Need a basic rackmount router for my home

[jjminch]

Good morning.

I bought a networked house and I'm a bit of an AV geek, but lack some knowledge on the networking side. I have two Linksys AP on each end of my home for wifi duties. They're being fed by a 2015 era ASUS RT-N53.

Consistently my wifi drops, and I don't think it can handle as many clients as we have connected. I'm looking for a rackmount router that can handle 30 devices or more, and is relatively easy to setup. I won't be doing VPNs or multiple networks. Just looking for a standard firewall and the ability to prioritize devices since my service is slow.

My service provider is only giving me 100 mbs, but I'll be upgrading to the max which is 300 mbs.

Most everything on network is just simple Apple devices or laptops. Would like to add IP cameras later.

Currently looking at MikroTik RB3011 and Ubiquity Unifi Gateway Pro. Prefer MikroTik due to price. I understand these aren't plug in play from Walmart, but is there a somewhat simplified setup with any of them if not using all the features?

Any thoughts on these or others I should be looking at?

 

[Deepcuts]

Get a rack mount mITX compatible case.
Build yourself a decent x86 router. Add your choice of router distro (hint: IPFire)
You will be more than pleased with the results and on the + side, you will learn something new.
I don't say MT is bad. But I only use MT for business deployments.

 

[sfx2000]

Consistently my wifi drops

Fix the WiFi drops first - this has nothing to do with the router...

Few options for rack-mount - pfSense has a couple, but they are spendy...

 

[System Error Message]

as sfx said, you should fix your wifi drops first. You'll definitely need a new router though.
Both mikrotik and x86 based routers are equally difficult. If you dont understand what you're doing it will be frustrating. I've had experience with mikrotik for 7 years already.

First regarding your wifi, how are your APs connected? Are your linksys connected to your asus via ethernet or wifi? If it is via wifi, connect them via ethernet first and see if that solves the problem, if it is already connected via ethernet, you should try changing the firmware (try updated stock firmware first, if it doesnt work, a 3rd party firmware thats stable). When it comes to other firmware, tomato is usually more stable in wifi than openwrt but has a limited device set that it works on. With openwrt however not all wifi chipsets are stable on it. For instance tp link has so many hardware variants containing different wifi chips for the same model that you need to see the chart of which variants have no issues for wifi and which do. Typically openwrt doesnt work well with realtek wifi chipsets.

When deciding between a router, mikrotik lacks features you will find on a x86 based router like pfsense but it is more of a dedicated router. The featureset is limited (no DNSCrypt which is something i consider major and other good features) but as far as routing goes it does very well in that. So if you need flexible routing mikrotik is the best at that but if you dont need to do any complicated routing (like a complicated VPN setup) than going with x86 is better.

 

[thiggins]

No need to spend $$$ for rackmount. Just get a rackmount shelf.

 

[jjminch]

as sfx said, you should fix your wifi drops first. You'll definitely need a new router though.
Both mikrotik and x86 based routers are equally difficult. If you dont understand what you're doing it will be frustrating. I've had experience with mikrotik for 7 years already.

First regarding your wifi, how are your APs connected? Are your linksys connected to your asus via ethernet or wifi? If it is via wifi, connect them via ethernet first and see if that solves the problem, if it is already connected via ethernet, you should try changing the firmware (try updated stock firmware first, if it doesnt work, a 3rd party firmware thats stable). When it comes to other firmware, tomato is usually more stable in wifi than openwrt but has a limited device set that it works on. With openwrt however not all wifi chipsets are stable on it. For instance tp link has so many hardware variants containing different wifi chips for the same model that you need to see the chart of which variants have no issues for wifi and which do. Typically openwrt doesnt work well with realtek wifi chipsets.

When deciding between a router, mikrotik lacks features you will find on a x86 based router like pfsense but it is more of a dedicated router. The featureset is limited (no DNSCrypt which is something i consider major and other good features) but as far as routing goes it does very well in that. So if you need flexible routing mikrotik is the best at that but if you dont need to do any complicated routing (like a complicated VPN setup) than going with x86 is better.

Thanks for the detailed reply.

The Linksys AP are connected via Ethernet PoE to a Linksys switch. The switch then goes direct to the Asus router (which has its wireless turned off) and then to the modem of course.

There are no firmware updates for the router. I’ve tried resetting it to factory defaults (not that I had many changes) and to no avail. Also tried running just one AP direct to router (avoiding switch to troubleshoot that) and had the same problem.

The WiFi drops happen with Apple mobile devices much more than anything else (laptops, amazon devices). Not sure if that helps anything.

There is a tomato firmware for the router, but I saw a few posts on how it bricked devices and people were unable to restore them. If I had a backup router I’d be more apt to try this option but I don’t. No OpenWRT for it.

I have no plans for a complicated vpn setup. If pfsense or ipfire can be configured for a pretty “standard consumer” network with firewall easily then I’m open for that.

 

[jjminch]

For a rack mount case, I assume something like this will work?

https://m.newegg.com/products/N82E16811192433

I’m looking for a recent how to with a shopping list for a mini itx build. There are just so many motherboard options I’m not sure what to pick for a basic build. I know it doesn’t need a massive quad core setup but still. If anyone has a link or recommendation, feel free to post it.

Also the Linksys AP I’m using are these, firmware on them is current. I’m using two, one master and one slave setup with only one network.

https://www.linksys.com/us/p/P-LAPAC1200/

 

[degrub]

For a rack mount case, I assume something like this will work?

https://m.newegg.com/products/N82E16811192433

I’m looking for a recent how to with a shopping list for a mini itx build. There are just so many motherboard options I’m not sure what to pick for a basic build. I know it doesn’t need a massive quad core setup but still. If anyone has a link or recommendation, feel free to post it.

Also the Linksys AP I’m using are these, firmware on them is current. I’m using two, one master and one slave setup with only one network.

https://www.linksys.com/us/p/P-LAPAC1200/

Why "master" and "slave" ? Are these not just two identically configured APs running off the POE switch ?

 

[jjminch]

Why "master" and "slave" ? Are these not just two identically configured APs running off the POE switch ?

They’re identically configured. The master and slave is how the default Linksys software is configured to set them up. In other words you put your network name, password, and whatever other options you want into the master. Then all those changes flow down into the slave devices. Everything is identical but with this you only access one to make changes to all of them.

 

[coxhaus]

If you think you need a bigger router because you have so many active clients then you probably need internet bandwidth as well. And since you were going to upgrade any way I would do that before buying new equipment. See if it help at all. Besides you want to buy your new router using the higher bandwidth any way.

 

[Deepcuts]

For a rack mount case, I assume something like this will work?

https://m.newegg.com/products/N82E16811192433

I’m looking for a recent how to with a shopping list for a mini itx build. There are just so many motherboard options I’m not sure what to pick for a basic build. I know it doesn’t need a massive quad core setup but still. If anyone has a link or recommendation, feel free to post it.

Also the Linksys AP I’m using are these, firmware on them is current. I’m using two, one master and one slave setup with only one network.

https://www.linksys.com/us/p/P-LAPAC1200/

That case looks nice. Note that it does not include a PSU.
I would go with a H270 board with intel nics like https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-H270N-WIFI-rev-10#kf
An i3 7100T CPU for its 35W while still decently powerful. Also has AES-NI for fast VPN
A Noctua CPU cooler for silence https://noctua.at/en/nh-l9i. Make sure the case has some holes above the CPU fan for intake.
Any DDR4. I am using 16 GB but 8 GB should do.
Any SSD. I am using a Samsung EVO 960 250 GB nvme but I realize it is overkill