With all this talk of networks, thought people might be interested in an ethernet switch I recently bought - a TP-Link TL-SGL108e "smart" switch
- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K4DS5KU/

It's not quite a managed switch but not a dumb switch, with a decent web
GUI, supports VLANs and link aggregation - and it's $26.99 on Amazon
last I checked on sale for 40-something percent off.

I'm using it to segregate my homelab on its own VLAN. I want my Windows
AD test environment segregated off from the rest of the network, and I
want to aggregate 2 gig ports on my Proxmox server.

I'm not ready to go 2.5GBe yet on my junkyard homelab, this was a nice
purchase at the full price.



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On Wed, 7 Aug 2024 13:10:00 -0700, you wrote:

With all this talk of networks, thought people might be interested in an ethernet switch I recently bought - a TP-Link TL-SGL108e "smart" switch
- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K4DS5KU/

Now that's kinda where I was going with my prior questions.

Could I run from the wall to my server's first NIC with pfsense installed on it. then create two VLANs, one for the rest of the VMs on the server machine, and the other for the second NIC on the server machine, connected to something like that, which would feed my other 3 PCs in the house.

I'm not ready to go 2.5GBe yet on my junkyard homelab, this was a nice purchase at the full price.

I think it's safe to guess it's still a ways out as far as anything higher than gigabit being normal for everyday households.

Regards,
Nick

... Take my advice, I don't use it anyway.
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Accession wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

On Wed, 7 Aug 2024 13:10:00 -0700, you wrote:

With all this talk of networks, thought people might be interested in an ethernet switch I recently bought - a TP-Link TL-SGL108e "smart" switch
- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K4DS5KU/

Now that's kinda where I was going with my prior questions.

Could I run from the wall to my server's first NIC with pfsense
installed on it. then create two VLANs, one for the rest of the VMs on
the server machine, and the other for the second NIC on the server machine, connected to something like that, which would feed my other 3
PCs in the house.

I may have the terminology wrong, but if you can run multiple VLANs on
one interface with pfSense, then you could connect pfSense to one
switch port, tell the switch that it's a trunk port (or assign all the
VLANs to that port), then assign the other ports on the switch to, say,
a server LAN or a home LAN - and traffic would be isolated to that
VLAN.

I've had people set that up at work, I'm just starting to play with it
with OpenWRT as my primary router at home.

I'm not ready to go 2.5GBe yet on my junkyard homelab, this was a nice purchase at the full price.

I think it's safe to guess it's still a ways out as far as anything
higher than gigabit being normal for everyday households.

Regards,
Nick

... Take my advice, I don't use it anyway.
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On Thu, 8 Aug 2024 11:47:00 -0700, you wrote:

I may have the terminology wrong, but if you can run multiple VLANs on
one interface with pfSense, then you could connect pfSense to one
switch port, tell the switch that it's a trunk port (or assign all the
VLANs to that port), then assign the other ports on the switch to, say,
a server LAN or a home LAN - and traffic would be isolated to that
VLAN.

I know for a fact I have the terminology wrong, but it seems all three of us are basically describing the same thing (with different words, of course.. lol).

I don't even need two separate VLANs. I would just need a cable from the wall to the ESXI machine running pfsense AND 2-3 BBS related VMs, then from there a cable to some kind of 4 or 8 port switch (whether it be an actual switch, or router in passthru mode or something), then wire up 3 other PCs from said switch. One VLAN for everything would be fine.

Regards,
Nick

... Take my advice, I don't use it anyway.
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Re: Ethernet switches
By: poindexter FORTRAN to All on Wed Aug 07 2024 08:10 am

I'm not ready to go 2.5GBe yet on my junkyard homelab, this was a nice purchase at the full price.

I didn't think many computers had more than a gigabit Ethernet port. I built my main desktop PC in 2019, which I don't think is that long ago, and I'm using the ethernet on the motherboard, which is 1.0 gigabit. I suppose there are probably PCI Express 2.5GBe cards I could buy, and I guess after 5 years, it may be more common to have faster than 1.0 gigabit Ethernet on a motherboard.

Nightfox

Accession wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

I don't even need two separate VLANs. I would just need a cable from
the wall to the ESXI machine running pfsense AND 2-3 BBS related VMs,
then from there a cable to some kind of 4 or 8 port switch (whether it
be an actual switch, or router in passthru mode or something), then
wire up 3 other PCs from said switch. One VLAN for everything would be fine.

Got it. If you have multiple IP addresses available from your provider,
you could create an address space and a virtual switch, and assign the
BBS VMs and the WAN port of the firewall to that switch. Create another
virtual switch for the LAN port and wire everything up there.

If only one external IP, you'd do the usual thing of having the WAN port
on one side of pfense, all the clients on the LAN side, and enable NAT
to reach specific ports on the LAN clients.


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Nightfox wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

I didn't think many computers had more than a gigabit Ethernet port. I built my main desktop PC in 2019, which I don't think is that long ago, and I'm using the ethernet on the motherboard, which is 1.0 gigabit. I suppose there are probably PCI Express 2.5GBe cards I could buy, and I guess after 5 years, it may be more common to have faster than 1.0
gigabit Ethernet on a motherboard.

