Hello all,
I am an electrician in Canada and I specialize in security systems (access control, fire systems, cameras, etc.) We have a niche use case and would like to get some input on how to solve our networking "needs".
What's particular about our use case is we don't always know what resources are available: do we have electricity nearby? Is the Internet and networking installed and working yet? As a side project, I'd like to build the team and I routers that, no matter the context or work, we'll be able to do what we need to do. Installation and configuration of the equipment requires internet access and often wireless access for troubleshooting/fine tuning.
I have a backoung in IT. In the past, I've installed custom ROM on Asus routers. I currently have a OPNsense firewall at home. All to say, I don't mind getting my hands dirty hardware and software wise for this challenge. Here's are the requirement:
- Router with cellular connectivity and Gbit ethernet;
That's it. Everything else are nice to have, can be solved in software or something that I can double-sided tape to the back of the router:
- Layer 3 POE+ manageable switch 1Gb is a plus, most cameras are limited to 100 mbits. 2.5Gb+ is completely useless, one SFP port for fiber runs)
- DC powered is a great addition, this way, everything can be offgrid and powered off an internal battery or external bank (I have this ATM)
- External cellular antennas, for when the signal is weak in concrete buildings
- External Wireless access point.
I'm eager to hear the community's recommendation, thoughts and similar use case if someone has done this in the past.
I don't have specific hardware recommendations for you, but if one of your requirements is DC/battery powered, you may want to reconsider this:
There are two specific thoughts I have around this:
First: power consumption:
PoE switches in general require quite a bit more power than a standard non-PoE switch. Obviously it depends on the PoE load, but even idle, there is increased consumption. Further, whereas non-PoE switches may be powered with anywhere from 5-12V input (sometimes even USB-C these days), the power supplies for PoE switches are usually 48-54V or full line voltage. This means that you'll usually need mains power to run those power supplies, which gets you to another class of power-banks.
It's easy enough to get powerbanks with USB or regulated 12V output, but mains output powerbanks tend to be larger and more expensive, and they of course have more losses for the power inverter subsystem, making the whole system less efficient. It's not to say that it's not possible -- you just start getting into the "power station" category (at least in Anker's marketing terms). This may be totally acceptable for you given that you're doing this as a professional service and may need your own power, of course. All of this is really only useful if you know that there is power to the site in general, but possibly just not where you need to setup your own kit (the installed gear must be powered, right, and you shouldn't rely on your portable solution to power up all of the deployed tech at the site).
Second: Switch selection:
I wouldn't select a Unifi switch for this purpose. They make good hardware, but the problem is that you need to have the Unifi Network Application (controller) to make configuration changes to the switch. You should instead consider a managed switch that has a built-in web/ssh UI for the configuration so that you can easily change the configuration on the fly without needing a controller device (like the cloudkey or a Pi or a specific computer with the UNA installed) on-site and attached.
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