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Ask Slashdot: Enterprise Level Network Devices For Home Use?

Posted by timothy on from the too-much-overkill-is-never-enough dept.

First time accepted submitter osho741 writes "I was wondering if anyone has enterprise level networking devices set up at home? I seem to go through at least 1 wireless consumer grade router a year or so. I can never seem to find one that last very long under just normal use. I thought maybe I would have better luck throwing together a network using used enterprise equipment. Has anyone done this? What would you recommend for a network that maxes out at 30mbps downstream from the ISP and an internal network that should be able to stream 1080p movies to 3 or 4 devices from a media server? Any thoughts and or suggestions are welcome."

7 of 241 comments (clear)

  1. DD-WRT by donmontalvo · · Score: 5, Informative

    Get a high end ASUS or Buffalo wireless router and put DD-WRT on it.

  2. WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What do you consider "normal use"? Nailing them to a wall? Using them to shore up a levee?

    Anyway, if your electronics are failing that fast and you aren't abusing them somehow, then they should be replaced under warranty.

  3. UPS by eric31415927 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Buy a consumer-grade router, but use a UPS to ensure it receives clean power. Dirty power kills these things.

    1. Re:UPS by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Agreed, given the repeated failures here, the power supply might be less than wonderful.

      It's also worth remembering that "enterprise" equipment is often more about the management features (which no home user is ever likely to need) than the hardware itself. Sometimes the low-end business gear actually turns out to be worse than decent consumer kit. For example, we bought a bunch of Cisco's small business branded equipment for a small office once, paying a premium for it but expecting that the quality and support would be better than some disappointing consumer grade equipment it was replacing. In fact, the NAS turned out to be a rebadged device from another vendor that Cisco never really supported properly, the wireless access point turned out to have buggy firmware that would just drop connections, and so on. It's a mistake we'll never make again.

      --
      If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
    2. Re:UPS by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 5, Informative

      no, that's not the problem.

      as someone who fixes stuff like this, its the bulk filter capacitors (electrolytics) that 99% of the time, fail.

      these are the fake chinese caps that are STILL in the market and supply chain. they burst (look at the telltale leakage at the top of the can, near the 'dents' that are supposed to burst if the pressure inside is too high). they can explode or just leak. they might not even show any physical signs of failure but they will fail, all of the, given enough time.

      each time I get a failed cisco, netgear, etc; I look at the power inlet area and look for bad caps. I replace every one (the cans) even if they look fine. go to mouser.com or digikey.com and get ones of the same lead spacing (LS) and diameter and height. and of course, the same voltage level. the values are less critical, you can go up or down a bit if based on the stock in the store.

      use good name brand parts from japan! those are trustworthy. and buy ONLY from places like mouser, etc. NEVER from ebay, those are guaranteed to be just as fake as the ones from the assembly lines in china, who built the cisco and netgear.

      this is the problem. not ups or power spikes but just plain bad parts from china.

      every single bad router or switch that got its caps replaced with genuine panasonic or nichicon (my 2 usual goto brands) has been working in excess of 5 years, now. before the replacement, usually a year before the PSU blows its caps.

      get low ESR caps, too. ask a EE guy for help.

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      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
  4. Re:Huh? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 5, Funny

    Do you toss it in the dishwasher when it gets dusty? How can you break so much stuff?

    Actually, that might just be the right solution. If his rack-sized enterprise network equipment won't fit into the dishwasher, he won't try to wash it. You know how it is with connectors - the best way of preventing people from screwing things up is not to make them physically compatible.

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    Ezekiel 23:20
  5. Re:Huh? by sjames · · Score: 5, Informative

    Clearly you've never seen a vga connector after someone tried to cram it into a serial port...