I watch a lot of homelab videos on YouTube, PCIe 2.5gb cards are getting
cheap. You can make a pretty decent NAS out of an old Dell i7 desktop, a handful of drives, and a 2.5gb card or two.



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On Sat, 10 Aug 2024 13:26:00 -0700, you wrote:

If only one external IP, you'd do the usual thing of having the WAN port on one side of pfense, all the clients on the LAN side, and enable NAT
to reach specific ports on the LAN clients.

This would be the route taken, since I don't have multiple IP addresses. Seems like it would be a nice setup, though.

As I originally said, I just got this router late last year - upgrading to an Asus AX88U Pro which replaced an older model Asus AC68U. Works great with Merlin's firmware, but it did take me awhile to pull the pin and buy it.

I hemmed and hawed at the price tag at the time and waited till Amazon knocked like 20% off for black friday or something like that. So to know that there is a free software option available is badass. Next time I don't want to drop upwards of $300 on a router, it's nice to know I have other avenues to explore. :)

Regards,
Nick

... Take my advice, I don't use it anyway.
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Re: Ethernet switches
By: Accession to poindexter FORTRAN on Sun Aug 11 2024 08:32 am

As I originally said, I just got this router late last year - upgrading to a Asus AX88U Pro which replaced an older model Asus AC68U. Works great with Merlin's firmware, but it did take me awhile to pull the pin and buy it.

I've been binge-buying old routers lately, trying to find a nice OpenWRT candidate for my office router and AP for our top floor. Found an ASUS RT-AC1750, similar to your AC68U, but no OpenWRT support. Nice parental controls and a decent looking interface. Looks like I probably wouldn't need to run OpenWRT on it.

Picked up a Netgear R8000, but it's got a Broadcom chipset and OpenWRT doesn't like them. I may pawn it off on someone who wants a router from home and can use the OEM firmware.

Finally found a Linksys WRT1900AC. I already have a WRT1900ACS, they have some cool features - an OpenWRT-supported chipset and dual firmware images. Brick the router, power it on 3 times and it'll flip to the backup firmware.

Mind you, these were all in the $15 to $20 range at a local tech-friendly thrift shop. I should quit while I'm ahead and buy a new Wifi 6-capable router down the road.
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On Sun, 11 Aug 2024 14:36:38 -0700, you wrote:

I've been binge-buying old routers lately, trying to find a nice OpenWRT candidate for my office router and AP for our top floor. Found an ASUS RT-AC1750, similar to your AC68U, but no OpenWRT support. Nice parental controls and a decent looking interface. Looks like I probably wouldn't need to run OpenWRT on it.

I'm just going out on a limb here, but I assume the AC band is enough for your office?

Picked up a Netgear R8000, but it's got a Broadcom chipset and OpenWRT doesn't like them. I may pawn it off on someone who wants a router from home and can use the OEM firmware.

Yeh, I don't care for Netgear anything these days, to be honest.

Finally found a Linksys WRT1900AC. I already have a WRT1900ACS, they
have some cool features - an OpenWRT-supported chipset and dual firmware images. Brick the router, power it on 3 times and it'll flip to the
backup firmware.

I used to love those older Linksys routers that looked like this one. I think my last one of those was a bit older than the AC1900, but it flashed DD-WRT, OpenWRT, and Tomato firmwares perfectly fine, even back then.

Mind you, these were all in the $15 to $20 range at a local
tech-friendly thrift shop. I should quit while I'm ahead and buy a new Wifi 6-capable router down the road.

While you may not need Wifi6 right now, I would at least suggest going the AX over AC route. The more and more wireless devices we got in this house (and you don't even realize it, but a wife and 2 kids, each with phones, daughter's laptop, a couple smart TVs that I don't care to run wires to, etc.. it adds up fast!), my AC68U started hating me, getting hot, dropping wifi randomly, etc.. It was definitely time. It still ran fine when there's not 20 devices trying to connect to it. So I kept it in case I ever need or want an AP. *shrug*

Regards,
Nick

... Take my advice, I don't use it anyway.
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Re: Ethernet switches
By: Accession to poindexter FORTRAN on Mon Aug 12 2024 05:59 pm

I'm just going out on a limb here, but I assume the AC band is enough for your office?

Home Office. More than fine. It's mostly running Roku boxes and phones.

I used to love those older Linksys routers that looked like this one. I thin my last one of those was a bit older than the AC1900, but it flashed DD-WRT, OpenWRT, and Tomato firmwares perfectly fine, even back then.

While you may not need Wifi6 right now, I would at least suggest going the A over AC route. The more and more wireless devices we got in this house (and you don't even realize it, but a wife and 2 kids, each with phones,

For now I have a WRT1900ACS on one floor and a R6400 on the other floor. The R6400 is dealing with a NAS and Proxmox cluster. I see more drops from Comcast than on my local network.
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On Mon, 12 Aug 2024 23:22:36 -0700, you wrote:

I'm just going out on a limb here, but I assume the AC band is
enough for your office?

Home Office. More than fine. It's mostly running Roku boxes and phones.

So long as you don't hit whatever device limitations the AC band has, you should be fine.

I see more drops from Comcast than on my local network.

That's a given. I have Spectrum here, and while I must admit they're quite stable.. However, any time the internet goes out I check my stuff first, which is usually fine. :)

Regards,
Nick

... Take my advice, I don't use it anyway.
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