Advice & Questions (looking at MicroTik & Ubiquiti...or?)

[mikebunting]

Greetings all. I am currently living in Seoul, South Korea. I'm looking at adding a new router that will better take advantage of the internet speeds I have been blessed with over here (500MB) and could use some advice.
I currently use an Asus RT-N66U, with Sabai Technology OS 6.0, coupled .

I've been trying to do my research and have basically narrowed down my choice to one of the following three options:

Option 1) MicroTik CCR1009

Option 2) Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Pro

Option 3) Wi-Fi Router (D-Link AC3200, Netgear R7000, Netgear X6, or Netgar X8)

Now, for the questions...

1) If I go with the MicroTik or Ubiquiti...will they work well with my current switch (Cisco SG300-20)?

2) Of the two options, which would be easier to manage/admin? Or are they about the same (lots of CLI work)?

Thanks for any and all help!

 

[Cloud200]

1) yes
2) Generally speaking the Ubiquiti is easier to work with as long as you update to the latest firmware.
The mikrotik has more in-built features such as Radius server and finer traffic shaping.

If you are just going to use the router as a gateway, maybe some port forwarding etc. but no traffic modification like QOS . . . even the ER-3 would work fine.

 

[System Error Message]

The difference between choosing mikrotik and ubiquiti is:
- Software NAT throughput (including firewall, QoS performance, etc)
-VPN throughput
-support

mikrotik has better QoS and vpn throughput but has worse suppot whereas for ubiquiti to get the same performance it has to use hardware acceleration but at least hardware acceleration on ubiquiti it still can use hardware acceleration with configurations.

Ubiquiti can become a radius server if you installed a debian package for it. For ubiquiti you get to use it as a dual core MIPS server. So one is a hardcore router while the other is more versatile.

 

[coxhaus]

When you setup your SG300-20 switch use L3 mode and run the router off an access port. The switch comes default in L2 mode so you will need to change it.

 

[mikebunting]

Thank you all for the advice and knowledge you have each shared with me. Much appreciated!

I'm leaning towards going with the ubiquiti.

Additional questions:

1) Can I use (2) ubiquiti routers (either 2 X ER-3's ......or..... 1 X ER-PRO & 1 X ER-3) on the same network?

Each would be running/connected via Cat6 cable from my KT Olleh GiGa Modem (located in my comm closet). One ubiquiti router would be located in my home office while another ubiquiti router would be located in my media room. Each would likely be connected to a switch (1 X Cisco SG300-20 & 1 X Cisco SG300-10). Each would also have an access point connected to it as well, most likely a Unifi UAP-Pro.

If going with the dual ubiquiti routers on the same network would cause problems...I can probably get by with one...but at this time, but I would prefer to have 2 running if at all possible.

Many thanks once again...

 

[coxhaus]

I would think one router would work. Use your switches to divide up your local network. Use ACL access control list to limit access between VLAN networks.

 

[System Error Message]

You only need 1 router. I find that mikrotik works better in a complicated environment because it lets me give multiple IP addresses to a single network interface and i can have 2 network interfaces with the same IP or that are part of the same network. So mikrotik is more flexible if you have multiple layer 3 networks otherwise ubiquiti can handle it. If you are partitioning your network using vlans than just add the vlan interface in ubiquiti otherwise if you are doing layer 3 segmentation, mikrotik does better there.

So while you can have 2 routers on the same network the only reason for it is for redundancy and you would have to configure them using some weird stuff they have that you would find in enterprise routers. Ive never exactly tried to do redundancy with no client config but im sure there are a few experienced enterprise network people around here. If you're just doing segmentation than you dont need to have 2 routers.

You can have 2 of any routers in the same network so you can use both ubiquiti and mikrotik in the same network. you can have as many routers as you like in the same network so you could have a network of /0 and have as many routers as there are IP addresses in the same network.

 

[mikebunting]

Ok, thanks again to the both of you. I think I can make it work with 1 router (TBD), 1 access point (UAP-Pro) & 1 or 2 Powerline Adapters (TP-Link TL-PA8030P KIT AV1200).

My apartment here in Korea is already run with Cat5e cable from the comm closet to all of the rooms (6)...the problem is...everything in the comm closet is labeled in Korean/Hangul - and my attempts thus far have not been very successful in identifying just which is which and where each goes throughout the apartment. Still working my way through this one...

 

[Cloud200]

Ok, thanks again to the both of you. I think I can make it work with 1 router (TBD), 1 access point (UAP-Pro) & 1 or 2 Powerline Adapters (TP-Link TL-PA8030P KIT AV1200).

My apartment here in Korea is already run with Cat5e cable from the comm closet to all of the rooms (6)...the problem is...everything in the comm closet is labeled in Korean/Hangul - and my attempts thus far have not been very successful in identifying just which is which and where each goes throughout the apartment. Still working my way through this one...

Get a tone generator and inductive amplifier such as the following unit:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00APD16D2/?tag=snbforums-20

This way you can ID from the jack easily.