Hi Lemmy gang -

Too many answers online across Reddit and misc forums, so I come to you.

I am looking to ditch my mesh net corporate ware Linksys setup for a variety of reasons.

From my cursory research, a mini PC for routing, or an otherwise dedicated box that I can OpenWRT/wireguard (EDIT: modem -> router box -> local net), then separately do the access points as desired, probably seems ideal. Would like 3-4 Ethernet’s and not two.

Should I get a hardcore commercial router? A mini pc for routing?

I will again decouple the media networking etc to a different box/PC. Mainly, I want to have the networking hub, and family WiFi, setup in the spirit of self hosting / OpenWRT / Wireguard outbound (thinking tailscale or headscale later, I’m a Jellyfin veteran).

But I am a total noob as far as getting really into networking, Linux things, etc. A simple noob hardware and setup guide is my desire.

Thanks fam.

  • rezz@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    6·
    15 days ago

    I was lazy in my langauge. I meant DOCSIS modem -> router/firewall with everything -> access points or hardlined ethernet recipients. Current setup is Arris dedicated (non-wifi) 3.1 to Linksys mesh.

    99% of demands are local network performance. No mega streaming needs or huge external traffic. Upload on wireguard (Jellyfin or otherwise) will be pretty limited to a single user at once. But this is not critical. Local network is my usecase.

    I am 500/50, will probably up to fiber as soon as it’s available. But again not a lot of external traffic, hyper limited.

    So get a switch between the router/minipc/whatever and the rest of the local network instead of many on-board ethernet?

    • Saik0@lemmy.saik0.comEnglish
      6·
      15 days ago

      Then yes, you’d probably be fine with any competent minipc and your favorite flavor of firewall… I would recommend OPNSense personally, but there’s others out there that I’m sure would meet your needs.

      Just about any decent minipc can handle 1gbps from what I’ve seen a few years ago. You need much bigger horses to get up to 10gbps. But wouldn’t know what the minimum specs would be… I’ve been stuck in the higher end world for a while… So that information has kind of vanished from my memory… Someone else can chime in? I suspect the little baby n150 units could probably do 1gbps. Especially since you’re only doing minimal throughput on your wireguard as well (I have a few nodes and can push into 1gbps, so once again I’m resource heavy… and thus don’t have the lower requirements committed to memory anymore).

      ISP -> ARRIS modem -> minipc -> Switch -> anything else you need including access points.

      All of the “routers” that have wifi and a boatload of ports (unless we’re talking enterprise stuff) are all hybrid devices that are router+switch+AP, this is convenient for typical consumers, but quite restrictive for those who want to go prosumer or higher. For example… Wifi 7 just released last year. I swapped my AP out and now I have it. I can also mount that AP into the ceiling where it will give me the best coverage. Rather than the consumer answers of “replace the whole unit” or “add a shitton of mesh nodes that ultimately kind of suck” solutions that manufacturers love cause you spend more money on their products. Or other answers like you want to add a PoE device… well now that consumer unit is useless to you.