Home Network Setup

Hi all,

Please share pictures of your home network setup.

My setup is as follows:


1 x UniFi Security Gateway 4 Pro (Router)
1 x UniFi Switch 24 POE-250W (Managed Switch)
1 x UniFi AP-AC-LR (Wireless Access Point) - will add another for greater coverage
1 x Unfi Cloud key Controller (Management of the network remotely)
1 x Huawei HG612 VDSL2 Modem
1 x Samknows Whitebox

Pictures:

https://i.ibb.co/5vcnVtW/image1.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/dtQRGxy/image2.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/j6DgZ6N/image3.jpg

Neat

Don't forget to post in the Unifi Community Stories section at https://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi-Stories/con-p/Un...

My current home setup is in flux at the moment and is likely to remain so for the next few months until FTTP becomes available. When it's pretty, I might take a photo. I use a Unifi UAP-AC-LR too.

In the next week or three I should be able to get some better pictures of other home setups I've done recently. This is one, but it needs a dust and a better camera.

Cabinet.jpeg

Despite clear instructions, the local folks that wired the patch panel ignored my request to group APs together so there's no logic to the patch panel whatsoever. I didn't get to see what they'd done until it was too late;

CabinetBefore.jpeg

On the plus side, there was less dust back then

Cables are colour coded: Blue is wifi access points and controller, silver is audiovisual, red is VLAN for the ISP's streaming television service and black is general computers.

At some stage it's likely that a Mac Mini will find its way in there as a Plex media server.

The site has 5 x UAP-AC-LR and one UAP-AC-M-Pro outside.

I'm there next week so will see if I can sort that out. The blue Raspberry Pi runs the Unifi controller and also acts as a syslog server for other devices. It sends email alerts when there's a power cut too.

It's fitted with an industrial grade SD Card and in the near future I'll upgrade the log storage to a USB RAID array - which is what I do at home.

Very nice. Love the way everything is arranged. Is that a 19U rack?

I have to get a UPS as well. On the to-do list for now.

Thanks,

I'm glad you like it, thank you

Yes, it's 19" rack from Canford. Ethernet cable is Canford too. Unfortunately the location isn't deep enough for a 600mm depth rack so it's 450mm - which meant having to go for the lower end Synology as the other ones are too deep to fit in the rack.

This next one is part way through another home set up. It's advanced considerably since this photo was taken but I haven't been able to get another photo recently. It's still waiting for a rack but I can't get in as there's someone temporarily living there;

BlameItOnQuinn.jpeg

Progress1.jpg

The UPS in the second picture will eventually go in the bottom of the rack and the red sockets are powered from the UPS. This site has;

1 x UniFi Switch 8 POE-60W (main)
1 x UniFi Switch 8 (in the sitting room powered from the UAP-AC-IW-PRO)
1 x UniFi AP-AC-In Wall (bedroom)
1 x UniFi AP-AC-In Wall Pro (sitting room)
1 x Unifi Cloudkey
1 x WatchGuard M200 Firewall
1 x Mac Mini - local file server
1 x Apple Time Capsule
2 x Gigaset N300 IP DECT base stations
1 x Invoxia Voice Bridge - landline to mobile bridge

DMZ:
1 x Netgear ProSafe Plus GS105E (will eventually be replaced with Unifi)
2 x Raspberry Pi - one as DNS server/UPS monitor, the other as RADIUS/Duo 2FA and syslog server
1 x Mac Mini - host for virtual servers (with SSD)

When I get a chance to put the rack in and tidy everything up, I'll take some more pictures.

If you're spending so much why not go the whole hog and buy the UniFi-HD wireless access point instead of the lower spec AC-LR? The latter is only 2x2 stream whilst the HD is 4x4. By going for the HD you may not need further APs.

In reply to a post by baby_frogmella:

If you're spending so much why not go the whole hog and buy the UniFi-HD wireless access point instead of the lower spec AC-LR? The latter is only 2x2 stream whilst the HD is 4x4. By going for the HD you may not need further APs.

The house is very large and all on one level. We would need at least four internal access points regardless of the spec beacuse of the internal walls, some of which are structural. Having more access points also improves 5GHz coverage where speed is really needed.

The other thing to note is that with this site, the equipment (except for the UAP-AC-M-Pro) was ordered over two years ago (so long ago that the UAP-AC-LR only work with 24V passive PoE) and the Nano HD is much newer. The Nano HD is also aimed at higher client density than will ever be needed here so the extra expense isn't justifiable.

As for the greater speed, the internet coming in is currently only 12Mbps although FTTP (up to Gigabit) is scheduled by the end of next year.

