Hi,
I'm working on building a small office in the backyard. It will have power and networking, it's about 50' away. I'm considering wiring it with fiber to avoid the trouble with copper networking (e.g. lightning arrestors, rust, grounding, etc). More details about the project are discussed here.
My "core router" (it's just a home network, really) is currently an old (2016) Turris Omnia. I like it: reliable, just works, auto-upgrades, (mostly) based on OpenWRT. And, more importantly, it has a SFP port I could use to extend the network with a fiber link.
It's somewhat difficult to find the Omnia these days, although after posting on the Turris forum I found a provider that might ship. But I can't help but wonder There Must Be A Better Way!
The specification is, I believe, as follows:
- 4+ gigabit port switch (more the merrier, faster is better, although I only have *one device faster than 1gbps here, at 2.5g)
- wifi (5GHz is good enough, but newer is welcome)
- SFP port
- small form factor ("router", not "1U server")
- OpenWRT or mainline Linux support
- free-er the better, e.g. coreboot is nice
- no DIY builds (i.e. i am not doing any soldering, or buying a board and a fan and a power supply and a case, thank you very much)
- no fancy routing or shaping: this is just a bridge, I centralize the networking logic at the core and everything else must look like a switch, including wifi APs
I'm open to x86 small servers. but they must be small, home-office style. I've also considered the following:
- SuperMicro has a series they call "IoT", e.g. 2 gbit 2SFP Xeon
SATA PCIe, a bit overkill, not enough ports for a switch - Protectli has interesting series, e.g. 4x2.5gbit switch + wifi and coreboot, but no SFP
- Qotom has a 4xSFP+ 5x2.5gbit beast, but no wifi
I might also just go with the quotom to replace the current omnia as a core router and move the omnia as a wifi bridge in the office. I've heard it's trendy to split up switching/routing/wifi nowadays in home labs, and I'm all about bleeding edge trends of course (not). In that case, something that rackmounts is an option because I did go crazy and start building a rack near the omnia now (I know, it's crazy).
Thanks for any advice!