The rest of the story (what is everyone using for routers, switches, firewalls, etc?)

[hyram]

Being a bit new to all of this, I'm wondering what other network equipment people are using in there home networks. Specifically routers, firewalls, and switches. When I see some of the throughput numbers people are hoping for, I don't think they are getting it with COTS stuff. Perhaps I'm wrong.

I know... Google could be my friend, but I was wondering what's the FreeNAS community using.

 

[Bidule0hm]

I use a gigabit 8 ports unmanaged noname switch buyed at about $20 :) And despite the "made in china noname thing" it works very well, not a single problem ;) I think about buying another 8 ports switch to add, or directly a 16 ports to replace this one because I have only one port left actually...

 

[Ericloewe]

pfSense is a rather popular solution for routing/firewalling around here. I used to run pfSense as well, but a mixture of new ISP with complicated IPTV setup that's almost automatic with Asus' router firmware and the old hardware crapping out (or rather, the PSU did, and I haven't gotten around to RMAing it) meant that I moved to an Asus RT-N66U, which will soon be replaced with the RT-AC68U, whose main Wireless duties will be taken over by an incoming RT-AC87U.

 

[pirateghost]

Edge Router Lite, then a Sophos UTM in transparent bridge mode behind that, then a couple of Cisco switches, Cisco AP for wireless

 

[hyram]

Edge Router Lite, then a Sophos UTM in transparent bridge mode behind that, then a couple of Cisco switches, Cisco AP for wireless

Cisco? The big boy stuff or the consumer stuff?

I'm thinking of moving to more enterprise stuff, but not sure about any maintenance overhead. I don't want to be a full time job.

I use a gigabit 8 ports unmanaged noname switch buyed at about $20 :) And despite the "made in china noname thing" it works very well, not a single problem ;) I think about buying another 8 ports switch to add, or directly a 16 ports to replace this one because I have only one port left actually...

I'm currently using a DLink 4 port GBe w/wireless router. So far it hasn't been an issue, but it's now 6+ years old. I wonder about it's throughput capabilities, but so far I'm only using it for internet connection (slow)... and now backups to my FreeNAS. Not sure how it'll hold up to streaming. And I definitely need more ports.

 

[SweetAndLow]

Netgate pfsense firewall
8 port netgear switch
4 port netgear switch
Netgear wndr3700 router flashed with ddwrt for wireless access.

I think the enterprise networking hardware in a home scenario is a little overkill because you just don't push that much traffic over your network.

 

[DifferentStrokes]

pfSense for my router/firewall and a DLink 24 port Gb unmanaged switch. Netgear WNDR3700 in AP mode for the wireless.

 

[Jailer]

Very old desktop re purposed for pfsense for router/firewall. Dlink DGL-4500 acting as switch/AP and Dlink DAP1360 as wireless client. Need to add a cheap unmanaged switch to get some cable run to a couple locations that wireless just isn't cutting it.

 

[BigDave]

pfSense router/firewall, TPLink 16port unmanaged switch, Actiontec router (temporary) used as wireless AP, and yes, the wireless sucks big time!

 

[Darren Myers]

i use 2 D-Link 28 port websmart managed switches, one where my sonicwall+verizon FiOS comes in at, and another attached to the back of my server rack where all my primary connections goto. The 2 switches are 28 port switches 24 gigabit + 4 SFP connections that i have linked back and forth with fiber. And theres some UnFi AP's floating around the house too lol.

Then i have my FreeNAS server,Windows (soon to be ESXi) Server, and a ESXi SAN connected via 10GB fiber direct connects (no switch) both servers to my FreeNAS box.

 

[Fraoch]

Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite to a NETGEAR GS108T v2 managed switch to an ASUS RT-N66U for wireless.

The switch is complete overkill - the manual is 350 pages! The router is also overkill considering its capabilities and what I'm actually doing with it...

I have a fairly powerful mini-ITX build that I intended to use as a Sophos UTM but couldn't get it to cooperate with the router. I may turn it into a pfSense router and eBay the ERL.

