Feedback on New Omada Residential Setup

Feedback on New Omada Residential Setup

Feedback on New Omada Residential Setup
Feedback on New Omada Residential Setup
2024-09-06 04:11:11 - last edited 2024-09-09 09:46:32

Just looking for some quick feedback on a Omada residential setup in Australia. I currently have a couple deco's and unmanaged network switch and am looking at moving to something for local control (off deco cloud) and a managed switch for better control and VLANs etc. I've been researching the Omada stuff which looks good but I'm unsure of a few things. I also have a few questions regrading access point placement in the house.

 

I don't have advanced knowledge in this stuff so any feedback is good.

 

First, equipment:

 

Router:

  • TP-Link ER7212PC Omada 3-in-1 Gigabit VPN Router (Router + PoE Switch + Controller)
  • I'm happy for something like the ER605 but would like an integrated controller instead of buying a separate one. I can only find this one for a more residential setup.
  • I could run the controller in docker on my server, but was thinking I would just go for the hardware solution for lower maintenance etc.
  • I would like the SFP port to connect to the switch
  • Wireless1: $299

 

Switch:

  • TP-Link TL-SG2218P JetStream 18-Port Gigabit Smart Switch with 16-Port PoE+
  • I would like it to be rack-mountable and 18-ports should be enough. I would also like to use the SFP port to connect from the router.
  • PoE is important for powering a few items and the access points. 150w PoE budget should be enough?
  • I also found the TL-SG2428P which looks to be a beefier option, but I don't think I need it at this point
  • Wireless1: $344

 

Access Points:

  • TP-Link EAP680 AX6000 Ceiling Mount Wi-Fi 6 Access Point
  • I was also looking at EAP670 but I can't find the v2 in Aus. The v1 looks to be too chunky and I would prefer the smaller size.
  • Leaning towards 3. I may be able to find a 3-pack for cheaper.
  • Wireless1: $219

 

$299 + $344 + ($219 x 3) = 1,300

 

Would these items work well together?

 

 

Second, AP placement:

 

I'm tossing up between 2 and 3 APs. I'm leaning more towards 3 for a few reasons, but not sure if overkill

  • Cost wise not much difference between 2 and 3 APs.
  • House has single brick internal walls so having 3 would mean there's only 1 brick wall between the device and AP.
  • I can have these set up at 9 metres apart and cover the house and front-yard pretty well.
  • 1 will be in the living room (lounge) which is an open space, and the other two will be in the hallway just next to the bedrooms (2 rooms each side).
  • Backyard is small so coverage not important, living room AP will cover it. Frontyard coverage is more important (by the Porch) which is also covered by the living room AP.
  • I'm hoping it would mean that when walking down the corridor there would be a hand-off from one AP to the other before entering the room.

 

Are there any downsides to having 3 APs with only 9 metres apart? If there weren't so many brick walls I'm sure 2 APs would work fine. My current set-up with the deco's is similar to the 2-AP set up, which is mostly working fine. However I'm interested in future-proofing for wifi 7, which I understand distance to the AP and avoiding internal walls is more important? I imagine the 3-AP setup would benefit me a lot more once I move to wifi 7 down the track.

 

In the below diagrams, the APs are the blue dots. Each orange line and the diameter of each green circle is 9 metres. Bed 4 is a planned new room which is why it stands out on these plans.

 

3 APs:

 

2 APs:

 

 

Third, additional questions:

 

  1. The router has multiple ports on it. Are there any problems with connecting the switch to one port (which feeds into the patch panel and then to the APs and devices around the house) as well as using the other ports on the router to connect devices next to it (NAS, servers, etc.)? Not sure if this creates different subnets or anything like that.
  2. Are there any problems connecting the router and switch with the SFP port? I'm not familiar with it but more just want to free up the RJ45 ports for other devices.
  3. Is there enough PoE power from the individual ports to power the APs? Each AP uses about 20w so total is about 60w, well below the 150w PoE Budget, but I'm not sure how that works on an individual port level.
  4. I have a couple smaller unmanaged switches by my TV etc. which connects to the main network switch. Do I need to swap these for omada compatible ones as well or how does that work with managing those devices?

 

Thanks in advance!

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Re:Feedback on New Omada Residential Setup-Solution
2024-09-06 11:21:59 - last edited 2024-09-09 09:46:32

  @jkerrigan93 

For the router, I recommend that you consider ER7206 and then add a hardware controller to manage the whole devices. Compared to ER7212PC, ER7206 and OC200 do their jobs separately, so they would be more powerful when dealing with something. For example, ER7212 PC would only manage limited devices, whereas OC200 or OC300 can manage multiple devices. However, if you think it is more convenient for you to use the ER7212PC, then you can consider it.

 

The switch has a total PoE budget of 150 W, with each port capable of delivering up to 30 W. So the port can provide up to 30W of power, which can be used to manage a large number of APs because their power typically does not exceed that.

 

It is preferable that you deploy three APs to better cover the dead corner. Because there are walls between them, 9 meters is no problem for them to locate. The interference would not make them perform worse.

