Router for Homelab
Router for Homelab
As I'm in the beginning steps of sorting out my homelab, I'm starting to ask questions I haven't asked before and come across conundrums I hadn't considered previously. One of which is how to sort out pi-hole given that my ISP has locked down the router tighter than a tight thing.
As I had been reading about and watching YouTube videos, I had stumbled across Tailscale and the idea of VLANs is a nice one. That coupled with wanting to block ads and a new router seemed to the optimal choice.
Another thing is that I eventually want to get a Reolink POE video doorbell and Reolink E1 outdoor camera for my garden and so I'm trying to think somewhat ahead as the last thing I want is a server rack in my house. Aesthetically speaking.
So I stumbled across all the recommendations for Mikrotik and they're really reasonably priced, especially compared to the Netgear Nighthawk thing I was looking at for ten times the price.
The Mikrotik HAP AX Lite is reasonably priced, does all the cool new stuff, let's me set up virtual local area networks, has room for growth and has PoE capabilities. It seems to be the perfect choice. But is it? Because it seems almost too good to be true.
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pfSense either virtualized or on almost any cheap mini pc with more than one nic
But then what do I do about WiFi? Sorry if it's a stupid question.
You can purchase wireless access points for fairly cheap from ubiquiti. Wire it into a switch and once you configure it you're done. You don't need the software for it running 24/7 unless you like metrics.
Was it Ubiquiti that just had a gate of some sort or another or was that Unifi?
Unifi is ubquiti's brand. They do sell routers and switches too, but I bought an AP from them like 6 or 7 years ago and it's still working. I don't use wifi other than for my phone so I don't need to upgrade my wiress.
There was definitely a recent something or another that made me very cautious when it comes to them.
That said, going the AP route probably isn't for me. I live in a normal UK house. I don't have Ethernet running through anywhere. Just to get it to the back and front for the Reolinks, I'll probably end up running some ugly trunking and on top of that, I'd probably once again, start heading towards server rack territory and I really don't wanna do that. Especially when I can get something that supports WiFi 6 for £60 and is just a single device for me to plug in.
Naw not dumb but thats kinda your call, I just put my old WiFi router in Access Point mode and hooked it up to the machine I’m using and it works great. I’m sure it’s possible to use a pcs internal radio to broadcast but I’ve never researched that myself
So here's a random related question, given that you're using your old router, does that mean you have nothing connected at 5GHz?
So I said “old” but it’s still relatively new and broadcasts on both 2.4 and 5 ghz
That makes more sense.
I actually missed that you mentioned the nighthawk in your post somehow, I bought one in 2020 so I wouldn’t have to rent Comcast’s but that’s what I’m currently using. If you have your own wireless router that broadcasts on the frequencies you need with the SSIDs that are already in your various devices you can almost certainly just throw that into AP mode and then just connect it to pfsense once it’s configured and not miss a beat.
I’d also recommend getting your own modem(arris surfboard s33 is my recommendation) if your ISP allows it