Router opinion needed...

ThomasPI

ThomasPI

Pulling my weight
May 9, 2017
304
212
Looking to the future for a new BI setup and the fact the Apple is getting out of the router business as in they'll no longer be producing the Airport Extreme, I started to search for a new router that would work well with my current setup which is using an Apple Airport Extreme. It Airport does what it is designed to do reasonably well. It does not however support the option to set up a VPN. In the not too distant future when we build a new house, I'll be adding a dedicated machine for BI and what will be about a 12 camera system. The thought being running the BI machine on the VPN. As to my networking skills, VERY limited and I've never had an issue setting up a simple home network using the Airport extreme with several machines connected via WIFI.

I came across a router made by Synology that is of interest. In reading, it will pretty much be an easy setup and transition from my current Airport and I'm sure that won't be an issue. Looking into the future, I'd want to setup a VPN to connect the BI machine to. This router also has built in VPN features. In short, I want to transition away from the Airport and transition into equipment that will work well with my current setup and allow for seamless integration in the future. Lastly, ideally so easy that "a monkey could do it". I need something that is as "plug and play" as possible. I do not have the technical knowledge to tweak routers and software. Granted it may not be the "ideal choice" for folks with the knowledge to tweak setups to eek out every ounce of performance possible, I am looking at this from the EASE of setup and FUNCTION stand point for someone with very limited knowledge. I've been running nothing but Mac's for 30 plus years and I do have a decent Dell Laptop for business use and will be adding a desktop machine which will strictly dedicated to BI and my camera setup, nothing more and with the location of that machine, I'll be able to use a direct Ethernet connection since all of the equipment will be in one central location.

With that, here is a link to the review I found on 9 to 5 Mac dot com and a you tube video.




LINK TO ONLINE REVIEW BELOW:

A possible AirPort Extreme replacement? Hands-on with the Synology RT2600ac [Video]
 
I saw this reviewed on Know How . They have reviewed a lot of Synology products. Having never used them my self. I can only go on what I have seen and read. With that said. It appears to be a fairly easy to use device. It should be fine for what you want to do. Here is a more in depth view of the router.
Know How... 293 Networking 101: Router WiFi Setup | TWiT.TV

Know How does tend to get quite geeky. Just giving you a fair warning. ;)
 
Swapped out my Airport Extreme for an Asus RT-AC68U and very happy with it.
 
Thanks folks. I'll either go with the new ASUS or the Synology. The house we are building is a 2 story so I'll keep the Airport and add it as a second router if I have strength of signal issues anywhere in the house. Primary router will be up in my office. Since it's new construction, I may as well add in a few extra patch panels in the house just incase. No time like the present. I went to the ASUS and Synology sites, and I will say the Synology site has a lot of software aimed at the Mac OS which is my primary OS. My laptop is a Dell for business use and when I get the cameras up and going I'll have a second PC desktop for nothing more than a BI machine.
 
I'm also shopping for new router. My Linksys EA6300 (AC1200) is overheating on me and dropping connections. I need a recommendation of something other than Asus. I just tried an Asus RT-AC87U and the 5GHz dropped on me after two days. Also the router runs very hot. Second time I have an issue with Asus. Thanks.

This is for a 12 camera setups with 2 wireless bridges and a bunch of IoT sensors, so something heavy duty would be nice.
 
Do you need a router with wireless or one with out? If you want one with wireless. You can look at the Synology 1900AC or 2600AC. Synology Inc.

I personally like Ubiquiti. They are don't have wireless built-in to their routers. Ubiquiti Networks - Products Or their Unifi products. Ubiquiti Networks - Products The Edge Max are standalone units. The Unifi units are managed by a central controller. A little fancy for home use but I like it.
 
Some router talk: Just to put a bug in your ear - I am a big fan of Tomato Shibby (Tomato by Shibby » Alternatywne oprogramowamie na routery) firmware for routers as opposed to manufacturer firmware. It has been bulletproof for me over the last 5 years or so. I am using a Netgear R7000 router, and it has also been bulletproof for me.

I use the access restriction feature to block all of my IP cams from accessing the public Internet. If I want to open it up, say for a firmware update or something, I can, and then lock it back down. You can do this be MAC address or IP address, depending on how you want to. This saves concerns about no-name-o cameras with unknown quality firmware calling home to somewhere, even by trying to change their IP address to one that is not locked down, in addition to any inbound camera hackers. So, my BI server can talk to them, but nobody who is not on my network can.

Through the Tomato firmware, I have a VPN set up with OpenVPN (OpenVPN - Open Source VPN) on it and the OpenVPN client on android devices to connect remotely to the network to run the Blue Iris Android app securely. I have Open VPN set to use a 256-bit AES encryption. Effectively, nobody who cares what I am doing has the horsepower to brute-force crack the encryption. (At this point, anyway. Not to get into a long security discussion, but I see this as being much more secure than I need by FAR.) This also enables me to not expose a port pointing to Blue Iris onto the public Internet. Not that I have a concern that Blue Iris is not secure in how it deals with unauthorized login attempts, but this makes it so I don't have to be.

Please think about something like this. The best part is that Tomato and OpenVPN are all open source!
 
  • Like
Reactions: luder888 and DavidDavid
Ubiquiti has that small Edgerouter-X (I believe?) that is under $100. Has robust firewall and high reviews. Could always add AP's down the road.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom