Everything

[UtwigMU]

I managed to revive my RB4011 using netinstall from Linux. Ports were not giving out DHCP and I turned off the lights in webfig so it appeared dead.

[VJ]

Ubiquity has launched a new USG Express, which is a router with wifi point (no switch). Still, would have been a potential option at my inlaws... But the Asus routers were already bought, are installed and work very well. The Asus routers even manage to have a good wireless backhaul connection, which I did not expect given their locations. Still, we repurposed a network cable in order to have a wired backhaul (with the wifi as backup).

Probably the Unify router would get more expensive as in my inlaws' setup we really need 2 switches and 2 access points. It may be an interesting upgrade for me, as it could later be repurposed as a wifi access point, but the USG I have is still going strong, as is my access point and it seems pointless to upgrade if it does not add much (it does not have deep packet inspection, something my current USG has but at the expense of bandwidth: it then drops to 80 Mbps).

However, I've read that it may be possible in Orange to add your own GPON (and there are SFP+ GPONs for this purpose), so in that case the more expensive Dreamrouter would be an ideal option to replace both the USG and the operator's router. Fun to search those network things, but pointless to change if it all works fine...

[VJ]

my wallet stepped in and bought a

I just ended up ordering two Asus TUF3000v2 routers to set up a mesh at my in-laws. It was quite a good offer and will suffice for them, although I'm annoyed because last year I ordered two Asus RT-AX92u for the same price (and those have higher specifications for wifi and usb, only thing the new ones have over them are 2.5GBit wan and teaming support). So it is beginning to look like features/developments have stalled, just like we are seeing with computers and mobile phones.

At home, it is tempting to upgrade, but I have no need to do so. My Unify USG is doing very well (stable, fast enough), I only cannot enable deep package inspection as that would limit my throughput to 85Mbps; and my DLink switch (DGS-1216) is now 12 year old and still going strong (a 16 port professional smart switch which I got in an amazing offer, and it still is covered by warranty!).

So for now my intention is to upgrade one computer next year, when the next generation of cpus comes out, and delegate the current computer as a file server - to finally make order with that. It has 1 m2 slot and 6 sata slots (it also has the obsolete standard sata express), so enough for quite a number of disks, and if necessary a sata controller is easily added (4 pcie slots). It also has 2 PCI slots, one of which is used for a PCI SCSI controller to which a scanner is connected, which would be much better positioned where I would plan to install it. My recent sudden loss of my phone (mainboard failure) made me realize I don't have a good enough file storage/backup mechanism, it is too much to maintain with manual copies and syncs with laptops, cameras and phones.
Best is to just get a dedicated system that takes care of it. I have the plans on how/what to organize it all, but need the hardware to implement it.

[Umfriend]

my wallet stepped in and bought a

ROFL, nice.

[UtwigMU]

I have a dead RB4011 (replaced with hAP AC3).

[TransformX]

So, the bad news: a lightning storm partially fried my Lancom 2310P (at least two ports died, no longer trust POE).

The kind of good news: my wallet stepped in and bought a Mikrotik RB4011 with AdGuard home docker to save the day.

[TransformX]

No fiber yet, but the computer is up and running!

https://imgur.com/a/GSf3VnS/layout/grid

[Umfriend]

The plan is to run Type-1 hypervisor and host whatever I need as virtual machines. Considering those VMs are mostly going to be 'appliances' their footprint ought to be minimal, bare bone (server) linux and the platform/server/application installation.

Clear, you should be good to go then

[TransformX]

Yes, it became so much easier for ISPs to rent you equipment now that everything at home uses wireless 'internet' and nobody wants to bother understanding how the 'magic' actually works.

[VJ]

Great to hear!
Mine only offers their modem-router and no support or specifications on third party GPON solutions. For now I'm not bothered and just managing with a double NAT, but if at one point I would decide to update the router, I may look more into it. Luckily I'm not renting it, it was just a symbolic purchase with permanent warranty from their side (no monthly fees attached to the router, it gets replaced when needed).

A few years ago I went with a Ubiquiti Secure Gateway router and an access point as I was a bit fed up with the consumer routers. It is a great device, but it is a bit underpowered. I bought it just before Ubiquiti came out with the DreamMachine which can do 3.5 Gbps DPI, whereas mine can only reach 85 Mbps; and just before my ISP installed FTTH and bumped me from 80 Mbps DSL to 300 Mbps.
My old router went to my inlaws, to replace their failing router. But now they need a new solution (my old one is also failing at their place). However, for them we would just go with a nice Asus AI mesh solution like I got my parents. I was tempted of passing down my Ubiquiti, but it would get too expensive: I would need to get them a second access point, a switch (the Ubiquiti Security Gateway has no built-in switch) and then get an access point and router for me - or I would have to go back to a consumer router. So now just getting them the Asus mesh, and I'll replace my router when necessary.

[TransformX]

Thanks!

Just checked with a friend and he said the ISP sells a GPON spf that should be compatible with my gear.
Hopefully this way I can avoid renting any crappy gear.

Still doing homework. I also see the ISP is selling a cheap TPLink fiber-copper, so I suppose getting the GPON sfp would be enough.

[VJ]

That is not always possible. Some operators limit which optical device you can use (and which GPON standard). I would love to replace my ISP router, but as it is FTTH and the operator is not open to other optical devices, there is no guarantee it will work. I've read mixed stories on such attempts of clients of my ISP, but mostly it turned out to be frustration...

[TransformX]

Since my Lancom GS-2310P has a fiber optic interface, I hope to avoid any and all ISP equipment.

The basic idea is to have all the copper based ports with no VLAN while the port with the SFP will be assigned a VLAN accessible only to the Router VM.

So the 'center' is the switch, Internet data goes as tagged packets from the SFP port to and from the copper port of the Mini-PC, while LAN data isn't tagged on the switch.

[VJ]

Yes, if not much is happening on the server, it should be no issue. I assumed there would be more VMs that may require traffic (NAS-interface, local media server, ...).

With the 2 GB subscriptions, they clearly add that it is 1 GB per device: the FTTH-modem-router supports only 1GB ports on LAN side (and no teaming), so putting your own router behind the FTTH-modem-router would limit the speed to 1GB.

[TransformX]

Fiber didn't arrive just yet but I'm expecting anything between 200Mbps to 2.5Gbps to be available.
The 'cost' of using a single 1Gb NIC for all traffic means that I will be able to achieve more than 700-800Mbps (TCP) download speed at best, assuming I get a 1Gb line.

If I can get a 500Mbs-1Gb line for a reasonable price, I'll be very happy with that.
There isn't much happening on my Wifi internally other than MusicCast or streaming an occasional movie from my PC to the TV.
Other expected VM might be Pi-Hole which is a DNS server, so very low traffic there.