Need Some advice for home network

[rowdyjosh02]

So i of course my ISP modem/router which ill be bridging in time. But i need some advice on everything else connected to it lol.

I currently have a netgear x6 r8000 and ive had it for over 6 years and now moving house im wondering if its still a good router in terms of being able to play around with v lans for certain devices as it is my dads but i'm learning more and more in networking and am curious if would there be anything else that you guys or gals would recommend in replacing it or should i stick with it or add to it for that matter.

 

Many thanks

[rowdyjosh02]

3 minutes ago, rowdyjosh02 said:

So i of course my ISP modem/router which ill be bridging in time. But i need some advice on everything else connected to it lol.

I currently have a netgear x6 r8000 and ive had it for over 6 years and now moving house im wondering if its still a good router in terms of being able to play around with v lans for certain devices as it is my dads but i'm learning more and more in networking and am curious if would there be anything else that you guys or gals would recommend in replacing it or should i stick with it or add to it for that matter.

 

Many thanks

I also was considering making a pfsense router out of an old laptop i have and then maybe creating a new network setup with the netgear being more of a ap instead of a router or dhcp server but all depends if its worth the trouble if the x6 is still really good

 

[kirashi]

1 hour ago, rowdyjosh02 said:

So i of course my ISP modem/router which ill be bridging in time. But i need some advice on everything else connected to it lol.

I currently have a netgear x6 r8000 and ive had it for over 6 years and now moving house im wondering if its still a good router in terms of being able to play around with v lans for certain devices as it is my dads but i'm learning more and more in networking and am curious if would there be anything else that you guys or gals would recommend in replacing it or should i stick with it or add to it for that matter.

 

Many thanks

It depends on what you want to do with your network setup, which only you can answer by laying out a map of your devices configured the way you need them. That being said, I still run an R7000 from 2013? 2014? with Advanced Tomato firmware, so your R8000 is definitely still a viable option if you flash it with Fresh Tomato or another OpenWRT firmware variant. https://freshtomato.org/

[Gorgon]

1 hour ago, rowdyjosh02 said:

I currently have a netgear x6 r8000 and ive had it for over 6 years and now moving house im wondering if its still a good router in terms of being able to play around with v lans for certain ...

Depends on a lot of factors. It was a good router for it's time. The consensus was there were other routers that were slightly better at a lower cost (Asus RT-AC68U) but the NightHawk with it's Tri-Band was better for Wireless Throughput and keeping slower devices from dragging faster ones down.

 

It's major limitations these days will be it's slow 1GHz processor likely not being fast enough if you're connecting it to a Gbps Fiber service and it's lack of support of WiFi 6 and newer limiting you to AC3200. But if your still going to be on 50-500Mbps broadband at your new place and don't absolutely need WiFi6 speeds then it will be fine. If it ain't broke ...

1 hour ago, rowdyjosh02 said:

I also was considering making a pfsense router out of an old laptop

This just seems like a bad idea. I don't know much about pfsense (but I have worked in Enterprise networking for 30 years) but adding a second Network Interface Card to a laptop and expecting it to run 24x7x365 with all your data through it seems like a recipe for frustration.

Yes, get your ISP modem in bridged mode. That will streamline things. If you want to play with more advanced routing you could look at running OpenWRT or some other alternative firmware on the NightHawk or find a used SFF or Desktop for pfSense.

[rowdyjosh02]

56 minutes ago, Gorgon said:

This just seems like a bad idea. I don't know much about pfsense (but I have worked in Enterprise networking for 30 years) but adding a second Network Interface Card to a laptop and expecting it to run 24x7x365 with all your data through it seems like a recipe for frustration.

Yes, get your ISP modem in bridged mode. That will streamline things. If you want to play with more advanced routing you could look at running OpenWRT or some other alternative firmware on the NightHawk or find a used SFF or Desktop for pfSense.

I do have a spare desktop that could easily run pfsense so if thats the case would using the pfsense and the x6 as an ap and switch be better than flashing the firmware

 

I was considering doing a UniFi setup but pretty much all unifi stuff is like out of stock in my country (Australia so internet not great either) so im just weighing up my options of choice

[rowdyjosh02]

1 hour ago, kirashi said:

with Advanced Tomato firmware, so your R8000 is definitely still a viable option if you flash it with Fresh Tomato or another OpenWRT firmware variant. https://freshtomato.org/

is hard to flash firmware on routers, never done it before. 

[Gorgon]

2 hours ago, rowdyjosh02 said:

I do have a spare desktop that could easily run pfsense so if thats the case would using the pfsense and the x6 as an ap and switch be better than flashing the firmware

 

I was considering doing a UniFi setup but pretty much all unifi stuff is like out of stock in my country (Australia so internet not great either) so im just weighing up my options of choice

Going down using pfSense or Custom Firmware are two very deep Rabbit Holes. If your interested in learning more about routing then it is likely worth it but be aware that you WILL screw up your Internet connectivity while learning and this will annoy other people in the house.

 

Likely others can advise on the best hardware for pfSense but I'd consider a small system with two Intel NICs at a minimum. Honestly, if the NightHawk meets your current requirements it's likely still the best option.

 

MicroTik is another option for routing/firewall with likely less of a learning curve lower cost than UniFi. UniFi is great, I've considered it myself, but it works best when you go "all-in" and have UniFi switches and APs.

 

I'm running a Asus RT-AC66U on Tomato FW for my router and have a 68U as a second AP. But I also have complicated requirements on my LAN and many years experience with routing and IPtables and other firewalls so I didn't find it that difficult.

 

You could get your toes wet setting up an isolated segment off the NightHawk using pfSense on older hardware and once you feel comfortable look at upgrading the FW on the NightHawk or replacing it with pfSense or something else. It's always better to play with stull in a Development environment rather than in Production

 

I know from bitter experience that when I break the network at home my wife and two connected millennials start coming at me with the pitchforks and torches so it's always best to go for stability.

[rowdyjosh02]

2 hours ago, Gorgon said:

Going down using pfSense or Custom Firmware are two very deep Rabbit Holes. If your interested in learning more about routing then it is likely worth it but be aware that you WILL screw up your Internet connectivity while learning and this will annoy other people in the house.

 

Likely others can advise on the best hardware for pfSense but I'd consider a small system with two Intel NICs at a minimum. Honestly, if the NightHawk meets your current requirements it's likely still the best option.

 

MicroTik is another option for routing/firewall with likely less of a learning curve lower cost than UniFi. UniFi is great, I've considered it myself, but it works best when you go "all-in" and have UniFi switches and APs.

 

I'm running a Asus RT-AC66U on Tomato FW for my router and have a 68U as a second AP. But I also have complicated requirements on my LAN and many years experience with routing and IPtables and other firewalls so I didn't find it that difficult.

 

You could get your toes wet setting up an isolated segment off the NightHawk using pfSense on older hardware and once you feel comfortable look at upgrading the FW on the NightHawk or replacing it with pfSense or something else. It's always better to play with stull in a Development environment rather than in Production

 

I know from bitter experience that when I break the network at home my wife and two connected millennials start coming at me with the pitchforks and torches so it's always best to go for stability.

Thanks so much for the advice I really appreciate it. I do love learning all about networking so I hope I get a lot better with it in time.