RRAS vs. everything
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@alex.olynyk said in RRAS vs. everything:
I know this is off-topic but for those of you using Ubiquiti ER-X for your home router, does that replace your cable/FIOS router?
Or does it sit behind it?
It sits behind it. It is only an Ethernet router. The ER-X can only forward ~500mbps, so be aware of that if you're lucky enough to have fiber!
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@travisdh1 said in RRAS vs. everything:
Well, @scottalanmiller's normal suggestion is VyOS when talking about setting up your own software router. Someone want to give a few details of that SuperMicro running the NTG lab? (40gbps routing for not gobs of cash make me happy.)
It's a 1U SuperMicro with a quad core Xeon with hyperthreading and 12GB RAM. Latest VyOS installed on hardware RAID 10 with an LSI controller and I think 512MB cache. No need for that hardware RAID, it was already in the box so we didn't remove it
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@alex.olynyk said in RRAS vs. everything:
I know this is off-topic but for those of you using Ubiquiti ER-X for your home router, does that replace your cable/FIOS router?
Yes it does.
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@travisdh1 said in RRAS vs. everything:
@alex.olynyk said in RRAS vs. everything:
I know this is off-topic but for those of you using Ubiquiti ER-X for your home router, does that replace your cable/FIOS router?
Or does it sit behind it?
It sits behind it. It is only an Ethernet router. The ER-X can only forward ~500mbps, so be aware of that if you're lucky enough to have fiber!
Why behind it? That's an extra hop and more things to fail. We only do "behind it" when doing portable networks, which is rare.
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@scottalanmiller said in RRAS vs. everything:
@travisdh1 said in RRAS vs. everything:
@alex.olynyk said in RRAS vs. everything:
I know this is off-topic but for those of you using Ubiquiti ER-X for your home router, does that replace your cable/FIOS router?
Or does it sit behind it?
It sits behind it. It is only an Ethernet router. The ER-X can only forward ~500mbps, so be aware of that if you're lucky enough to have fiber!
Why behind it? That's an extra hop and more things to fail. We only do "behind it" when doing portable networks, which is rare.
So it's a cable modem now?
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@travisdh1 said in RRAS vs. everything:
@scottalanmiller said in RRAS vs. everything:
@travisdh1 said in RRAS vs. everything:
@alex.olynyk said in RRAS vs. everything:
I know this is off-topic but for those of you using Ubiquiti ER-X for your home router, does that replace your cable/FIOS router?
Or does it sit behind it?
It sits behind it. It is only an Ethernet router. The ER-X can only forward ~500mbps, so be aware of that if you're lucky enough to have fiber!
Why behind it? That's an extra hop and more things to fail. We only do "behind it" when doing portable networks, which is rare.
So it's a cable modem now?
No, the ER-X is not a cable modem. It doesn't have a coax input. But it does replace a router when possible.
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@travisdh1 said in RRAS vs. everything:
@scottalanmiller said in RRAS vs. everything:
@travisdh1 said in RRAS vs. everything:
@alex.olynyk said in RRAS vs. everything:
I know this is off-topic but for those of you using Ubiquiti ER-X for your home router, does that replace your cable/FIOS router?
Or does it sit behind it?
It sits behind it. It is only an Ethernet router. The ER-X can only forward ~500mbps, so be aware of that if you're lucky enough to have fiber!
Why behind it? That's an extra hop and more things to fail. We only do "behind it" when doing portable networks, which is rare.
So it's a cable modem now?
A modem and a router are very different things. The question was replacing a router, and the answer is "yes", don't keep an extra router just to have an extra router. That you have a bridge for media transition is a different question and is a bridge function, not a routing one.
For FiOS, there is no bridge (what you call modem), it's direct ethernet, so ONLY a router... which you should always remove.
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@Dashrender said in RRAS vs. everything:
But it does replace a router when possible.
Which is always possible. It's only a bridge that it can only replace sometimes
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@Dashrender said in RRAS vs. everything:
@travisdh1 said in RRAS vs. everything:
@scottalanmiller said in RRAS vs. everything:
@travisdh1 said in RRAS vs. everything:
@alex.olynyk said in RRAS vs. everything:
I know this is off-topic but for those of you using Ubiquiti ER-X for your home router, does that replace your cable/FIOS router?
Or does it sit behind it?
It sits behind it. It is only an Ethernet router. The ER-X can only forward ~500mbps, so be aware of that if you're lucky enough to have fiber!
Why behind it? That's an extra hop and more things to fail. We only do "behind it" when doing portable networks, which is rare.
So it's a cable modem now?
No, the ER-X is not a cable modem. It doesn't have a coax input. But it does replace a router when possible.
In a lot of cases, ISPs are now supplying cable modem/router/wifi all in one devices to customers. Cox for example now does this if you want - OR you can get a plain cable modem that has no router/firewall/wifi options and supply your own.
i don't know how FIOS works, it's not in my city, so I've never seen one. Is the FIOS box similar to a plain cable modem with no other features, or is it at least an option? if not, do they have the option to put it into bridge mode basically turning off all of those features?
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@scottalanmiller said in RRAS vs. everything:
@travisdh1 said in RRAS vs. everything:
@scottalanmiller said in RRAS vs. everything:
@travisdh1 said in RRAS vs. everything:
@alex.olynyk said in RRAS vs. everything:
I know this is off-topic but for those of you using Ubiquiti ER-X for your home router, does that replace your cable/FIOS router?
Or does it sit behind it?
It sits behind it. It is only an Ethernet router. The ER-X can only forward ~500mbps, so be aware of that if you're lucky enough to have fiber!
Why behind it? That's an extra hop and more things to fail. We only do "behind it" when doing portable networks, which is rare.
