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Where do I start with networking? (piefed.social)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Ek-Hou-Van-Braai@piefed.social to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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I've gotten into selfhosting and have 3 mini PC's

ODROID H4+ for TrueNAS
One for Home Assistant
and another for Immich and Nextcloud

They're all just plugged into the router my ISP provided with network cables.

I'd like to get a managed switch or a router of my own that can function as a switch and router

I'll be putting everything in a 10" rack at some point so it has to fit.

Any suggestions or tips would be appreciated, I've done some research and looked at options but unsure what is right/wrong

I'm especially stuck on what Hardware to get. Is 2.5ghz managed switch overkill? Should I get PoE for future use?
What brands are good, what should be avoided?

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[-] 9tr6gyp3@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I freakin love OpenWRT. I used it for a solid 5-6 years on some consumer grade routers and learned a lot about managing networks.

Ive since moved to more powerful enterprise network gear because OpenWRT opened that door for me and taught me what is possible. I might not ever go back to it, but I will always recommend OpenWRT to people who want to rice out their routers and get the most out of it.

[-] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

As a home user, what additional features have you found useful on enterprise networking equipment? Just because what I'm doing is already ridiculously complex doesn't mean it can't be more so.

[-] 9tr6gyp3@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Its more about the hardware than software.

  • Able to have enough processing power to utilize the max speed that my ISP provides, while having IDS/IPS and other services enabled.
  • Port segregation so that each port can be on its own network with a full speed backplane.
  • PoE capabilities
  • SPF ports to utilize both fiber and copper connections
  • Multiple networks across many wireless access points
[-] spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

Thanks for that list. No need here for more advanced hardware so I'll have to put off networking upgrades until I can come up with a reason to justify it.

this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2025
49 points (96.2% liked)

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