Home Network Setup / Spec - help please

[Mike G]

Hi all,

Been a while since I posted on here but always found the community very helpful!

Getting towards the end of a full refurb and need to buy some networking gear. I'm after some help/advice on things to look out for and what gear to buy. Ideally want to keep costs as low as possible.

I've purchased a 12U rack, just so I have plenty of space for future upgrades and it's in the garage so no issues with space, heat, sound!

Will be going Virgin fibre, have run lots of cat6 throughout the house, so have 20 outlets for various points, mainly where TVs are going.

Currently have;
12U rack
Cat6 24 port patch panel
Rack mounted power strip

Need to spec;

- 24 port switch (no idea if I need an unmanaged or managed) - no need for POE I at this stage I don't think. Looks like £100 might be enough here?
- decent router as I hear the Virgin one is useless for WiFi? Looks like £120ish might be enough here?
- some kind of security / firewall - do you think this is nessessary? No clue on budget here.

In the future will probably add the following;
- 4 or 5 camera CCTV setup
- 2x Sonos Amps
- wireless access point (depending on results)

Regards

Mike

 

[hominid]

I would say that an un-managed switch will be fine for your needs, basic would be a TP Link TL-SG1024 or a bit more Netgear JGS524-200EUS - both are basic 24 port switches.. The more you spend the more features you get, which for an un-managed switch, would be a waste, you just want to fit and forget so I don't think it's worth it for you to spend any more than £100 on one.

A POE switch might be useful for those access point(s) even if it's a couple of ports.

As to a firewall again it's up to you, for 90% of people I would say it's not needed but your setup isn't what the 90% of people normally need - so that's for you to decide, you can always add later if you feel the need.

You could use a couple of the runs for access points and keep the virgin router, I don't know anything about cable routers so someone else can help there.

The only problem with running a rack in the garage is damp, are you sure it'll be fine in there?

 

[Mike G]

Decided to go with the following equipment for anyone interested. Slightly less labour intensive than Ubiquiti gear and fair amount cheaper.

Cisco RV340
Cisco SG250-26HP
TP-Link EAP225 (X3) with free OC200 controller
Mike

 

[Juicy Jama]

Would not have thought I would read budget and Cisco in the same thread

 

[Avalon]

Decided to go with the following equipment for anyone interested. Slightly less labour intensive than Ubiquiti gear and fair amount cheaper.

Cisco RV340
Cisco SG250-26HP
TP-Link EAP225 (X3) with free OC200 controller
Mike

Based on the initial post, a £200 dual WAN router and a near £400 non managed (but with limited management) switch seem like very strange choices, especially when stating you went with £70 TP-Link PoE AP’s because they were ‘cheaper’.

 

[neil_g]

Cisco also less labour intensive than ubiquiti?

 

[the-evaluator]

All but equal I'd say.

Those Cisco boxes aren't IOS boxes so all the config is done through a GUI which is easy enough. Ubiquiti stuff is a doddle if you want to do the stuff that's exposed in the GUI, it gets more complicated if you want to do command line stuff due to the maddening way CLI stuff works with Ubiquiti kit.

 

[neil_g]

True I guess (although cisco ui leaves a lot to be desired, and I'm not a huge fan of ubi ui either). Mind you op original requirement doesn't sound like he'll be using any of the ubi features hidden by the cli.