This home upgrade project started at the very beginning of 2019, on the 12th of January when I purchased the initial equipment. It has taken an entire year and a few months - but we’ve finally made it!
Summary - Current Equipment
NBN: Spintel 50 / 20 FTTC - Netcomm NF10WV
Router: MikroTik RouterBOARD RB1200
Switch: 2x HP 1810G-24 w/ 4 Gb trunk
Access Point: 2x Ubiquiti UniFi AC-Lite
Server: HP ProLiant MicroServer Gen8
Day 0 - The Bargain
My boredom activities often involve scrolling Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace for deals - audio gear, camera gear, furniture, and ever so occasionally… network gear!
So I found a classified on Gumtree…
8x Ubiquiti UniFi UAP - $10 each
They were - however - the original first-generation UAP model, not the UAP-AC’s.
The UAP is only defined for 10/100 Fast Ethernet - which is a shame, but nor were my old APs…
But hey, it was still a bargain - $50 savings per unit.
MikroTik RouterBOARD RB1200 - $40
A discontinued MikroTik router - but still works flawlessly!
To reset this device, you will need to open up thr router and short the reset contacts.
My previous OpenWRT just needed a “30/30/30 reset”.You will need a Phillips P2 screwdriver for the chassis screws
Fortunately my HP ProLiant MicroServer came with a Philip P2 tool - phew!There isn’t any native DHCP host name to DNS entry mapping functionality
You will have to use a script like this (Credits: dse)
D-Link DGS-1210-28 - $50
A quiet (fanless) managed gigabit switch!
Over the time I’ve used it, I’ve felt like it has some issues with saving its settings…
After a power cycle, the DHCP/Static settings had reset and I was unable to connect to it without configuring my computer’s network settings manually
Dell PowerConnect 2848 - $80
A 48 port managed gigabit switch
Its fans are very loud, and so I won’t be using this as a permanent device.
Into the church it goes… no one care about noise there!
A 2RU Rack
In consideration for space, I wanted to build a rack to mount the router and switch.
I was going to go to Ikea to buy the Lack Table to make the Lack Rack, but I ended up finding some pieces of wood in the garage that had basically just the right dimensions!!!
The Upgrade
3x Ubiquiti UniFi AC Lite - $30 each
Fast-track to the end of the 2019, I had stumbled upon another UniFi product deal on Facebook Marketplace.
Three AC Lite’s and a Cloud Key for $100!
2x HP J9450 1810G-24 Gigabit Switch - $37 each
I sniped two separate eBay bids, one for $41 and the other for $34.
The HP 1810G-24 is a discontinued fanless 24 port gigabit switch.
It supports trunking though, essential to what I wanted to do (4 GigE backplane between the two switches)
I could then put my previous D-Link DGS-1210-28 fanless switch into church, and retire the noisy Dell PowerConnect 2848.
These switches were on some version P.1.X, and the time of writing there was a major update - to version P.2.23.
To upgrade to the P.2.X major, you first need to upgrade to P.1.20, and then to P.2.23
Mirror Downloads: [P.1.20] | [P.2.23]
Eaton 5E 650VA UPS - $89
I decided to purchase an Eaton 5E 650VA UPS (pictured on the right) for all of the network gear, not for the reason of keeping everything online, but to give enough power for the servers to shut off safely during a power outage.
The first UPS was DOA unfortunately, so I had to return it and wait for a RMA.
Quite opportunely, I had also found a fully functional Eaton 5E 2000VA UPS (pictured on the left) on the side of the road.
12RU Rack - $154
With NBN also coming (or so I thought), I wanted to centralise all of the server / network equipment, so I purchased a 12RU server rack (450mm deep) to mount the equipment.
2x SHF107 Rack Shelf - $18.90 each
I bought two rack shelves; one for the HP ProLiant MicroServer, and the other for the NBN equipment.
The Infrastructure
One of the HP 1810G-24 switches will say in the server rack, whilst the other switch will be in another part of the house (because we didn’t want to run every wire from the rack).
I ran four 25m CAT6 cables under the house and terminated them.
Yes - I should have used a patch panel, but they were the only four cables that will need to be patched (or so I thought).
Don’t forget to label your cables!
I also prepared for my new NBN FTTC connection.
After a bit of cabling investigation, I found that one of my two lead-in cables from the street went directly to the server room - so I did not have to get a new cable laid!
As telephone services are provided through the NBN equipment, a return telephone cable was laid to connect the server room to where the wireless telephone base station was (in another room).
After that, I purchased some wall panels, three RJ11 mechs and a RJ45 mech, and installed them.
NBN
I signed up for SpinTel’s 50 / 20 plan (Cheapest one we found).
Last week, the contractor came for our house’s connection appointment - and as all the internal wiring was done; all he had to do was to connect our home from the pit!
From our end, it was simple!
- Connect the telephone line to the Network Connection Device (NCD)
- Connect the NCD to the NBN Router (Netcomm NF10WV)
- Connect the NBN Router to my Mikrotik router
Whilst the NBN Router could have been removed, we would have lost VOIP functionality, as the MikroTik was not designed for it. Turning the Netcomm into bridge mode would have also lost VOIP functionality, so we were left with a two router setup.
Wrap Up
After an entire year, my network equipment and server all live in a server rack - with Gigabit Ethernet around the house, and Ubiquiti UniFi serving our WiFi. We’ve got a 50 / 20 NBN plan (syncing at around 44 / 18 ).
Job done!
Similar: SWEC Network Upgrade
