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    #21
    Re: Wiring ethernet in new office

    Originally posted by televizora View Post
    UBNT is one of the best brands, if you decide to go for Wireless networks.
    The products are reliable and easy to configure. Also, they have Unify controller software, which you can install on your server or use as a paid service in their cloud. With it you can manage multiple access points. Something like Active Directory, but for UBNT AP-s. Before this, your option was to use UBNT AP-s and Mikrotik for hotpot and accounting. But unless you require such funtionality, Mikrotik with UBNT AP connected to it will get the job done.
    Nobody around here likes Cisco. Mostly because it's expensive and you can get the job done with Mikrotiks, which are much cheaper, while reliable.
    I only buy things which are supported by openwrt, which means any supported router/AP can support basically anything. Last I looked, microtik and ubiquity had a lot of openwrt support. I just looked up microtik, prices have really come down on their stuff, they used to be really rare and high priced, looks like they are making a bigger play for the market now. Good, there needs to be more than the usual trash choices.

    Right now I'm running a qotom box at home and a secondary AP running bridged over copper. The qotom is something like this:

    https://www.amazon.com/Qotom-Q190G4N...search&sr=8-21

    It's a bit expensive for a router, but I run my network hardware for a long time, so I don't mind spending on it. I put the x86 version of openwrt on it, and it's rock solid, and does whatever I want it to. It's probably about time that I upgrade the network card on it though.

    My last router was an asus wl500gl and I ran that thing for around 8 years until it was just too slow for current internet speeds. Recapped it at least twice.
    Last edited by clearchris; 12-26-2020, 09:11 PM.

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      #22
      Re: Wiring ethernet in new office

      Originally posted by clearchris View Post
      I only buy things which are supported by openwrt, which means any supported router/AP can support basically anything. Last I looked, microtik and ubiquity had a lot of openwrt support.
      You cant expect some cheap router with unknown processor and 16-32MB RAM to perform like Mikrotik with dual core 1.4Ghz ARM and 1024MB RAM. Even if certain router is supported by OpenWRT, there aren't guarantees of any kind how it will behave and if it will work stable.
      There is also x86 version of Mikrotik RouterOS. The biggest advantage of the Mikrotiks is that they make the software for the hardware they configure/not make/. So, you can expect RouterOS to behave excellently on any Mikrotik. This is not the case with the OpenWRT, running on a cheap router.
      Some crappy TPLink with gigabit ports costs about 70$. And the hardware is still extremely poor. So, on the one side you have dual core 0.8GHZ Mikrotik with 256MB RAM, on the other you have TPLink for the same price with 32MB RAM and 4MB Flash. What's the difference? The BIG antennas on the TPLink. And the fact that TPLink firmware is so feature limited, because of inadequate computing specs of the device.
      If I want good Wi-Fi, I will buy access points. For the router I want it to provide functionality. When you have a network with 300 devices, constantly working simultaneously, you will see the situation the way I perceive it. I cant afford to play with OpenWRT on some cheap unknown device and receiving calls in 2AM that something had gone wrong and the whole network is down. I wont even buy microcomputer as one you mentioned. Because I need something that will work, that is meant to work exactly this way and the manufacturer guarantees me that it will work as promised. If I install some OS on the micro you mentioned, who will guarantee me that it will work as expected?
      With RouterOS on Mikrotik you have a decent device on a good price.
      Things like VPN, Filters, routing, forwarding, port insulation, VLANs work out of the box.
      You can even write scripts that fulfill different functions.
      Mikrotiks are on about the same level as Cisco devices, while the price is significantly lower.
      At the moment, Mikrotik is the best device for small and medium businesses. The others can afford much more expensive stuff. Like Sophos firewall, which costs about 3000$. There aren't many people that will pay such money.
      Last edited by televizora; 12-29-2020, 11:56 AM.
      Useful conversions. I don't "speak" imperial. Please use metric, if you want to address me.
      1km=1000m=100000cm, 1inch=2.54cm, 1mile=1609.344meters, 1ft=30.48cm 1gal(US)=3.785liters, 1lb=453grams, 1oz=28.34grams

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        #23
        Re: Wiring ethernet in new office

        Originally posted by televizora View Post
        You cant expect some cheap router with unknown processor and 16-32MB RAM to perform like Mikrotik with dual core 1.4Ghz ARM and 1024MB RAM.
        I've had good results with the BCM4708 but not the BCM4709.