So it's a cable modem now?
A modem and a router are very different things. The question was replacing a router, and the answer is "yes", don't keep an extra router just to have an extra router. That you have a bridge for media transition is a different question and is a bridge function, not a routing one.
For FiOS, there is no bridge (what you call modem), it's direct ethernet, so ONLY a router... which you should always remove.
Ah, I completely missed the router instead of modem, apparently I'm a little bit distracted this morning
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@scottalanmiller So if I am getting FIOS I can use the ER-X instead of the FIOS router supplied by Frontier?
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@Dashrender said in RRAS vs. everything:
In a lot of cases, ISPs are now supplying cable modem/router/wifi all in one devices to customers.
But it is always the bridge, not the routing, functions that you need from them. And in those cases, you can almost always disable everything but the bridge.
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@Dashrender said in RRAS vs. everything:
i don't know how FIOS works, it's not in my city, so I've never seen one. Is the FIOS box similar to a plain cable modem with no other features, or is it at least an option? if not, do they have the option to put it into bridge mode basically turning off all of those features?
There is no box for us, just Ethernet running into the house. Literally... no box on our side of the demarc. No bridging needed.
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@alex.olynyk said in RRAS vs. everything:
@scottalanmiller So if I am getting FIOS I can use the ER-X instead of the FIOS router supplied by Frontier?
Correct. But it depends how you had it wired. What line is going into the Frontier box? Frontier does direct Ethernet, but might add a cable line just to mess with you.
An ER-X is an all ethernet router... that should answer any questions about it. It's not a cable bridge. But if you have cable with FiOS, then you have two bridges going on just to trick you. As FiOS doesn't come over cable and has no reason to be provided as cable.
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@Dashrender said in RRAS vs. everything:
Is the FIOS box similar to a plain cable modem with no other features, or is it at least an option?
Yes, you can OPTIONALLY get a ridiculous and useless bridge just to be weird. ANd people do all the time.
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@Dashrender said in RRAS vs. everything:
@thwr said in RRAS vs. everything:
I thought about deploying RRAS for my now "six-feet-under" UAG, but I didn't want to buy new licenses and CALs. So I've went for SoftEther, a multiprotocol VPN server. The administration is a bit odd, but once you get used to it...
There are a few pitfalls: You can't use AD authentication when running on a Linux host, for example. RADIUS can help here.
From what I can tell from the few days I'm running it, SoftEther is doing a good job and works pretty well with the built-in Windows SSTP client.
PS: I've choosed SoftEther because it was the only available Linux SSTP server. SSTP was a hard requirement.
That's an interesting requirement. How old of Windows are they running? Doesn't Windows 8 and newer support IPSec VPN?
SSTP can connect even in most restrictive environments, because it just needs TCP/443.
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@scottalanmiller said in RRAS vs. everything:
@Dashrender said in RRAS vs. everything:
Is the FIOS box similar to a plain cable modem with no other features, or is it at least an option?
Yes, you can OPTIONALLY get a ridiculous and useless bridge just to be weird. ANd people do all the time.
Where does FIOS terminate the ethernet? the box outside your house?
i.e. where is the dmark that converts from fiber to ethernet? Shouldn't be more than 100 m from YOUR router.
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@Dashrender said in RRAS vs. everything:
@scottalanmiller said in RRAS vs. everything:
@Dashrender said in RRAS vs. everything:
Is the FIOS box similar to a plain cable modem with no other features, or is it at least an option?
Yes, you can OPTIONALLY get a ridiculous and useless bridge just to be weird. ANd people do all the time.
Where does FIOS terminate the ethernet? the box outside your house?
Yes, it's ethernet to the box, and ethernet to the house. Fiber can carry ethernet to the doorstep now, no need for something different.
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@scottalanmiller said in RRAS vs. everything:
@Dashrender said in RRAS vs. everything:
@scottalanmiller said in RRAS vs. everything:
@Dashrender said in RRAS vs. everything:
Is the FIOS box similar to a plain cable modem with no other features, or is it at least an option?
Yes, you can OPTIONALLY get a ridiculous and useless bridge just to be weird. ANd people do all the time.
Where does FIOS terminate the ethernet? the box outside your house?
Yes, it's ethernet to the box, and ethernet to the house. Fiber can carry ethernet to the doorstep now, no need for something different.
You've lost me, and now I'm at a loss for the correct words - what is the CAT5e, etc cabling called versus the fiber cable? Fiber of course can be miles or more long.. but CAT 5e, etc definitely can't be.
The ER-X only supports RJ45 plugs... so where does the cable convert from fiber to CAT5e, etc cable? -
@Dashrender said in RRAS vs. everything:
@scottalanmiller said in RRAS vs. everything:
@Dashrender said in RRAS vs. everything:
@scottalanmiller said in RRAS vs. everything:
@Dashrender said in RRAS vs. everything:
Is the FIOS box similar to a plain cable modem with no other features, or is it at least an option?
Yes, you can OPTIONALLY get a ridiculous and useless bridge just to be weird. ANd people do all the time.
Where does FIOS terminate the ethernet? the box outside your house?
Yes, it's ethernet to the box, and ethernet to the house. Fiber can carry ethernet to the doorstep now, no need for something different.
You've lost me, and now I'm at a loss for the correct words - what is the CAT5e, etc cabling called versus the fiber cable? Fiber of course can be miles or more long.. but CAT 5e, etc definitely can't be.
The ER-X only supports RJ45 plugs... so where does the cable convert from fiber to CAT5e, etc cable?Well, CAT5e and Fiber, is one set of terms. Copper vs fiber? Not sure what you are looking for. Ethernet comes equally over copper and fiber.
