Edgerouter x or Mikrotik Hex RB750Gr or something else?

[d-shade]

So I am looking to swap out my Netgear R6250 to either a Edgerouter X or Mikrotik Hex or if there is another recommendation.

I was wondering if anyone had experience with either and is able to compare the 2.

One of the reason I was looking at the edgerouter x is because of the POE passthrough to the UniFi AC Lite. That will be one less thing I need to plug into my powerstrip which is nice. But I also have seen on forums that there are performance/speed issues. Since I am going to be mainly working off of the switch all local traffic would be nice and quick. Unless I am going wireless but then I would guess the wireless speed would be the bottle neck and not the router. I just found out about the Mikrotik Hex today and haven't done much research on it other than that it seems comparable to the edgerouter x.

I am learning Cisco IOS at work so I can better maintain our switches at work. But I am far from a network expert, at least that is how I feel. I would rather get something cisco but in the usual cisco fashion they seem a bit pricey. So these routers will be a learning experience for me.

I have a Netgear GS108t on the way so I can set up my NAS with lag and plug most of my devices on that switch. Around the time I go to purchase my router I am planning on getting the UniFi AC Lite. Since I am going to be buying the AC Lite price is also part of the factor on my current choice.
If I end up running out of ports on the GS108t the plan is to get a second one and lag them together.

As for devices I am going to have on the network
Devices attached to Netgear GS108t (attached to router)
2x PC
1x mac mini (can be moved to wifi)
1x xbox (can be moved to wifi)
1x NAS
1x Netgear AC1200 (wireless bridge to another Netgear AC 1200)

Devices attached to AC1200
1x Dummy Switch
1x PC
3x Game Console
1x TiVO
1x Stereo Receiver

Various devices on wifi (Unifi AC Lite to be attached to router)
phones
3x Chromecast
laptops
portable game consoles

Also have "1 gig" internet, but for some reason with my Netgear R6250 I am getting less then half of max speed. Unsure if I turned on QOS on accident or if the router is just acting up again, I will try and trouble shoot it once everyone is asleep and off of the internet. But this is one of the reason I am trying to get away from consumer gear, the constant power cycling gets annoying. I know ddwrt or tomato will fix that but depending on the build sometimes it is more of a headache.

 

[Nullity]

The ER X has a faster CPU, but slower hardware acceleration. ER L has slower CPU but more hardware accel.

This means the erx can do more QoS/traffic-shaping bandwidth (~300Mbit, but don't quote me).

If you have gigabit internet... your options are limited.

I think the CLI of the ER line is quite similar to ISO, but not exactly the same.



If you find a real (not linksys or RVxxx) Cisco device that can push 1Gbit for ~$300, please share. I am happy with my ~$30 Cisco 877 for IOS learning purposes. Beyond that, GNS3 seems promising.

 

[d-shade]

I get about 850Mbps down and 50Mbps up, and I did have QOS turned on which for some reason was capping me at 400Mbps down it was a game uplink setting on my Netgear that was throttling me. But I am mainly have the 1 gig internet for my cap which is 750gb if I drop down a tier then I get 100Mbps down 5Mbps up with a 300gb cap.

 

[System Error Message]

none of those will support a gigabit internet properly. The speeds you need are upload + download so to fully use your internet if it was 1Gb/s symmetric that would mean you need a router that can do at least 2Gb/s of NAT.

The mikrotik RB3011 has POE out and also POE in and comes with a 24V PSU and will support POE out with 0.5A by default.
smart/unmanaged POE switches are cheaper though if you want multiple POE out than using a router with POE out if you wanted to use multiple ports.
The ERL with hardware acceleration can do NAT up to 1.3Gb/s
The CCR1009 fanless though much more expensive will easily handle multiple gigabit ISPs even with QoS and firewall for less watts than the edgerouter pro all without hardware acceleration.