 

[Oko]

OpenBSD of course :) running on a small atom based board (both at home and at work with different spec naturally). I can't wait to switch to ARMv7 when hardware matures little bit more. As of the switch I had at work one HP 1810‑24G which I liked so much that I got 1810-8G for home. I think you can get it new under $100 on NewEgg but I got mine used for about $20.

 

[Mlovelace]

For home I have:
Asus RT-N66U for wireless
Cisco SG300-10MP 10 port managed 1gbe switch
Dell Sonicwall TZ215 firewall

 

[pirateghost]

Cisco? The big boy stuff or the consumer stuff?

I'm thinking of moving to more enterprise stuff, but not sure about any maintenance overhead. I don't want to be a full time job.



I'm currently using a DLink 4 port GBe w/wireless router. So far it hasn't been an issue, but it's now 6+ years old. I wonder about it's throughput capabilities, but so far I'm only using it for internet connection (slow)... and now backups to my FreeNAS. Not sure how it'll hold up to streaming. And I definitely need more ports.

Big boy stuff.
3560 poe 24 port
3560G 24 port
3560x 24 port

Air-lap-1131ag
Air-lap-1142n

 

[j_r0dd]

Microtik RB2011 router & Mikrotik RB951 as the AP. Cisco SG200-08 unmanaged and SG300-10 managed switches. Definitely need to upgrade the AP once Mikrotik releases a unit with AC. I'm a huge Mikrotik fanboy.

 

[Ken Wood]

Well, I have a special situation. I share my neighbors FIOS Internet. I get WIFi to my house on my Buffalo Tech DD-WRT router.
Everything inside my own network is either wifi (Roku- one laptop, and Raspberry PI) or Ethernet (FreeNAS server, Win Server).
I have very few download issues except when some parks a truck in front of neighbors house.

DD-WRT routers are very configurable. Next one i buy will probably be the new Asus.

 

[GrumpyBear]

LinkSys E1000 running a fairly current version of Tomato as my WiFi/NAT/Firewall/Router. Soon to be replaced with an Asus RT 68U. The E1000 with its Broadcom NICs has trouble doing line rate so it sits on the edge and connects to my VDSL router, VoIP ATA and a few other lower bandwidth devices.

Why Tomato? Though I ran IPtables on Linux with Squid and BIND for many years DD-WRT and Tomato have come so far in recent years and if I can find an appliance I can use without too much shimming I will.

If I was one of those fortunate people in the Netherlands who can get 500Mbps connections at home at reasonable rates I might look at pfSense.

3 Cisco Managed 8-port 200-series managed switches.
Why the Cisco? Because your more likely to get something that works, supports funky things like VLANs and LACP properly and performs relatively well and though it doesn't have the nice CLI the web interface isn't too horrible.

 

[ian351c]

I do IT Security for a living, so I've built my network on the stuff I sell at work (mostly):

Palo Alto Networks PA-200 Firewall
Aruba Mobility-650 with some AP-135s for wireless
D-Link DGS-1224T Managed Gigabit switch (ancient, but still does the job)
Bluecoat ProxySG 210 (optional, but fun to play with)

 

[ser_rhaegar]

My internet comes in through a Cisco 819 router using 4G LTE from Verizon Wireless (legacy unlimited line, $45/mo + tax).
This is filtered through a Cisco ASA 5512X with their CX content/url/ips filter.
Then this goes into an HP ProCurve 24 port switch with PoE+ and gigabit (couldn't justify the extra cost for a Cisco model with same features and port capacity).
Wireless is a Cisco 1702I AP, powered by the ProCurve and managed by a Cisco WLC VM on my ESXi cluster.
Wireless logins are managed by the Cisco WLC VM + a FreeRADIUS VM.
DHCP/DNS is handled by a pair of CentOS VMs (redundant for both services).

 

[Johev]

Not sure why I'm replying to this as I don't use fancy switches but would like to say that my Fritzbox 7490 has been working flawlessly and is also managing all my communication (4 Voip accounts with 2 DECT phones).

The 5 Gbit ports are enough for my private home use ;) which says a lot hehe.