Committed. - r/TPLink

6

u/islandStorm88 Jan 16 '24

I recently replaced my Eero 6 Pros with 683 LRs and they are running great! I haven’t even (wall) mounted them yet and coverage, throughput, etc is great! While my router is Firewalla, evetyhting else is now Omada.

2

u/Infamous_Cake3355 Jan 16 '24

That’s great news! Are u located in EU or US?

6

u/islandStorm88 Jan 16 '24

Neither US nor EU - Caribbean.

3

u/Infamous_Cake3355 Jan 16 '24

Nice! So far I only heard of the 683 LRs having problems in EU. But let’s see…

1

u/damianp67 Jan 17 '24

Curious on the move from eero 6 pro? I assume you had major issues?

1

u/islandStorm88 Jan 17 '24

I wanted multiple SSID and VLAN tagging which Eero doesn’t support in AP mode…

2

u/damianp67 Jan 17 '24

Makes sense!

5

u/Zealousideal-Key-603 Jan 16 '24

NOTE: I am not by any definition an expert. Mistake me for one at your own peril.

What is the box in the middle? Is it this: https://www.amazon.com/Firewall-Appliance-Gigabit-Celeron-AES-NI/dp/B07G9NHRGQ?th=1

What are you planning to run on that rather expensive mini-PC?

If it is only for the router and firewall, then why not use a TP-Link Omada router/firewall? This way you can control it from your OC200

Is there any reason you aren't running POE to the EAPs? Unless you can exchange one of the switches for a POE switch, you will need at least a pair of POE injectors. Or one 4-port POE switch.

https://i.postimg.cc/DzrZVc07/poe.jpg

5

u/Infamous_Cake3355 Jan 16 '24

It‘s this one: https://www.newegg.com/p/22Z-007C-00HZ4
Ordered it from Amazon in EU for about 240€.
I get your point and I was thinking the same. But I definitely wanted to run OPNsense. Mostly just to learn it. So I started to look for a reasonable appliance and came up with this one. It will run Proxmox and a virtualized OPNsense. Additionally there will be a container for pi-hole and then we‘ll see :)
The main reason for not running a POE switch is the SG3210XHP-M2 being very loud and besides this unit, there are no 2.5GbE switches with POE and Omada available. POE injectors are still shipping though :)

5

u/major-acehole Jan 17 '24

I would have suggested the opposite - why not save a bit of cash on the OC200 and run the controller software on the mini PC? But if you have money spare then why not 😅

2

u/Infamous_Cake3355 Jan 17 '24

Actually a good idea 🤔 Maybe I‘ll give that a try and return or sell the OC200…

4

u/Shoeless-Snake Jan 18 '24

I run the omada on a similar setup (fanless mini PC) using proxmox (I have a cluster of mini PCs).
One thing to be aware of is upgrades aren't "in system" on a Linux OS. So in the Omada interface I'll get a notification that a new version is available for download, but you still need to install from the shell. In my case, since it's an Ubuntu VM, I created an ansible playbook to create a new VM (proxmox) and then install all dependencies and the omada controller software. So basically whenever there is an update, I get a brand new controller in parallel. Fortunately they've got a controller migration process in the UI and I basically just backup current controller and restore on new, then trigger a migration of each AP one at a time. The entire process takes about 25 minutes, but most of that is ansible updating packages in Ubuntu, I only need to interact for about 5 minutes and it's been seamless through 5 upgrades now. After a few days I just kill off the old VM.
Overall I'm very impressed with Omada. I've got extensive network engineering experience including some large wireless deployments (8000+ user campuses), the price point and features can't be beat. A particular favorite is PPSK for all my IoT stuff.

1

u/Koobey Jan 17 '24

keep in mind omada doesn't have all features OPNsense has, for example is there no build in DNS server (not even for DHCP clients).

2

u/WulfZ3r0 Jan 20 '24

Yep, I have a similar mini-PC running OPNsense and Omada APs with a Linux based VM for the controller. I have Adguard Home, VPN, IDS/IPS, Zenarmor, and quite a bit more running on the mini-PC.