Hardware acceleration can only be considered if you dont plan to use QoS or firewall in which case even a consumer router can be considered because to use the other features or advantages of a non consumer router would mean disabling hardware acceleration. Even mikrotik does have hardware acceleration for NAT for some of their devices. If you're buying ubiquiti or mikrotik i dont see the point of hardware acceleration because you would expect to use QoS, firewall and other features which is one of the reasons to get them.

Comparing both brands mikrotik is so much better as a router than ubiquiti. Ubiquiti's GUI is very limited so the good stuff is accessed from terminal by treating it like a debian linux server. This means that mikrotik is easier to configure than ubiquiti for something more advanced and is less restricted than ubiquiti (you cant assign DHCP client and static IP to the same interface but you can in linux and mikrotik routerOS).

The speeds you see on their websites are for layer 3 routing which is if you were to forward data between 2 subnets than that is what it is for, they dont quote NAT speeds. At least mikrotik lists a benchmark table that shows speeds in various settings except NAT.

 

[kvic]

Comparing ER-X and Mikrokit HEX, it's easy to eliminate the latte. The hardware spec of ER-X is way better. Still it might have a hard time saturating your gigabit WAN. ER-X actually has a very capable SoC with a few accelerators built-in. At the moment they aren't supported in the firmware. There is a petition thread on UBNT forum requesting ubnt to issue HW accelerated firmware in future releases.

ER-lite is a better choice in terms of price/performance for a gigabit WAN if you decide to go with ubnt. I just feel the platform is showing its age, imminent for an update though ubnt might not have such intent.

The other day another user went with Mikrokit RB3011. It's 1 U rack mount. From my understanding Mikrokit's GUI client ("winbox") is Windows only. I don't mind proprietary UI. Some people might prefer a Web UI for cross platform accessibility.

You might also want to look at other vendors e.g. Draytek 2960 and Fortinet 30D.

 

[System Error Message]

i thought draytek is good for when you need good modems or multiple WANs.
Still when it comes to ease of configurability, ubiquiti edgeOS is only easier than mikrotik routerOS if you're doing simple stuff. Anything more and mikrotik is easier to use than ubiquiti.

Although i think ubiquiti's GUI forcing you to group things is more difficult.

The reason for some restrictions according to ubiquiti is so you " dont shoot yourself in the foot" but for the market they focus on they really shouldnt do this. So while mikrotik's stuff is proprietary and windows only, ubiquiti lacks the same official configuration utility that allows you to use mac and ipv6 but mikrotik's web UI does the same thing as the configuration utility so not much difference there between the 2 in web configurations.

 

[kvic]

Draytek has a few product lines. I guess depending on regions, some places may only see bundled with a DSL modem..

Btw, is RB3011 the best offer from Mikrotik under $300? Do they publish their GPL codes? I would think RouterOS is based on some earlier Linux distro too..

 

[System Error Message]

routerOS is based on some linux before but it is changed so much that i wouldnt call it the same. They are closed source.

Under $300 there are also PPC based routers too but i think qualcomm's kraits offer a better value because they usually are between an ARM A9 and ARM A15 in terms of offering performance for less watts.

 

[kvic]

i think qualcomm's kraits offer a better value because they usually are between an ARM A9 and ARM A15 in terms of offering performance for less watts.

Personally 1U rack mount put me off. Others might actually like it. I would prefer a desktop form factor..with fewer ports not an issue. Also the new 64bit chipset from Broadcom (and other vendors) will be attractions to procrastinate any upgrade at the moment..

 

[System Error Message]

The PPC and TILE based routers from mikrotik have always been 64 bit.

broadcom's 64 bit arm platform is the commonly used config in many low end devices involving 2 low power cores and 2 performance cores. Despite being 64 bit the performance isnt twice that of the A15, it also will depend on the frequency. Dont forget that it is very likely that new routers from broadcom's 64 bit platform is going to hit $500 or more but will still not beat the CCR1009 which is priced at $425-$500 depending on config.

