On 11/30/2017 at 3:43 PM, bonienl said:

The USG is based on the same hardware as the ERL, so performance wise top notch. The approach here is more accessible for the average user, most important features are preset and out-of-the-box experience is better. Under the hood there still is CLI, which gives access to the same advanced features as the ERL (though some trickery needs to be done to make CLI changes stick).

 

The Unifi controller (available as a Docker container on unRAID) makes it very easy to manage both wired and wireless devices from a single interface. That is what I am doing at the moment. Certainly recommendable.

 

I started with the USG, 8-port PoE switch, and UAP-AC-LR access points.  Might add an AC-lite ($70 on Newegg eBay store right now - $85 on their website) on far end of main floor, but, LR coverage seems to be very good.

 

Although the USG does not have a CLI manual, many have pointed out that the ERL CLI manual can be used as a reference for the USG as well. I have poked around a little in the CLI, but, for now everything critical is easily configured and managed through the LSIO UniFI docker.

 

I have had Dlink Dir-655, ASUS RT-N66U and Netgear 6400 consumer routers in my house recently and all were very good at what they did back in the day and even now,  however, nothing compares to the configurability, manageability, performance and reporting of the Ubiquiti USG/ERL equipment.  Color me impressed at all it offers for a very reasonable price.  The price makes it accessible for home users as well as commercial users.

 

USG - $110

8-Port PoE 802.11af Switch - $110

2 x UAP-AC-LR Access points - $105 ea,

 

Total: $430 - 10% promo code on Ubiquiti gear at Newegg a couple of weeks ago = $387

 

At this price I got double the switch ports (8 vs. 4 in most consumer routers) and two access points allowing me to place the WiFI access where I need it and not just at the location where the router must go for the internet connection.

 

Now compare that to the $300-$400 the consumer gear manufactures are charging for their octopus-like 8-antenna "gaming" routers and the Ubiquiti gear comes out ahead by almost every measure.

Edited December 2, 20178 yr by Hoopster

I just switched from an Asus AC3200. I picked up the USG, USW 8 port POE switch and the AP AC LR access point. I was surprised at some of the missing gui features but switched to the beta controller using lsio unifi docker and got a few more features. No openvpn server in gui so I'll have to add that manually. Will probably pick up another USW and figure out the cli.

Everything works great and all devices are able to connect especially some printers and WiFi devices that would not connect consistently with the AC3200.

Using a mikrotik. Great device but you need to be a bit network knowledgeable.. a different beast then a regular consumer router..

 

MikroTik Routerboard RB2011UiAS-2HnD-IN

I started using Watchguard appliances in 1999 and I've been using them ever since, at my clients and at home.

So I'm the only one using Comcast's supplied modem/router combo huh?

 

My condo association has a bulk account with Comcast and the rental price of the equipment is included. Can't save any money by using my own equipment, but I do have an Asus AC router with DDWRT and a Moto Surfboard modem.

 

Comcast router/modem works fine and is plenty snappy for my 1200 sqft condo

On the topic of routers, is anyone familiar with the Cisco Small Business RV325-K9-NA Dual Gigabit WAN ?

I am thinking of trying this only because I would like to split the office and the home internet from the cable modem in office. Would save me from getting a switch since it has 14 lan ports on it already.

Any feed back is appreciateed.

Thanks

1 hour ago, Harro said:

On the topic of routers, is anyone familiar with the Cisco Small Business RV325-K9-NA Dual Gigabit WAN ?

I am thinking of trying this only because I would like to split the office and the home internet from the cable modem in office. Would save me from getting a switch since it has 14 lan ports on it already.

Any feed back is appreciateed.

Thanks

I would think that Cisco would have the manual available for downloading...

28 minutes ago, Frank1940 said:

I would think that Cisco would have the manual available for downloading...

Have read through most of manual but just wondering if others have had any problems with it? I know that on some of these routers the lan ports are not gig bandwidth and this one does seem to support that.

Pfsense running on a Jetway NUC.

I’m using one of these with pfSense. It only had a single Intel NIC so I removed the wireless card that was in the M.2 slot, popped out the VGA port from the back, and put one of these in the M.2 slot. That was the only M.2 NIC I could find with an Intel chip. The cable for the network port is fished through where the VGA port was. A little jerry rigged, I know, but better than using a USB Realtek NIC. It’s been awesome.

