yanked that piece of poo poo out of my network. Thankfully I saved all the packing materials and sent it back to Amazon so the return went more smoothly than the setup.

Bought me a PowerConnect 6224 off of eBay with two 2-port stacking modules for $50. So it�s 24 1-gig ports instead of 8 2.5g ports. It�s 4 10g ports instead of 1 and it�s full-featured switch that�ll pair well with my existing 6248P and Force10.

In a moment of sanity I got to return a couple of 2.5g nics as well. Because in all honesty the machines running on 1g ports aren�t saturating thrm, so why would I need 2.5g ports?

because I�m a turbo nerd with a 42U home network and more is ALWAYS better

# ¿ Feb 28, 2024 11:40

Agrikk: Oct 17, 2003; Take care with that! We have not fully ascertained its function, and the ticking is accelerating.

And here I thought I was the only person who referred to it as a rumpus room.

Anyways, here's my rack. I think I've posted it before but what 'ev

# ¿ Feb 29, 2024 07:10

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 03:33

Agrikk: Oct 17, 2003; Take care with that! We have not fully ascertained its function, and the ticking is accelerating.

quick question:

I've seen these little clip things that hold 4,5,6,8 strands of cat-5 together in a flat, parallel configuration. I want to buy a couple for some cable runways here at home but I don't know what they are called to google them. It's the same kind of thingy that holds spark plug wires together in a car.

Does anyone know what I am talking about?

# ¿ Mar 25, 2024 17:49

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