        I think Broadcom is playing games with the engineering of the die bumps or the underfill, but for whatever reason, the BCM4709 just isn't reliable.

        Stability should come before performance. In mission critical applications, something no less than a pfSense box should be used, perhaps with repeaters...

        Otherwise something like an Archer C8 would do fine... Though the C8 does does not have any good open source implementations... The stock firmware is decent enough though.
        "We have offered them (the Arabs) a sensible way for so many years. But no, they wanted to fight. Fine! We gave them technology, the latest, the kind even Vietnam didn't have. They had double superiority in tanks and aircraft, triple in artillery, and in air defense and anti-tank weapons they had absolute supremacy. And what? Once again they were beaten. Once again they scrammed [sic]. Once again they screamed for us to come save them. Sadat woke me up in the middle of the night twice over the phone, 'Save me!' He demanded to send Soviet troops, and immediately! No! We are not going to fight for them."

        -Leonid Brezhnev (On the Yom Kippur War)

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          #24
          Re: Wiring ethernet in new office

          I used Pfsense ten years ago /w an Athlon t-bird 1ghz and 256M ECC. I don't have any decent box PC's that meet his space requirement. New boxes would cost more than necessary, in that case I would get a Mikrotik, and of course I would have to get like a unifi AP or something like that. But his requirements are pretty low. Just internet and wifi access for his phone and tablet

          I just found out that I won't be doing the actual wiring. I'll put the keystones and plates in, but yeah that's it
          Cap Datasheet Depot: http://www.paullinebarger.net/DS/
          ^If you have datasheets not listed PM me

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            #25
            Re: Wiring ethernet in new office

            Originally posted by mockingbird View Post
            Stability should come before performance. In mission critical applications, something no less than a pfSense box should be used, perhaps with repeaters... Otherwise something like an Archer C8 would do fine... Though the C8 does does not have any good open source implementations... The stock firmware is decent enough though.
            Mikrotiks are good for mission critical tasks. Mikrotik 3011 for example comes with 10x1Gbps ports and 1SFP for about 170$ and 10W power consumption. pfSense is dedicated Linux networking distribution, based on BSD. There is a big difference in what you get as power consumption. While the software of the Mikrotiks is flexible and specifically made to work with specific hardware, pfSense runs on general purpose computers. I am not saying that it is bad, I am saying it is more prone to unforeseen incompatibilities and problems. If you don't have separate networking department, but 1-2 persons as IT staff, better go for the Mikrotik. You can use 2 Mikrotiks for redundancy and easily backup the config and upload it on replacement device.
            TPLinks are SOHO devices. Neither have advanced functions, nor they are meant to be used in serious networks.
            You buy Mikrotik, which is dedicated device. You configure it and it just works.
            I can even use WindowsServer or CentOS as a router. But I don't want to do it.
            I have configured 2 VPNs, firewall rules, several VLANs, website blocking and traffic monitoring. It costed me no more 20 minutes to have working network and I had device with 10W consumption and fibreoptic connection ready to be mounted inside the rack with brackets, kindly provided and waiting in the box to be used. You cant do something like this with pfSense.
            Mikrotiks are ideal from SOHO to medium sized enterprises and even big companies, while you don't need a whole networking department to take care of the network management.
            Last edited by televizora; 12-30-2020, 10:30 AM.
            Useful conversions. I don't "speak" imperial. Please use metric, if you want to address me.
            1km=1000m=100000cm, 1inch=2.54cm, 1mile=1609.344meters, 1ft=30.48cm 1gal(US)=3.785liters, 1lb=453grams, 1oz=28.34grams

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              #26
              Re: Wiring ethernet in new office

              This isn't medium sized. You have no idea how 'small' sized this business is. Three computers, two wifi devices. They've been using a D-link router sitting on the floor from ten years ago for, well, ten years.
              Cap Datasheet Depot: http://www.paullinebarger.net/DS/
              ^If you have datasheets not listed PM me

              Comment


                #27
                Re: Wiring ethernet in new office

                Originally posted by Uranium-235 View Post
                This isn't medium sized. You have no idea how 'small' sized this business is.
                Excuse me, my friend. I just answered to someone else and it happened that way that we hijacked your topic.
                Useful conversions. I don't "speak" imperial. Please use metric, if you want to address me.
                1km=1000m=100000cm, 1inch=2.54cm, 1mile=1609.344meters, 1ft=30.48cm 1gal(US)=3.785liters, 1lb=453grams, 1oz=28.34grams

                Comment

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