Edited January 25, 20188 yr by mrow

I've had an Asus RT-N16 running Shibby Tomato for years. Tried replacing it last year with a decently powerful TP-Link router last year, but didn't like that so I gave that to my parents who need the better wifi in the house they just moved to. I also ran pfSense in a VM on my unraid server for awhile, but I didn't like that anytime the array was down, the router would be down.

 

Unfortunately, the Asus has been showing signs that it may not last much longer. (Not sure if it's just randomly dropping the WAN connection or rebooting.) Recently picked up a Qotom Q355-G4, which is probably way overkill for me, and installed pfSense on it. That ticked the boxes of being decently powerful and relatively low power consumption. So far it's working great.

 

Still using the Asus for wifi until it completely craps out. But wifi is pretty much only for my phone at this point. Everything else is wired.

11 hours ago, Endy said:

I've had an Asus RT-N16 running Shibby Tomato for years. Tried replacing it last year with a decently powerful TP-Link router last year, but didn't like that so I gave that to my parents who need the better wifi in the house they just moved to. I also ran pfSense in a VM on my unraid server for awhile, but I didn't like that anytime the array was down, the router would be down.

 

Unfortunately, the Asus has been showing signs that it may not last much longer. (Not sure if it's just randomly dropping the WAN connection or rebooting.) Recently picked up a Qotom Q355-G4, which is probably way overkill for me, and installed pfSense on it. That ticked the boxes of being decently powerful and relatively low power consumption. So far it's working great.

 

Still using the Asus for wifi until it completely craps out. But wifi is pretty much only for my phone at this point. Everything else is wired.

 

I have the same setup, and my RT-N16 either died or got real flaky.  I popped it open and found a failing electrolytic capacitor.  Replaced that sucker and it's been running great every since!

 

I actually have a second router because it helps extend the WiFi throughout the house.  This one I have never opened up and it still seems to be going strong.  ASUS may have switched vendors at some point, but if it gets flaky I'll be doing the same trick.

On 1/26/2018 at 1:01 PM, Endy said:

I've had an Asus RT-N16 running Shibby Tomato for years. Tried replacing it last year with a decently powerful TP-Link router last year, but didn't like that so I gave that to my parents who need the better wifi in the house they just moved to. I also ran pfSense in a VM on my unraid server for awhile, but I didn't like that anytime the array was down, the router would be down.

 

Unfortunately, the Asus has been showing signs that it may not last much longer. (Not sure if it's just randomly dropping the WAN connection or rebooting.) Recently picked up a Qotom Q355-G4, which is probably way overkill for me, and installed pfSense on it. That ticked the boxes of being decently powerful and relatively low power consumption. So far it's working great.

 

Still using the Asus for wifi until it completely craps out. But wifi is pretty much only for my phone at this point. Everything else is wired.

 

Once it dies go with a Ubiquiti wireless AP. Goes nicely with a pfSense router.

Just adding to the group.

 

I have been using Unifi products for about a year and a half and they are exactly what I was looking for.  My Ubiquiti purchases started with an EdgeRouter Pro 8 and a couple of AC AP's.  That worked great but I decided I wanted everything to exist in the Unifi controller so I moved to the USG Pro.  So far I have the following-

 

USG Pro

USW 48 POE

USW XG (10 Gig Switch)

USW 8 POE

USW 8 (one of the new small switches that is powered over the POE port)

(2) UAP AC Pro WAP's

 

Most of this is complete overkill but I use this to test work related setups from time to time.

 

For those that are looking to get into 10Gig I can say that Ubiquiti's option works great for me and is price competitive. There were some growing pains when I first got it but it has been rock solid for the last 6 months. My Unraid box and 3 PC's are all running 10Gig off that switch.

I ended returning the previous unifi gear I mentioned in the thread, usg, 8 port USW POE and AP AC. I found they weren't enough to meet my needs. Mainly the USG would only do 85 Mbps with hardware offload off and I needed more switch ports. Other than that they worked great. I also wanted the cleaner look of the in wall.

