Home network revamp suggestions
-
I'm going to be getting a new ISP "soon", so I figured this would be a good time to make other internal network changes.
Here's what I have now:
- ISP "Internet gateway" (modem + router)
- Wired
- Game consoles
- Smart TV
- Router #2
- Wireless (2.4 GHz only): Io💩 devices (Nest thermostat/smoke detectors)
- DNS: ISP default
- DHCP: built-in
- Wired
- Router #2
- Wired
- Personal desktop
- Work laptop
- Synology NAS
- Raspberry Pi
- Wireless (2.4 GHz/5 GHz, different SSIDs but same network)
- Personal laptop
- Cell phones
- Tablets
- Ereaders
- PlayStation Vita (needs connectivity to my laptop)
- Nintendo Switch (for 5 GHz)
- DNS: Pi-Hole on the Pi
- DCHP: built-in to the router
- Wired
There's a couple of changes I'm thinking about making. I was hoping y'all could tell me if any of these are a terrible idea, or if you have any other suggestions for other things I should fix while I have the hood open.
- Replacing router #2 with a newer one. Ubiquiti is my first thought - is there someone better out there now?
- Would Ubiquiti let me set up vlans to segment ereaders/Io💩 devices without losing 5 GHz networking?
- If so, can one of those vlans have different DNS settings than others? (i.e. don't use Pi-Hole for game consoles)
- Move Pi-Hole to a Docker container on the Synology, then remove the Pi.
Thought about moving DHCP to the Synology so it's not tied to the router, but not sure the gain is worth the potential pain (especially if I do replace router #2 with something more capable).
- ISP "Internet gateway" (modem + router)
-
@Unperverted-Vixen Is there a reason why you have two routers, instead of a router and a switch? Is it to keep the IoS devices outside of a firewall that protects the good stuff? (Or is it just because routers are so dirt-cheap these days that there are few reasons to buy a switch?)
-
@PotatoEngineer A separate router was cheaper than buying both a switch and a wireless access point that supported 5 GHz. Having the second router was a happy little accident in a couple of ways, though. In addition to firewalling off the good stuff from the IoS like you mentioned, it made adding the Pi-Hole a lot easier; the ISP's router doesn't let me change the DNS server or disable DHCP entirely.
-
Ubiquiti does make nice routers. Their network gear can do everything you're asking about.
But some of the routers are hot garbage. I've had so much trouble with US-Gs I will never use one again.
Don't use a Ubiquiti Unifi US-G.
In the $50-$100 range, a Ubiquiti ER-X is hard to beat. The better Unifi routers are probably better than US-G and fit in with Unifi gear, which is nice.
(So what is Unifi? It's basically Ubiquiti's software defined network system. Unifi routers, wifi access points, and similar all get configured using an app on your phone or desktop. It's pretty good but not perfect. I'd say it's worth it)
I haven't used any of their new routers. I like their switches and have two rackmount switches at home.
They make good access points. I am planning on getting a couple of UAC-IW ("in-wall" access points with 4 port switch). They can use POE, so consider how you will power them (i wish I had spent the extra $150 on a POE switch, for example)
The ER-X I mentioned above isn't Unifi. There's another software defined network product you can use to manage an ER-X remotely but I don't do that for the home.
Oh and you will need "usually" need a Unifi controller. I use a raspberry pi for mine. Some Unifi routers come with it built in. I don't like the virtualization for it. It's a big pain in the ass to have to bootstrap your network to get docker/libvirt running to configure the network. (This mostly applies in segmented networks, like the one you want to build, so I want to mention it).
If your pihole is running network infrastructure, I'd keep it on the raspberry pi and install the unifi controller on it.
-
@Captain The ER-X looks like a great value, but it also looks like a dead product line walking. No Wifi 6 access point, and the Wifi 5 one is out of stock.
On the Unifi side, the Dream Router would be tempting if they, y'know, had any stock.
-
@Captain said in Home network revamp suggestions:
They make good access points.
Can second that. I have one of their access points (ceiling mount, dish shape, "Access Point WiFi 6 Lite").
Would Ubiquiti let me set up vlans to segment ereaders/Io💩 devices without losing 5 GHz networking?
The AP that I have lets me configure multiple Wifi networks on either 2.5G or 5G or both. I think I can assign specific networks to specific vlans. (I have all IoS stuff on a separate Wifi network; just never got around to actually setting up the vlan stuff on the router, which isn't Ubiquiti.)