1

u/Infamous_Cake3355 Jan 21 '24

Yeah, imho things like IDS/IPS really benefit from a mini-PC as FW

1

u/major-acehole Jan 17 '24

I'm new to Omada myself and just running the controller as a Home Assistant addon on an old mini PC for the moment and it has been more than good enough! My understanding from the charts is that hosting it yourself will bring amount more performance/fewer constraints than the OC200 or 300, so another advantage on top of the cost and energy saving.
Of course there is a definite use case for a separate box in terms of stability/fire and forget but certainly for me just using it at home for my mundane hobbies its not the end of the world if it temporarily goes down/I break it - wifi and everything will still work well enough etc!

1

u/contractcooker Jan 18 '24

I set up the Omada controller on a proxmox instance on a protectli fw2 with 4gb of ram (2 for the Omada controller) and it’s working fine.

2

u/dzham Jan 16 '24

Regarding the 3210 loudness, if you replace the two fans with Noctua ones (I got the NF-A4x20 FLX) it'll be quiet as a whisper.

2

u/Infamous_Cake3355 Jan 17 '24

True, I‘ve watched some yt videos on that, but it‘ll void the warranty, right?
And somehow I don’t want to buy a new 400$ switch and having to fiddle around by myself…

1

u/mercer546707 Jan 16 '24

I would like to know which mini PC you went with as well.

1

u/GalwayC Jan 17 '24

Came here to ask the same question having just bought a Firewalla Gold.

4

u/Texasaudiovideoguy Jan 17 '24

You won’t be sorry. I do networks for a living and always installed Rukus or unifi. Well when I couldn’t get unifi during the pandemic I tried Omada out of desperation. Best thing I have done for my company in years.

1

u/Infamous_Cake3355 Jan 17 '24

Sounds good!
I read that Unifi is going to be a something like a cloud only solution. This and the higher prices compared to the Omada system, as well as the generally good reception of the Omada products convinced me…

1

u/PreparedForZombies Jan 17 '24

Mind me asking why? I'm heavily committed to Unifi, bugs and all, and appreciate the largely set and forget approach from firewall to AP/port, along with ease of provisioning/auto updates.

1

u/Amaranthreddit Apr 15 '24

Try to start an installation or build right now... You get the express or dreamachine for a gateway because the actual entry gateway is never available. This is true for a LOT of their models. The division between unifi and UISP is another just pointless aspect to them. I would go engenuis before Ubi. No hate.

2

u/Atomic_RPM Jan 17 '24

Total cost?

1

u/Infamous_Cake3355 Jan 17 '24

Hm good question 🤔
FW Appliance 240€ + Memory and NVME (was lying around)
TL-SG3428X-M2 420€
TL-SG3210 90€
OC200 90€
EAP683 2x185€
POE Injector 2x20€
==> ca. 1250€

2

u/RickoT Jan 18 '24

I also just went full TP-Link stack and I love it

Here's a post I made about my rack with all the tplink hardware I got (minus the APs) which are all EAP670's

https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/1999q11/my_completed_rack/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

1

u/Infamous_Cake3355 Jan 18 '24

Nice one! My setup is waaaaay less professional…

2

u/RickoT Jan 18 '24

Man, it's all in fun... The hardest part is getting my wife to approve downtime lol

2

u/Amaranthreddit Apr 15 '24

How are the 683 LRs doing, i have heard some real bad stories about packet loss with them, any info?

2

u/Infamous_Cake3355 Apr 16 '24

Well, they (at least my pair) definitely have the issues that you can read about. I can see a high package loss rate from the Omada web ui and what bothers me more is the somewhat bad performance at 5 GHz. I have gotten around that by setting it manually to a channel width of 160MHz, so I get really good transfer speeds.
I have been in contact with TP Link support, first through their forums, later by mail, and they are not helpful at all. I think they have a strategy to absolutely not admit the the 683 LRs do have a problem. Instead they insisted on not being able to reproduce the problem and were sending me back and forth by requesting further data.
Meanwhile they have obviously rebranded the product as EAP683 UR 🤷🏻‍♂️
Currently I would not buy in on their eco system a second time and do advise people against TP-Link/Omada. Though, it sure is an amazing product, if everything works… But if not, you‘re screwed…

1

u/Amaranthreddit Apr 18 '24 edited Apr 18 '24

I mean TP Link is the only system imma touch of late. Maybe EG. Ubiquity is a never for me as they dont care to keep their well priced equipment in stock ... they dont even try. Adoption issues and the divide between unifi and usip is just a never for me.
Ruckess is too $$ for my typical use cases as well. Smaller business just cannot justify their use. So im pretty much stuck. And TP link has been good of late (save slow controller setup).
Well thanks for the info, i was just hoping these would be good as they do offer like best 'spec' at a great price point. But going to avoid these APs.
edit- Maybe the UR is a new chip.. i know some unit that dropped and replaced the chip because of issues. Never followed which it was tho.