Fair enough, though my question was really to max360

For a FTTP line I would seriously consider a 4x4 stream access point. It doesn't even have to be UniFi, Linksys do a high end 4x4 stream access point such as this

https://www.linksys.com/gb/p/P-LAPAC2600C/

Edited by deleted (Sat 01-Dec-18 10:14:22)

Ooops. I missed that

@ baby_frogmella The reason I choose AC-LR was due to its range and it�s positioned in the centre of the house, it covers all 3 floors, expect the very end of my kitchen due to a structural wall.
Another AC-LR would cover the entire house. Can I mix/match AP�s?

@ caffn8me
Great job, very neat setup there.
What�s UPS would you recommend for my setup please?

I would be switching to FTTP as well as soon the FTTP service become available in my area. Contractors of Openreach tested the light/signal level of the fibre last week on the pole.

Later version of UAP-AC-LR are also 802.3af PoE+ compatible

Edited by max360 (Sat 01-Dec-18 11:32:50)

In reply to a post by max360:

@ baby_frogmella The reason I choose AC-LR was due to its range and it�s positioned in the centre of the house, it covers all 3 floors, expect the very end of my kitchen due to a structural wall.
Another AC-LR would cover the entire house. Can I mix/match AP�s?

Yes you can mix & match APs but considering you'll have FTTP in the future, you should have gone for the higher spec HD AP - it has better wifi radios (higher throughput & better range) than the AC-LR.

Nice setups everyone. im in the process of building out my home network and working towards a 10g network for no other reason than because i can

This is my current setup

1x Unifi SW-8-POE 150w
1x Unifi SW-8-POE 60w
1x Unifi USG-4P-Pro
2x Unifi AP-NanoHD
1x Unifi AP-XG
1x CloudKey (i want to upgrade to a gen2 soon)
1x Invoxia Voice Bridge
1x Powerwalker 1200W 2200VA UPS

a selection of unmanaged gigabit switches as well to make up the missing ports until i can get a SW-16-XG and SW-48-POE 500w

And to much connected smart home stuff to list until i get more time.

Edited by Robin1989 (Sat 01-Dec-18 17:29:36)

In reply to a post by baby_frogmella:

you should have gone for the higher spec HD AP - it has better wifi radios (higher throughput & better range) than the AC-LR.

Better throughput, yes if the client supports more than 2x2 MIMO or using lots of clients simultaneously.

As for range, the UAP-AC-LR has antenna gains of 2.4 GHz: 3 dBi, 5 GHz: 3 dBi and the UAP-nanoHD 2.4GHz: 2.8 dBi 5 GHz: 3 dBi

In other words, the antenna gain is less in 2.4GHz on the UAP-nano-HD. I suspect that the range won't be any better. Yes, it has a theoretically higher transmit power, but that can't be legally used in the UK anyway and, besides, it doesn't help picking up weaker signals from distant clients. That's what you need better antenna gain for and why the UAP-AC-LR is called 'Long Range'.

I haven't actually played with a UAP-nanoHD but if I do, I'll report back. My standard survey access point is a UAP-AC-LR so I'd be able to do a direct A/B comparison.

I have two more potential projects in the pipeline at the moment and the UAP-nanoHD may be the right choice for one of them.

In reply to a post by max360:

@ caffn8me
Great job, very neat setup there.
What�s UPS would you recommend for my setup please?

Thank you I like to make things neat and tidy because it makes ongoing maintenance much easier.

I really rate the APC Smart-UPS 750VA - either the LCD version (as seen) or the older model. I use several of each in different locations - including at home. They're pretty bomb proof. I've had older lower range APC models (Back-UPS) die, and not because of battery failure. I do have one in the rack pictured - primarily because I had it spare and brand new and, secondly, because the space isn't wide enough to fit a third Smart-UPS.

One site has 2 x Back-UPS Pro 900 and these have proved to be reliable with a slightly longer runtime than the equivalent Smart-UPS 750. This model was chosen because the place it was to be installed wasn't quite wide enough to fit the Smart-UPS 750. These don't have hot swappable batteries though.

Internet and wifi continue to work for about an hour and a quarter after power is cut. This happened last time I was there when the smart meter was being replaced and the chap from EDF couldn't get the new one to communicate with base.

The APC Smart-UPS 750VA models (and other VA ratings in that range) allow hot-swapping of the batteries which can be a really useful feature. I usually disassemble the battery pack when it dies and replace the batteries with Yuasa ones. They last longer than the APC supplied batteries.

I use apcupsd on the Raspberry Pi to monitor the UPS status and alert when the mains power status changes or the battery needs changing. I also get alerts of self tests on a weekly basis.

Does this help?

Edited by caffn8me (Sat 01-Dec-18 22:54:43)

That�s very helpful. Many thanks, much appreciated.

In reply to a post by Robin1989:

Nice setups everyone. im in the process of building out my home network and working towards a 10g network for no other reason than because i can

And why not, indeed?

Yours looks like a very nice setup. I'll soon be able to get 10Gbps FTTP at home, although that's going to have to wait for a while as it's £600 per month and I have more pressing things I need to spend money on at the moment.