 

[kvic]

The PPC and TILE based routers from mikrotik have always been 64 bit.

Which PPC based Mikrokits under $300 are your pick?

EDIT: did some research..

RB800 (board only) and RB1100AHx2. Both about $350 and capable of gigabit WAN.

RB3011's depth is quite shallow actually. Board width is about 10 RJ45. As seen in this pic: http://cdr.pl/galerie/m/mikrotik-routerboard-rb3_8633.jpg.

Certainly can make it into a compact desktop form factor with an external power brick..only if Mikrokit has such a will. Will be very attractive to people who don't want 1U.

 

[d-shade]

Thanks for all the info, Looks like I may have do some pricing adjustments in order to utilize my 1gb internet, was hoping to sneak the router under the radar so the wifey wouldn't complain. She knows I am getting the AC lite and is okay with it as long as the wifi gets better.

 

[Cloud200]

I don't understand why you would be worried about running QOS on an internet pipe running at 1gb/s.

Most connections are serial lines as well as you only being able to shape the upload not download.

Just get an ERlite-3 and keep the config simple. If a 'tik is your poison get an 850gx2 fit desktop or 3011 if you like rack mount. Only choose these options if you are comfortable with them.

If you want something simple that ought to just work, get a cheap wireless router and turn off the WiFi. Give me 20 minutes and I can parse the snb database for options that will do the job easily.

EDIT:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/172VYX1o_JZRfTH56RJx8vnkCjb1FFluQnpAFdmBSkaY/edit?usp=sharing

Here you go.
The way the data was parsed is as follows:
Under $200
Over 1000mb/s Total Upload/Download
Over 750mb/s Upload
Over 750mb/s Download
Over 25k Connections

 

[System Error Message]

without using qos or firewall than you can get a consumer router that has both AC wifi and 1.3Gb/s of hardware accelerated NAT

If you want to properly have gigabit throughput than you're looking at the RB3011 and higher which are all rackmount. Theres also intel x86 NUCs which you have a choice of intel atoms and intel mobile iseries for $200-$400 (make sure to get dual NIC ones at least). Some of them also have wifi too.

The main reason for suggesting the RB3011 is because it has SFP which if you have fibre optic can be used with SFP modules so no modem (there are ISPs that use modems instead of converters, especially GPON).

 

[kvic]

The current form factor of RB3011 looks a bit silly IMHO. One third of the 1U width is empty space. Originally they could house the PSU but choose to ship an external one. Looks like they were rushing the 1U to the market. I would bet a desktop version is coming. Also from my brief research, RB3011's firmware is pretty early in its development..wait if people can and want RB3011 which looks promising for gigabit WAN from the Mikrotik camp.

EDIT:

RB850gx2 looks interesting too, and I missed that from my quick scan. Looks like capable for 500Mbit/s up/down but not gigabit WAN..

 

[System Error Message]

im also hoping they will come out with more things for the RB3011. Currently mikrotik is going through their denial phase before they release what is asked for. You can read their forums regarding the RB3011 variants that would be wanted.

The device's power brick is just the usual plug switching so it connects straight to the board. It would be nice if they had SATA and microSD.

 

[Cloud200]

RB850gx2 looks interesting too, and I missed that from my quick scan. Looks like capable for 500Mbit/s up/down but not gigabit WAN..

I was able to test it out in the office in up and down with a NAT masq rule and the "fasttrack" flag enabled. It got a gig through. Caveat emptor; it breaks between builds so one day it may work and after a bug fix it will be down to 300-500mb/s.
That's the one reason people hate on 'tiks. There is no "stable" build. Only monthly releases.

 

[System Error Message]

mikrotik has always been stable for me except their layer 3 switches. Without STP, changing the ports for the gateway causes the switch to freeze.

use the stable firmware instead and there has been stable builds for various platforms. Theres stable, Release candidate and beta firmware and i always say to go for stable.

At least with lots of free space in the RB3011 you could always use it as a bit of storage.