Network architecture
As a continuation of my previous post here is how I see what will most common happen in the real world.
Let's start with the network architecture which will be in most home/small office deployments
- Router
- WAN <- ISP
- WAN/LAN <- ISP OR Home Server
- LAN <- Work Station
- LAN <- Access Point
- LAN <- Switch with the following clients
- Access Point
- Cameras
- TV
- Printer
- etc.
- WiFi
Now think about each of these components, what would their requirements be?
Then you can pick your product to target each of these product slots
Also think about that almost all the companies have multiple products to cover each of the slots
If you want to create a niche product, think what's the size of that niche?
Also notice below that I do not mention m.2 for storage. Why? Because you should really use a separate server running RAID 1 for storage. Either mount the storage from the server, or if your data is that disposable use an USB drive. One day your drive will fail, no matter which one you use.
On a long enough timeline the survival rate for everyone drops to zero
If having expansion slots is a limitation of the number of PCIe lanes, then maybe there is a way of having shared lanes. Like on a desktop motherboard where if you add an PCIe card it will disable the m.2 slot sharing those lanes.
Router
Top Tier
- CPU fast enough to handle the routing below with SQM or 1-3 very demanding package(s)
- Decent RAM to run a few additional packages
- Some internal storage to store the packages
- 2 x SFP+ 10GbE
- 4(5) x 2.5 GbE (1/2 WAN + 2/3/4 LAN)
- WiFi 6E / 7 with 4T4R for each band (preferably MediaTek) OR m.2 / miniPCIe with enough bandwidth to handle a future expansion card for WiFi 7
Sample use case:
- Router
- 2.5 WAN <- ISP
- 2.5 WAN/LAN <- ISP / Access Point WiFi 6E / 7
- 2.5 LAN <- Access Point WiFi 6E / 7
- 2.5 LAN <- Access Point WiFi 6E / 7
- 10 GbE SFP <- Home Server via SFP copper
- 10 GbE SFP <- Switch via SFP copper with the following clients:
- 10 GbE SFP - Work Station via Fiber
- 1 GbE - Cameras
- 1 GbE - TV
- Printer
- etc.
- WiFi 6E / 7
Second Tier
- CPU fast enough to handle the routing below with SQM or 1-3 demanding package(s)
- Decent RAM to run a few additional packages
- Some internal storage to store the packages
- 1 x SFP+ 10GbE
- 4(5) x 2.5 GbE (1/2 WAN + 2/3/4 LAN)
- WiFi 6E / 7 with 4T4R for each band (preferably MediaTek) OR m.2 / miniPCIe with enough bandwidth to handle a future expansion card for WiFi 7
Sample use case:
- Router
- 2.5 WAN <- ISP
- 2.5 WAN/LAN <- ISP / Home Server
- 2.5 LAN <- Work Station
- 2.5 LAN <- Access Point WiFi 6E / 7
- 2.5 LAN <- Access Point WiFi 6E / 7
- 10 GbE SFP <- Switch via SFP with the following clients:
- Cameras
- TV
- Printer
- etc.
- WiFi 6E / 7
Third Tier
- CPU fast enough to handle the routing below with SQM or 1-3 average demand package(s)
- Decent RAM to run a few additional packages
- Some internal storage to store the packages
- 4(5) x 2.5 GbE (1/2 WAN + 3/4 LAN)
- WiFi 6E / 7 with 4T4R for each band (preferably MediaTek) OR m.2 / miniPCIe with enough bandwidth to handle a future expansion card for WiFi 7
Sample use case: same as above
Third Tier Minimum
- CPU fast enough to handle the routing below with SQM or 1-3 average demand packages
- Decent RAM to run a few additional packages
- Some internal storage to store the packages
- 3 x 2.5 GbE WAN
Sample use case:
- Router
- 2.5 WAN <- ISP
- 2.5 WAN/LAN <- ISP / Access Point WiFi 6E / 7
- 2.5 LAN <- Switch with the following clients:
- 2.5 LAN <- Home Server
- 2.5 LAN <- Work Station
- 2.5 LAN <- Access Point WiFi 6E / 7
- 2.5 LAN <- Access Point WiFi 6E / 7
- Cameras
- TV
- Printer
- etc.
Third Tier Notable mentions:
- Banana Pi BPI-R4
- 2 x SFP+ 10GbE
- Expansion slots to add WiFi 7
- Missing any 2.5 GbE, but can be handled via switch
- NanoPI R6S
- Only 2x2.5 GbE + 1x1 GbE
- Missing 10 GbE SFP and any WiFi expansion slots
- NanoPC-T6
- Only 2x2.5 GbE
- On the non LTS version has a miniPCIe slot on top, available bandwidth TBD
- The 2 x m.2 slots (one for WiFi card) are on the bottom close to the case, they may or may not be usable to add an AP WiFi card
Fourth Tier
- CPU fast enough to handle the routing below with SQM or some additional packages
- Decent RAM to run a few additional packages
- Some internal storage to store the packages and some logs
- 4(5) x 1GbE LAN
- WiFi 5 / 6 with 4T4R for each band (preferably MediaTek)
Sample use case:
- 1 GbE WAN <- ISP
- 1 GbE WAN/LAN <- ISP / Home Server
- 1 GbE LAN <- Work Station
- 1 GbE LAN <- Access Point WiFi 5/6
- 1 GbE LAN <- Switch
- Cameras
- TV
- Printer
- etc.
Access Point
First Tier
- CPU with hardware cryptography
- Minimal RAM to run the AP
- Minimal storage for a few packages
- 1x2.5 GbE with PoE
- Can be powered from PoE and outlet
- WiFi 6E / 7 with 4T4R for each band (preferably MediaTek) OR m.2 / miniPCIe with enough bandwidth to handle a future expansion card for WiFi 7
Second Tier
- CPU with hardware cryptography
- Minimal RAM to run the AP
- Minimal storage for a few packages
- 1x1 GbE with PoE
- Can be powered from PoE and outlet
- WiFi 5 / 6 with 4T4R for each band (preferably MediaTek)
Third Tier
- CPU with hardware cryptography
- Minimal RAM to run the AP
- Minimal storage for a few packages
- 1x1 GbE with PoE
- Can be powered from PoE and outlet
- WiFi 5 / 6 with 2T2R for each band (preferably MediaTek)
Edits:
- Mentioning that the AP only needs to be able to powered using PoE and outlet (USBC is nice, but can be anything except directly plugged in the outlet), so you can use either one depending on the situation in the field
- Removed the storage of logs from requirements, as users pointed out they are stored in RAM.
- Reduced the requirements from (SQM and CPU/RAM intensive packages) to (SQM OR CPU/RAM intensive packages) because: If (as a user below metioned) using an 4+4 core RK3588 SQM tops out at about 1400+Mbps, it's only good enough for a 1GbE ISP. I do hope this only because it's so new and it lacks software optimizations. So:
- Either SQM for 1 GbE AND 1-3 basic packages
- OR No SQM but running multiple demanding packages