 

There is no problem connecting the switch to the router while other devices are connected to the same network. The router is the network's source; by default, all devices behind it, including the switch, are connected to the same network.

 

You could also use switches that are unmanaged or cannot be managed by the controller. Devices that connect to the unmanaged switch are on the same network and can obtain IP addresses from the main router. However, since the unmanaged switch only works to extend the network port, so there cannot be any settings on it.We can only make settings on the port of the front device, which are managed by the controller.

Best Regards! >> Omada EAP Firmware Trial Available Here << >> Get the Latest Omada SDN Controller Releases Here << *Try filtering posts on each forum by Label of [Early Access]*
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Re:Feedback on New Omada Residential Setup-Solution
2024-09-06 11:21:59 - last edited 2024-09-09 09:46:32

  @jkerrigan93 

For the router, I recommend that you consider ER7206 and then add a hardware controller to manage the whole devices. Compared to ER7212PC, ER7206 and OC200 do their jobs separately, so they would be more powerful when dealing with something. For example, ER7212 PC would only manage limited devices, whereas OC200 or OC300 can manage multiple devices. However, if you think it is more convenient for you to use the ER7212PC, then you can consider it.

 

The switch has a total PoE budget of 150 W, with each port capable of delivering up to 30 W. So the port can provide up to 30W of power, which can be used to manage a large number of APs because their power typically does not exceed that.

 

It is preferable that you deploy three APs to better cover the dead corner. Because there are walls between them, 9 meters is no problem for them to locate. The interference would not make them perform worse.

 

There is no problem connecting the switch to the router while other devices are connected to the same network. The router is the network's source; by default, all devices behind it, including the switch, are connected to the same network.

 

You could also use switches that are unmanaged or cannot be managed by the controller. Devices that connect to the unmanaged switch are on the same network and can obtain IP addresses from the main router. However, since the unmanaged switch only works to extend the network port, so there cannot be any settings on it.We can only make settings on the port of the front device, which are managed by the controller.

Best Regards! >> Omada EAP Firmware Trial Available Here << >> Get the Latest Omada SDN Controller Releases Here << *Try filtering posts on each forum by Label of [Early Access]*
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Re:Feedback on New Omada Residential Setup
2024-09-06 14:27:36 - last edited 2024-09-06 22:51:24

  @Hank21 Thanks for your feedback I really appreciate it!

 

  1. That's good advice about keeping the router and controller seperate. I like the ER7206 , I did originally look at it so I'll go for that one. Am I correct in thinking I would only need the OC200 and not the OC300 with this setup?
  2. Thanks for confirming the PoE power, looks like I'll have no problem there.
  3. I'll go for the 3 APs, I was definitely leaning towards that anyway.
  4. That's good to know I can connect devices directly either to the router or the switch without problems, thanks.
  5. Makes sense that I can only manage the port of the managed network switch and not the unmanaged ones. I'll research small cheap managed switches which work with Omada, but do you have any preferable ones? Only need about 6 ports and I basically want to daisy chain a small switch off the main TL-SG2218P switch. Edit: I just realised I don't even need to daisy chain. I can conect a port from my router right into the patch panel and connect to a second switch located in a different room. Edit2: the ES205G looks like it will do the job.

 

I believe my final list of equipment is the following:

 

Router: TL-ER7206

 

Controller: OC200

 

Main Switch: TL-SG2218P

 

Sub Switch: ES205G

 

Access Points x3: EAP680

 

$189 + 129 + $344 + 39 + ($219 x 3) = 1,358

 

Of course when it comes to buying it, I'll see where I can buy cheaper and what deals I can find.


 

 

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Re:Feedback on New Omada Residential Setup
2024-09-09 09:57:02 - last edited 2024-09-09 09:57:38

  @jkerrigan93 

Compared to the OC200, the OC300 is more powerful. One thing to note is that our V5.14 built-in controller OC200 has removed some features (Open API and built Radius) due to hardware limitations. Furthermore, you can get to know our cloud-based controller, which requires a license to manage devices.

Here is the link for you to review: General questions about Omada's Cloud-Based Controller

So, before purchasing the product, please visit our official website to fully understand whether it meets your requirements.

Here is the switches' link, which you can consider from: Omada Switches

Best Regards! >> Omada EAP Firmware Trial Available Here << >> Get the Latest Omada SDN Controller Releases Here << *Try filtering posts on each forum by Label of [Early Access]*
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Re:Feedback on New Omada Residential Setup
2024-09-11 14:01:17

  @Hank21 Thanks for the response! I'm not interested in cloud but I didn't realise the OC200 doesnt have Open API, so that's good to know because that is pretty essential. OC300 might be what I need instead.

 

I might actually put this off a year and go for the wifi 7 EAPs instead. So on that I have one last question. is it worth separating out the three networks (2.4, 5 and 6) for wifi 7 or is there some benefit in having them all combined? I was thinking because my APs will be close together I can just use the 6ghz range network but not sure how that works with having so many networks available.

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