I only have one site with a CloudKey and it's now telling me there's no SD card fitted. It started doing this after the last firmware upgrade. This is likely to be a corruption issue and I won't know until I get physical access again.

I don't think I'm going to bother with the CloudKey in the future, certainly not the first generation. I often have a Raspberry Pi onsite anyway for other functions and it can easily be used as a Unifi controller. To address the SD card corruption issue I've started using ATP aMLC and Transcend SuperMLC industrial SD cards. They're very much more expensive but are less prone to corruption. I'm also using compact USB flash drives in a RAID array for log storage (/dev/md0 below);

robusta:~ $ df -k
Filesystem     1K-blocks    Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root        7680696 4523344   2812704  62% /
devtmpfs          470116       0    470116   0% /dev
tmpfs             474724     128    474596   1% /dev/shm
tmpfs             474724   12324    462400   3% /run
tmpfs               5120       4      5116   1% /run/lock
tmpfs             474724       0    474724   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
/dev/mmcblk0p1     43436   22547     20890  52% /boot
/dev/md0        29412348 2541632  25353612  10% /var/log
tmpfs              94944       0     94944   0% /run/user/1000

This makes it quite economical, resilient and still compact.

The Voice Bridge works well on the two sites I've set one up but home on the back burner I'm building my own VoIP system with Asterisk running on a Raspberry Pi and a dedicated FXS/FXO gateway. This is for a project which will happen when fast acceptable internet arrives, but it's a late C17 manor in a rural notspot (currently it has flaky ADSL at about 3Mbps) and it's outside the scope of the ongoing county-wide broadband access project at the moment. I do have a solution which involves a point-to-point link (probably Unifi NanoBeam over 4km) but that means getting friendly with someone in the next county where there is good FTTC so they can host a connection and end link.

The walls between adjacent rooms are four feet thick in places and made of granite so wifi and DECT phones are useless. I can get wifi around through the roof spaces with access points above the celing in each 'compartment' and then I can use wifi VoIP phones to access the landline.

I'm currently running:

Virgin Media SH3.0 in modem mode, 350/20
1x USG 3P
Various Unifi Switches
2x UAP-AC-LR
2x UAP-AC-Pro
Lots of Unifi Cameras
Server (i7 8700, 32GB RAM, 62TB of HDDs, running Unraid with Plex, Ombi, Radarr, Sonarr, etc)

https://imgur.com/TIengJF

In reply to a post by caffn8me:

The APC Smart-UPS 750VA models (and other VA ratings in that range) allow hot-swapping of the batteries which can be a really useful feature. I usually disassemble the battery pack when it dies and replace the batteries with Yuasa ones. They last longer than the APC supplied batteries.

How long do the Yusa batteries last for? - i.e. how often do you have to replace them?

I'll have to look when I get back home. I'm sure I've got some Yuasa ones over four years old. The APC supplied batteries are a generic Chinese brand and I have had them die in about 3-4 years [piccy].

Nice

This is turning into a bit of a Unifi themed thread but folks shouldn't feel they can't post with other brands of equipment.

Nice One

Another on the Unifi bandwagon

1 x Huawei MT992 (located at front door)
24 port patch (4 ports per room and 2 at front door)
1 x Unifi USG3
1 x Unifi 24 port managed switch (not POE)
1 x Netgear JGS254 24 port unmanaged switch
4 x POE injectors (one for modem at front door)
3 x Unifi AC lite AP's (Front, middle and back of house)
2 x Raspberry Pi (1 x running Unifi controller, 1 x Environmental monitor and UPS controller)
1 x Swann CCTV system
1 x Synology RS816 NAS (16TB)
1 x APC SMT 750VA UPS

Will try and pop a pic up later but as it's all crammed in/around a 6U cab it's a bit of a mess (and in my attic!!)

Next step is a second cab and split things between the 2 units - UPS, router, CCTV with a new POE switch (prob the Unifi 16 port-150W) and extra patch panel in one and the NAS, RPi's, main switch and patch panel in the other. Hindsight is always 20:20 and should have bought a bigger rack at day one, but due to space and noise I wanted to keep it all away from the main bedrooms...ho hum we live and learn

Very nice setup you have there. Can Raspberry pi also monitor the temperature or does it need an add-on?

Cheers...wife will probably lynch me if she new the total cost

Pics of rack as currently is..(hope links work)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tbkf7h9jn14lz7o/Rack%201%2...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6f745ccsjq6l2xv/Rack%201%2...

As for temp monitoring on the pi....sensor connected to the GPIO...

https://thepihut.com/products/waterproof-ds18b20-sen...

Simple script to allow checking of the temps.

Initially I also had a relay to mange some cooling fans but have scrapped this and the UPS now manages this itself (AP9631 card). The PI just monitors the room temps.

Edited by NGDragon (Tue 04-Dec-18 19:18:05)