I ended up getting the USG Pro, USW 24 250 Watt and an AP AC in wall. It may seem like overkill but I can now get my full 250Mbps bandwidth with IPS, DPI and Smart Queues turned on. The in wall meets my coverage needs. I was worried it might be too limited over the AP AC

On 1/26/2018 at 11:51 PM, ufopinball said:

 

I have the same setup, and my RT-N16 either died or got real flaky.  I popped it open and found a failing electrolytic capacitor.  Replaced that sucker and it's been running great every since!

 

There's an idea. Maybe one of these days when I am feeling ambitious I'll open it up and see. Could definitely be a capacitor. 

 

21 hours ago, mrow said:

 

Once it dies go with a Ubiquiti wireless AP. Goes nicely with a pfSense router.

 

I've actually been looking at those to be the replacement if(when) my RT-N16 completely dies on me.

I'm running an Asus RT-AC86u on Merlin's FW. I do have a PFsense in a VM on my server but lack the free time to learn and implement it. One day!

RT-AC56U with stock firmware. At this point in my life I just need something that works!

Pfsense, once you move into that realm of firewall/router it's impossible to go back......

OPNsense would be an alternative.

pfSense running as a VM on an old supermicro X8SIL board (along with unRAID). Recently, I've added VLANs to my network and pfSense handles it all perfectly. As others mentioned, I'm a bit worried if I should lose my ESXi box, as I don't have an backups in place at the moment.

Edited February 4, 20188 yr by joelones

8 minutes ago, joelones said:

pfSense running as a VM on an old supermicro X8SIL board (along with unRAID). Recently, I've added VLANs to my network and pfSense handles it all perfectly. As others mentioned, I'm a bit worried if I should lose my ESXi box, as I don't have an backups in place at the moment.

 

That's exactly why I keep an old Asus router handy.....

4 hours ago, CHBMB said:

 

That's exactly why I keep an old Asus router handy.....

 

True, I've got an asus RT-N66U lying around as well, just wouldn't be the same. Internet would work but a lot stuff would break. I'm thinking of repurposing a Kodi box running a celeron (replacing it with a Rpi3) and slapping some intel NICs and doing a bare metal pfSense box. It's too bad my old Celeron doesn't support AES-NI, would have like to see the improvement when running through the VPN.

Edited February 4, 20188 yr by joelones

On 2/4/2018 at 1:10 PM, joelones said:

pfSense running as a VM on an old supermicro X8SIL board (along with unRAID). Recently, I've added VLANs to my network and pfSense handles it all perfectly. As others mentioned, I'm a bit worried if I should lose my ESXi box, as I don't have an backups in place at the moment.

 

Why not just pick up a cheap standalone box to act as your pfSense router? Then you don't run that risk. Backup your configuration in pfSense and restore on your new hardware and it'll be like nothing changed.

 

Edit: oops, just looked at your most recent post and saw you're looking to do this already.

Edited February 7, 20188 yr by mrow

1 hour ago, mrow said:

 

Why not just pick up a cheap standalone box to act as your pfSense router? Then you don't run that risk. Backup your configuration in pfSense and restore on your new hardware and it'll be like nothing changed.

 

Edit: oops, just looked at your most recent post and saw you're looking to do this already.

 

Yeah, I have an old Kodi box in a SilverStone case running a dual core celeron that I'll repurpose for a pfSense box. I also ordered a Sun Intel 375-3481-01 quad NIC that I'm hoping works well in pfSense to complement the box. I"m assuming the NIC devices naming will change in pfSense with this new quad nic, so I'm not sure how a backup and restore would react.  Also, from what I understand it uses the em freebsd driver, which apparently has (had) some issue. In any case, we'll see.

 

Just went through the router/firewall upgrade. It sounds like pfSense is going to start limiting its usability on older systems by only functioning on processors supporting AES-NI. That gives a few years of processors to work with but my old C2D would be left out in the cold with the upgrade. If you are trying to recycle some older hardware, you might want to look at OPNSense. It's rather similar (FreeBSD and fork from MoNoWall just as pfSense - infact it's actually recommended by the MoNoWall people) but it has had a lot more rapid development recently. There are some developmental/philosophical differences but I find the GUI  more appealing. There is smaller but seemingly friendly community as well (some complain about the pfSense forums). I used a 4 port Intel NIC and it works like a champ.