Opinions on EdgeRouter X?

[wayner]

I have been running Asus routers with Merlin for many years now but I am considering trying a Ubiquiti EdgeRouter X - they look like a good deal for $50. I have a bunch of Ubiquiti Unifi APs in my house and I run the Unifi Controller software on my unRAID server in a docker container. So the Ubiquiti router should nicely integrate into the controller software. And I don't need or even want Wifi on the router itself since I have the APs in strategic locations around my house and the best spot for the router, in the basement by my ethernet wiring, is the worst place for a WAP.

My internet is currently marketed at 250/20 but tests at 325/22. I may upgrade to 1000/50. Can this router handle WAN-LAN throughput of that speed in practical applications?

I really like being able to run OpenVPN server on my router and I have done so for several years with my router and Merlin. Can you run OpenVPN server on this router?

The Unifi Controller 5.4.9 software has a nice dashboard but I only use the Wifi portion of this. If I get a EdgeRouter will it populate the LAN, WAN, etc sections of the dashboard?

 

[sfx2000]

Wait a bit before pulling the trigger - there's a pending review on the ERL3, along with the updated EdgeOS software.

 

[wayner]

What's the diff between the ERL3 and the X? The X has more ports and supposedly has 5Gbps ports vs 3Gbps ports on the ERL3. But the ERL3 seems better in other ways.

edit - For that matter what's the diff between the USG, ERL3 and X?

 

[sfx2000]

What's the diff between the ERL3 and the X? The X has more ports and supposedly has 5Gbps ports vs 3Gbps ports on the ERL3. But the ERL3 seems better in other ways.

edit - For that matter what's the diff between the USG, ERL3 and X?

SW is pretty close for all of the ER's - so what's in one, should be in the other (within the given feature set of the model in question).

 

[KenZ71]

I am pretty happy with my edgerouter.

Handles my 200/10 connection as I vpn to office while family hits some variation of 3 to 6 connections to YouTube, Netflix, etc.

 

[buddyp]

I switched from an ASUS AC66 to the ER-X a while ago. I've been very happy with it. I have a FIOS 50/50 connection which is actually provisioned at 55/55. I use the smart QoS set to 50/50 and I get 49/49 on the DSL Reports speed test with bufferbloat of A running the test from my laptop over wifi to my UAP AC-Lite. During the test the ER-X runs at 1-2% CPU utilization.

All that being said, if you are not comfortable using a CLI and/or you need a lot of hand-holding you probably wont be happy with an Edgerouter. There is a lot of functionality that is not exposed by the GUI, and the documentation leaves a lot to be desired.

PS. I think I paid about the same for the ER-X and UAP AC Lite together as I did for the AC66. The AC66 didn't go to waste, I gave it to my son to replace the ancient WRT54G he had which was crashing when they tried to watch netflix HD shows.

 

[Trip]

First off, EdgeMax stuff, for the most part, doesn't "integrate" into UniFi in any meaningful way, so lets correct that presumption up front. That being said, discrete wired and wireless gear tends to yield superior results regardless. In the case of the ER-X, I've got a few dozen in the field at clients, and apart from 1 failure, we've seen smooth, rebootless performance -- very Cisco/Juniper - esque. You've got to be competently skilled, but that goes without saying...

For $50, I don't think much deliberation is needed... Just grab one and lab with it for a while, and see how you like it. If worse comes to worse, you can re-purpose it as just a line-rate 5-port L2 "dumb" switch and move on. Or sell it to me for $20 and I'll throw it into our fleet with the rest.

 

[DanH]

What's the diff between the ERL3 and the X? The X has more ports and supposedly has 5Gbps ports vs 3Gbps ports on the ERL3. But the ERL3 seems better in other ways.

edit - For that matter what's the diff between the USG, ERL3 and X?

The ERL and USG are pretty much the same hardware.

The difference is the USG is configured via a controller which can be run via a cloudkey or another Linux system. The controller can configure and give stats on all products in the Unifi line. This makes it nice to manage a network in one pane of glass.

The ERL for its part has a lot more functionality exposed in its UI than the USG. In addition, changes made via CLI are saved on reboots, whereas some changes in the USG require creating, editing and uploading a json file, in order to remain after reboot. So on one hand the USG is easier (if the feature is exposed in the controller UI), on the other hand it is harder if it requires anything more than that. Keep in mind the Controller is way behind the edgeos in features exposed in the UI, like way behind.

The ERL and USG also both top out at right around 60 Mbps when you turn off hw offload. The ER-X quite a bit more. The ERX can do hw switching, the ERL and USG do not. The ERL and USG handle more pps though.

If I had other Unifi gear I would get a USG, despite its limited functionality, for the controller controller integration alone. One other advantage is it can be managed via a phone or tablet which EdgeOs cannot. If that doesn't float your boat then I would get the ER-X.

One other thing in my experience as far as hw offload being turned off I had the following real world results:my ERL topped out at 60 Mbps, the hEXr3 (same hardware as the ER-X) topped out at ~180 Mbps, and the USG-Pro tops out at ~ 250 Mbps. Nothing scientific just what I ended up with when running DSL reports Speedtest on those routers with hw offload off.


Just anecdotal evidence but it also seems like ubiquiti is throwing way more resources at the Unifi line than they are the edgemax line. Looking at the roadmap it looks like they are serious about bringing the Unifi line pretty rapidly up to feature parity with EdgeOs.

 

[ma678]

I just ordered an ER-X from Amazon. Will it work well with my Asus RT-AC68U and 56U as APs? My home runs 250/20 cable. Thanks


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[pege63]

Yes they will worke just nice as APs