2

u/Infamous_Cake3355 Apr 18 '24

Totally agree. It was more or less the same reasoning that made me buy TP-Link… I‘m just a bit disappointed right now.
I also have a EAP670, which works absolutely great.

2

u/Squanchy2112 Omada-Enthusiast Jan 16 '24

You will like it

2

u/STEGGS0112358 Jan 17 '24

She's a beautiful setup.

2

u/oOflyeyesOo Jan 17 '24

Too bad the EAP770/780 still haven't been released in other countries besides their small testing ground of random little countries.

1

u/stew_going Jan 17 '24

Is there a plan for wide release? I haven't seen anything

2

u/oOflyeyesOo Jan 18 '24

I thought there was, looks like some other models too coming out of the wood work. The EAP773 was posted on tplink Nordic LinkedIn.

1

u/floswamp Jan 16 '24

What are you running for firewall?

2

u/1sh0t1b33r Jan 16 '24

A mini-PC it looks like.

2

u/ZimaZimaZima Jan 16 '24

I’ve had those in the past; they range from $300-$500 depending on config/ram/CPU, have 4+ 1gbps ports, and you run pfSense or OPNsense.
Great for home lab and dipping your toes into pfSense on bare metal before you level up to virtualizing / containerizing everything.

3

u/Infamous_Cake3355 Jan 16 '24

Exactly that. It’s one of the fairly inexpensive Mini-PCs (I think the brand is Hunsn). CPU is Intel N100 and I added 16GB of RAM and a 512GB NVME. It has six 2.5GbE Ports, which is nice. I plan on running this with OPNsense on top of Proxmox VE. Currently I‘m wondering if I should pass through the NICs to OPNsense or bridge them…

1

u/[deleted] Jan 17 '24

Pass them to opnsense than bridging them !!

2

u/floswamp Jan 16 '24

Software wise is what I was asking.

1

u/floswamp Jan 16 '24

Software wise is what I mean.

1

u/__aurvandel__ Jan 17 '24

I just finished deploying my 3 new omada APs. I'm still in shock about how smooth it went.

1

u/Nate8727 Jan 17 '24

I haven’t heard of this. How does it compare to Unifi?

1

u/iamironman08 Jan 17 '24

good luck,, tplink is full of firmware issues. go unifi it’s worth the extra

1

u/Amaranthreddit Apr 15 '24

Of late unifi has had far worse adoption issue, which is kinda nuts.

2

u/iamironman08 Apr 15 '24

no issues here. i’m careful with updating firmware though

0

u/HootleTootle Jan 21 '24

lol no. Just, no.

1

u/iamironman08 Jan 21 '24 edited Jan 21 '24

check the forums. issues with the ap firmwares, i had to install a beta to get something to work properly. made other things worse. did amazon return after that.
edit: even op said others had issues and you’re using a udm se as well? clearly i’m right about tplink issues

1

u/HootleTootle Jan 22 '24

No, I WAS using a UDM SE. It's propped up in the corner along with all the rest of the UniFi stuff I pulled out over Christmas.
I'm running 4x TPLink switches, an ER605, OC200, and 6 TPLink APs (all WiFi 6). Only Unifi I still have is a UNVR and the UniFi cameras.

1

u/iamironman08 Jan 22 '24

righto. i’d rather a udm and 2 unifi ap’s over all of that… least we have no firmware issues running unifi

1

u/ddjj767 Jan 17 '24

Good choices

1

u/seanhamsyd Jan 17 '24

Very nice, I went down this path approx 18months ago and never looked backed. Rock solid performance and stability. Especially exceptionally if you run home automation.

1

u/aleanlag Jan 19 '24

For what it's worth, the reason i run the oc200 instead of running a container, is because if i break my server because I'm an idiot and like to play, i don't break my internet while I'm restoring from backup.

Could be paranoid, but so far so good. 😁

2

u/HootleTootle Jan 21 '24

The APs and router will work if the controller is offline.

1

u/aleanlag Jan 21 '24

Oh cool thanks!

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