Hardware for a 1Gbps Fiber?

[jj11]

Hi all,

I just signed up to a 1Gbps fiber service for home and I'm looking into what hardware I should get to make the best use of it. I've been checking out the Ubiquiti products and they look great, but there doesn't seem to be anything that really fits my needs.

My home setup is simple, as are my needs. I have a NAS and two wired computers, plus a bunch of wifi devices. Everything is in a single network and there's nothing fancy other than a few forwarded ports. I know all the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter products are overkill for my needs, but they're too sexy to resist.

I'm looking for something that could saturate the 1Gbps link, even though I know it's stupid because I'll never saturate it in practice. I'm just uncomfortable buying new kit knowing that it's a bottleneck. I'd like to minimize the number of boxes, so the ideal setup would be an ER-X-SFP plus a wifi router. However, I've read the ER-X-SFP tops out around 800 Mbps, which is too bad. I've read that offloading for the ER-X series is coming, but no word on when. The ERL apparently has the right performance, but then I'd also have to add a switch and a converter, which is a no-go.

My other option right now is a converter and a Netgear R7000. The R7000 is one of the few wifi routers that could saturate the 1Gbps link, but it doesn't support DHCP6-PD. That's not a huge problem, but it would be kind of nice if it did. Also, it's definitely less sexy than an Ubiquiti...

So, do you guys have any recommendations? Should I just go with the boring Netgear R7000, or are there other options I've missed?

 

[pete y testing]

then you need to buy a gate way comp and server software its that simple as there are no current domestic routers that get even close to those speeds in real world conditions

 

[System Error Message]

for embedded theres the mikrotik CCR1009 with SFP so you can use fibre optics straight to it. To saturate a 1Gb/s link you need 2Gb/s of forwarding and the edgerouters even with hardware acceleration cannot do NAT at 2Gb/s. The edgerouter 8/pro can though. The CCR1009 can do 5Gb/s of NAT (or more depending if you dont use PPPOE) and it does it with firewalls and with no fancy restrictive hardware acceleration. With no hardware acceleration none of the ubiquiti edgerouters can push close to 1Gb/s of NAT. For your needs, the CCR1009 has 8 ethernet ports, 2 SFP and ipv6 support (better than any consumer router) and doesnt need any fancy hardware offloading to max out your connection.

The other thing about ubiquiti edgerouter is that when you apply firewall rules (such as port forwarding) it doesnt do so at wirespeeds. Ubiquiti's wirespeed claim is from layer 3 forwarding with no rules which any router can do at wirespeed. Internet requires NAT. The CCR also has enough wired ports for stuff you want and the cheapest one should be fanless.

The other cheap alternative is x86 and you would have to install the OS for it such as pfsense or a linux server for example. This is a good option as unlike with mikrotik you can install software to give you UTM capabilities or you can install a UTM OS. Intel server NICs are highly recommended here (even used old ones).

Consumer routers will do the same speed as the ubiquiti edgerouters (except 8/pro) using hardware acceleration.

Get a mikrotik CCR or x86 and you will be very impressed. Get a ubiquiti edgerouter and you will be disappointed when you try to push for the full 2Gb/s that the link is capable of (1Gb/s up and 1Gb/s down), infact after you secure the router with firewall rules it may not be wirespeed. On the wifi side theres no reason you cant use ubiquiti but anything reliable is an option. Have you even seen mikrotik's 9xx series? They have integrated wifi and for some have multiple mini PCIe ports so you can upgrade your wifi or make a monster of a wifi AP. hardware wise both mikrotik and ubiquiti APs lack some hardware features that consumer APs have and that other business APs have. This has been asked before and even mikrotik's GUI is way better than ubiquiti's when it comes to configurations and mikrotik is way more flexible in network configurations than ubiquiti. I have the best both have to offer and i tend to get disappointed with ubiquiti's edgerouter.

The simple answer is mikrotik is a dedicated router whereas ubiquiti edgerouter is a MIPS based device that is debian linux based so even though you can install other things on the edgerouter would you want an old dual core MIPS rather than a new 9 core TILE CPU (it has 9 actual CPU cores not hyped cores that broadcom say) that some really big sites use (such as facebook). Whenever i post on ubiquiti forums about overclocking or downclocking their routers or even for more performance every post i get is a big no or disagrees with me but mikrotik lets you change the clocks on their routers and some you can overclock. Ubiquiti is so reliant on hardware acceleration that they wont even use the version of their CPU with more cores (their MIPS CPU manufacturer has 8 and 16 core variants) and their argument is that most dont even have 1Gb/s internet and that hardware acceleration is good enough for their customers (who arent consumers and would definitely be using all sorts of configs, QoS and such). Both routers are 64 bit. x86 is the best route though but the NIC choice is important for both CPU usage and throughput.

 

[jj11]

Thanks for pointing out the CCR1009, I wasn't aware of it. It's pretty impressive, but it is also almost 5 times the cost. Even the ER8 is cheaper! At that price point, it becomes hard to justify for my needs.

 

[microchip]

My other option right now is a converter and a Netgear R7000. The R7000 is one of the few wifi routers that could saturate the 1Gbps link, but it doesn't support DHCP6-PD. That's not a huge problem, but it would be kind of nice if it did. Also, it's definitely less sexy than an Ubiquiti...

The Xvortex firmware for the R7000 supports PD. Just so you know. And in my opinion, it's superior to the stock firmware

 

[jj11]

The Xvortex firmware for the R7000 supports PD. Just so you know. And in my opinion, it's superior to the stock firmware

Good to hear! Does that firmware support the hardware offloading, though? I read the performance of the router with dd-wrt is way worse because the kernel module for hardware offloading is proprietary.

 

[microchip]

Yes, it supports hardware acceleration

btw, PD is only available on the WAN side. Not sure if you want it on the LAN side too.

 

[System Error Message]

5x the cost but for the same price point in an unfair performance comparison. In a fair comparison the CCR is cheaper than a consumer router just on raw throughput not to mention it has a lot of other features you dont normally find on other routers or even x86 such as the bridge/layer 2 firewall. This is for the embedded space and if you use CPU connected ports it supports multiple different LACP configurations.

As i did say the best option is x86 because it wins in features, price, performance and configurability. You can get used intel server dual/quad NICs cheap and also add a wireless NIC. Not as power efficient or as good as the R7000 or AC68U in wifi performance but its all in 1 device. it really depends on what you need. In my opinion if you're going for ubiquiti edgerouter you might as well consider a consumer router as performance wise they are equal and features not very different if you use RMerlin's firmware. The only advantage the edgerouter has is that it can run other software and linux scripts which although consumer routers can but the edgerouter can run any debian compatible software compiled for MIPS 64 bit so when you dont need throughput the edgerouter is an option. The other good thing about using x86 with linux is that you can use cups and xsane for a driverless print and scan server so only the router needs the drivers installed and this alone makes it way better than any consumer router combined with unparalleled NAS performance.

3rd party firmware dont have hardware offloading but RMerlin's firmware uses the same binaries as ASUS firmware so its not as foreign as dd-wrt or openwrt so it keeps the stock performance while adding some impressive features such as IPTables but since you're going with hardware offload that would be useless to you.

 

[jj11]

Thanks a lot for your input, guys, I really appreciate it! I think I'm going to start out with the R7000, it's a better match for my needs and budget (both money and time). I'll certainly keep an eye out for future mikrotik and ubiquiti products, though!