Network ecosystem with low starting cost

After hemming and hawing for years, I am finally serious about starting my home infrastructure. Unfortunately, most of my budget will be spent on the server.

So, here I am, asking for recommendations which networking ecosystem I should buy in. Something which would be relatively cheap to start using now, but which I could scale up later on (multiple APs, 10 gig, such stuff).

My starting devices would be

  1. An AP or two, preferably with WiFi 6 support, but 5 works just as well
  2. A switch with LACP support, preferably 2.5G

So far I have worked somewhat with MikroTik, and to a much lesser extent with Ubiquity (if you can call a single UDM in SOHO working with). Of the two, somehow, I prefer MikroTik. Maybe because it is more mature and it shows? A clean modern UI would be a nice bonus, but is low priority.

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I dove deep into the mikrotik world starting in November. My network is awesome now. But I don’t think they have a lot of 2.5Gb stuff available.

I don’t have any of their APs at my place but for Christmas I bought my BIL a setup (hap ac2, cap ac, Wap ac, RB260GSP) and they have been very happy with it after I went over and set it all up. At my place I still run UniFi APs. I have an AC lite and AC M for outside.

I checked MikroTik’s website and they don’t seem have anything copper above 1G. Even SFP+.

2.5 is only nice to have - my personal rig has a 2.5 NIC and it would be nice to use that with the home server.
The plan there is to grab a used four port GbE card and aggregate the link. I could probably do the same in my PC.

I’d go with 10G fiber, but that seems out of budget for now.

I wouldn’t look for an eco system as such, look for individual products that fit your needs.

10G copper is quite rare. It uses more power and gets hotter than SFP+, so 10G copper is usually only used for access switching. A site like fs.com sells transceivers and DAC cables that are pretty affordable.

For a switch second hand enterprise devices are quite popular, but often require CLI config. Dell, Cisco, HP, Arista, as examples. Anything from vendors like Tp-Link, Netgear etc usually works well too, just pick something from the managed line. Not to mention Uiifi/Mikrotik as well. The big problem is 2.5G, that is still an up-and-coming technology. Serve the Home has a list of some options.

For routers/firewalls I’d look at a linux/bsd router like opnsense or openwrt. Otherwise Mikrotik are a good choice here. Most enterprise firewalls / routers are more specialised, and don’t make great choices for a homelab.

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2.5 is nice to have on a motherboard but realistically just go right to 10gb on the switch. The Mikrotik10gb switches are in the same price point as an all 2.5gb switch

You can get Copper SFP’s but run DAC’s to the servers and fiber for your longer runs.

For the AP’s I like the TP-Link’s self hosting the control app is a big plus in my book. You can use a POE injector over a POE switch since you wont have that many POE devices.

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@cowphrase I specifically asked for an ecosystem, since I’d like to have central management, or at least not learn multiple interfaces, time is limited and this is a home lab. I know that Ubiquity offers central management, and MikroTik has partial support.

For the firewall part, I’m already planning on running OPNsense.

@infinitevalence so for TP-Link I could just chuck a controller into Proxmo? Does sound nice. Do they charge extra for it?

They do not, and if you get the TPlink switches then you get an Ecosystem.

I would stay away from Ubiquity they have a bad habit of EOLing things if they dont reach a threshold of adoption regardless of being an “enterprise” solution.

I would also stay away from Engenius as their technical support is worthless. I have had a ticket open for 2 years and tech support has never responded, and my request for an RMA was ignored.

I must honestly say, that Omada really does look tempting. The only thing missing from perfect for me is a small integrated device like the hAP ac3 to get me started for cheap.

That 2.5G switch you linked is nice, but way too expensive for me. Budget is, as always, constraining, but I could go with EAP225-Wall and TL-SG2210MP and go on from there.

TL-SX3206HPP seems interesting, wonder how much it will cost.

I agree, I think for that price you might as well get 10GB from Mikrotik. Honestly I would go PF/Opensense for routing, Mikrotik for switch, and TP for APs.

I understand you want an ecosystem, but having been down that path before you only really want/need it at the AP level. The ecosystem options really limit you at the router and switch level in my opinion or lock you into over priced gear with bad price to feature ratios.

I have Mikrotik and HP switches which are not connected to my ecosystem and I never touch them, vlans are most often overkill when I can just use separate switches for separate tasks.

All good points. Looking at it, those Omada APs require 802.3af or 802.3at, with no mention of passive PoE, so injectors are out. That moves me up to either TL-SG2210MP or CRS112-8P-4S-IN, and of the two TL looks better for it’s SFP+ (this particular CRS has 4xSFP).

Honestly? I’m slowly starting to think about getting RB4011iGS+5HacQ2HnD-IN.

Almost forgot, I also came across Unimus - which promises management across different ecosystems, is self hosted, and the licensing seems actually affordable (five free devices, 3.90eur/year after that).

The RB5009 has a single 2.5Gb port on it. If you use the SFP+ to RJ45 adapters, many of them will negotiate down.

At this MSRP I’ll just run aggregates until I have the money to go 10G

That’s what I get for reading when I just woke up… This isn’t that bad of a MSRP. But I need active PoE out for the AP if I go with the TP-Link AP, which seems very tempting.

I love the TP-Link Omada network that I am running at home. I have the Gateway, a couple APs, and soon a switch. Being a home user cost is a factor for me, so the TP-Link hardware has been affordable. I have the controller hosted in a Linux Container on Proxmox. The web interface is good, their app has limited functionality, but allows you to see the whole network.

The only issue I really had was that the gateway comes pre configured to 192.168.0.1, and the only way I could adopt it was to change the IP address of my controller’s NIC. I even tried changing it on the gateway before I adopted it, but no dice.

I won’t be getting their gateway anyway - OPNsense under Proxmox. But yeah, Omada seems like the way to go.

Shame MikroTik doesn’t have good 802.3af/at offerings.

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Like I said, having been down the Ecosystem path before, mixing and matching switch and AP’s hardly matters. The controller for the AP’s is way more important that switches.

Yeah, what I meant is that I’m going with Omada APs, and would prefer getting a MikroTik switch as my starter, but will have to with an Omada one for that PoE support. Unless I dig out something else.

This is the POE switch I use. I have 8 POE cameras, 4 POE access points, 1 POE IP Phone which leaves me room to grow.

I currently feed my main servers off the SFP+ ports, 3 via fiber and 1x via 10g RJ45 SFP. Plan is to add a 16 port SFP+ switch for all my 10g gear in the near future.

I believe we’re talking a bit past each other because of different budgets - for the initial setup my budget for networking hardware is in the 250$ ballpark. I do realize that my initial requests are wildly out of this budget.

I’ll look at different switches too, but my current plan is to get Omada APs and probably that Omada 8+2 switch with PoE. With link aggregation I’ll cap out that switch instantly, but that’s a problem for future me, who has the money for more upgrades.

Ahh yeah that is about what I spend per AP :stuck_out_tongue: