Posted February 4, 2016 I've been doing some research on routers over the last few days and I like the Ubiquiti line of products. However I cant really tell the difference between their Router x and Router Lite (besides the obvious port differences). Could someone explain what the difference is -- And why someone would want one over the other? Also why would I want either when compared to something like the linksys ACS1900 (ignoring the AP functionality)? Thanks, Elliott35 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted February 4, 2016 I haven't played around with the ERX as we don't bother selling them however as far as I am aware the ERX is more of a switch running a virtual router meaning it doesn't have the same hardware acceleration leading to lower throughput. The ERLite is the base model of their proper routers that has some hardware acceleration enabling higher throughput. You also don't get DPI or traffic analyis as the hardware can't support it. This is due to the design of the DPI hardware offloading. From what I understand, you'll get about 800Mb-900Mb TCP throughput bi-direction on the ERX while the ERLite can do full gigabit duplex. The ERX is basically a budget version of the ER with cut down features and performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted February 4, 2016 The only real reason to buy a Ubiquity router would be if you need the features. I think it was @Windspeed36 who stated that some of the more advanced features were difficult to setup if your not knowledgeable. I would assume that the edge router would be more stable in the terms that lots of traffic would most likely not bog it down. Where as some of the cheaper consumer stuff can get bogged down easily and possible require a restart. Ive heard the Qos (quality of service) actually works on these, where most consumer routers fall short here. Also, keep in mind the edge routers are not plug in play. I actually watched a setup video on YouTube, there is a little more in terms of configuration before you can get it to work for you. @Windspeed36 you seem like the expert so correct me if Im wrong. You might be better of getting a good consumer grade router. Just because it would be more plug and play and unless you running an insane amount of traffic on your network, it should work fine. I just want to sit back and watch the world burn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted February 5, 2016 Author I'm not an expert, but i'm no dummy either. I have setup other network peripherals such as Freenas servers and feel pretty confident that i could setup the Ubiquiti hardware. Im just falling short on what makes them better. From what im getting is that the lite in particular is going to be faster and more reliable? Does the ACS have anything (besides the ap) that the Ubiquiti stuff doesn't? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted February 5, 2016 26 minutes ago, elliott35 said: I'm not an expert, but i'm no dummy either. I have setup other network peripherals such as Freenas servers and feel pretty confident that i could setup the Ubiquiti hardware. Im just falling short on what makes them better. From what im getting is that the lite in particular is going to be faster and more reliable? Does the ACS have anything (besides the ap) that the Ubiquiti stuff doesn't? As I mentioed, the ERX is a switch that is running a virtual router whereas the ERLite and ERL's product family (ER5, ER8 and ER8 Pro) are routers with the hardware built to run a router. There is an electrical difference between routers and switches however I won't go too in depth on that. If you are interested though, have a look at the study material for CCNA's ICDN 1 exam or have a look at Chris Brynat's CCNA course on Udemy. The ERX is designed as an entry level to the Ubiquiti switching hardware and is not designed for high load, mainly SOHO use whereas the ERLite and above are designed for advanced SOHO, SMB and enterprise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted February 5, 2016 Author I have a decent (power user) load on the network. I have 2 NAS drives, one of which runs Plex, 10 computers, 6 phones, and a bunch of smart home stuff: Hue lights, harmony remote, nest, Sonos, ect. In your opinion would I notice a difference between the ACS1900 and the ERL? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted February 5, 2016 Thats hard to say. The edge router is built for business. The Linksys router claims DDWRT support which means its going to have some similar features. I believe CPU wise the Linksys router is better. However Im not sure how this will compare to the Edge router, because the edge router doesn't have wireless built in. I guess it comes down to features in the firmware. I haven't used a edge router and Its been a very long time since I used DDWRT. Which I remember having a metric S Ton of features. Installed it on an old WRT54G. I would figure out which features you need and how much works you will want to put in. I looked at pricing and the Edge router is cheaper. With the Linksys router you are paying for wireless and feature that sounded like you would not be using. Edge router requires more configuration to get running. The Linksys router is more plug and play. You might check out some info on smallnetworkbuilder.com. See where you can compare the metrics you want to. Linksys and Ubiquiti products are both listed. I just want to sit back and watch the world burn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted February 5, 2016 Author I wish there were more benchmarks on these things. Im most interested in them from a pure performance standpoint. I want whatever one will be the fastest and most reliable Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted February 5, 2016 Author What do we think of this benchmark? http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/tools/charts/router/bar/76-total-simul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted February 5, 2016 How about getting a 1Gbps switch and put it between your devices and your router? This way you'll have full gigabit on the LAN and not have to worry about the CPU/RAM in the router unless you're doing stuff over the WAN (in which case your ISP uplink is probably going to be the bottleneck). -KuJoe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted February 5, 2016 Author I have a 24 port gigabit switch. But i was under the impression that the bottleneck with that is the connection to the router. is a 24 port switch essentially 1Gbps/24 if all ports are populated? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted February 5, 2016 6 minutes ago, elliott35 said: I have a 24 port gigabit switch. But i was under the impression that the bottleneck with that is the connection to the router. is a 24 port switch essentially 1Gbps/24 if all ports are populated? If all of the devices are on the switch (and the same subnet without any VLAN voodoo) you shouldn't need to touch the router. Most 24 port switches will have at least a 24Gbps backplane meaning all ports should theoretically be able to push 1Gbps at all times, at least I think they should because I can't recall any consumer 24 port switches off hand so there's a good chance yours is SMB or enterprise. For future reference, including the make and models of your hardware will help us out a lot in answering specific questions. Without the information about your switch I'm just making an assumption. -KuJoe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted February 5, 2016 Author I cant remember the specifics, ill look tomorrow. But it is not a managed switch. So if I have a router plugged into the switch and everything else on the network also plugged into the switch as well would I be able to for example get full gigabit throughput to my NAS from a computer? I was under the impression that the traffic would have to be routed through the router that handles the DHCP clients. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted February 5, 2016 Author I dont even know if that question makes sense... lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted February 5, 2016 16 minutes ago, elliott35 said: I cant remember the specifics, ill look tomorrow. But it is not a managed switch. So if I have a router plugged into the switch and everything else on the network also plugged into the switch as well would I be able to for example get full gigabit throughput to my NAS from a computer? I was under the impression that the traffic would have to be routed through the router that handles the DHCP clients. It won't need to go through the router unless the switch doesn't know where the device is. Layer 2 switches handle "routing" via MAC address so if it knows the MAC address and nothing is in place to prevent the ports from talking to each other it won't bother going to the router. I ran these two quick tests on my desktop using iperf (2.0): Desktop to NAS via switch (unmanaged cheap 1Gbps TP-LINK 8 port PoE switch): [ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth [ 3] 0.0-10.0 sec 858 MBytes 720 Mbits/sec <--- Upload [ 3] 0.0-10.0 sec 876 MBytes 734 Mbits/sec <--- Download Desktop to NAS via switch then router (desktop is plugged into the same switch above, switch is plugged into router, NAS is plugged into router): [ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth [ 3] 0.0-10.0 sec 718 MBytes 601 Mbits/sec <--- Upload [ 3] 0.0-10.0 sec 793 MBytes 665 Mbits/sec <--- Download For reference: Switch: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BP0SSAS Router: http://routerboard.com/CRS125-24G-1S-2HnD-IN NAS: https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/DS115j EDIT: I added both upload and download speeds for comparison. -KuJoe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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