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Comment by cturner | Hacker News Reader

My parents live in another country, and I want to set up some network equipment at their house so that I can coordinate their network if they get into trouble, and to support cameras as one of them has become high-care. My dad also has some complex data. I intend to install a rackmount server for him so that I can help him with data problems from time to time.

For network equipment, I have a fair bit of experience with datacentre grade equipment, but none in the consumer space. I think I want this, 1. Good quality. 2. Fanless 3. Drives multi-node wifi APs 4. Control cameras 5. Web interface that parents can use. 6. Cisco-like CLI that I can use. 7. No cloud.

The unifi equipment seems to fit all criteria above except the last two points. Seems you cannot make permanent changes from the console, and their offering is oriented towards cloud configuration. Would someone who knows the segment be happy to offer advice? (thanks in advance)

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I have a UniFi AP and a 24-port 10G switch from Ubiquiti. As far as 6. goes, you are sadly correct. It’s all Linux underneath so there are plenty of changes you can make in the CLI, but the middleware will happily stomp all over it at the next upgrade or reboot.

For no cloud, it’s quite easy to avoid. The middleware can be spun up in a container or installed on any Linux VM and have no access to Ubiquiti’s servers at all and it’ll work fine (you’ll have to upload updates yourself). However, the product will be full of little nagging notices coaxing you into going to the cloud, or as in my case, getting mad you aren’t using a UDM for your router/firewall and turn off a bunch of the L3 features. The software is meme-level in how many bad patterns and form-over-function decisions are in it. Cloud or no, it’s frankly kinda crap.

The APs are solid, but I’ll likely not buy another switch from them if I can help it. Depending on your needs, there is plenty of used enterprise gear to be had for quite cheap on eBay. But, I’m in the market for a fat 48-port switch with a huge PoE budget and they have one that’s all 2.5G. I don’t know that anyone else makes one, and if they do, it’s three times the price, or I have to call some sales person to talk about it, or the actual existence of the product is impossible to surmise through thick marketing wank datasheets.

There's no all in one solution that I'm aware of that ticks all of those boxes. If you're already standing up a server, I would recommend using mikrotik switches along with tplink omada APs. You can set up the free omada controller on the server.

For the camera side, Reolink or Amcrest POE cameras (or WiFi if you must) paired with a PVR like Blue Iris if you're a Windows guy or Frigate on the Linux side

I run my own Docker image for the Unifi server, no cloud needed. The CLI is limited though but I can ssh into my switches and router. I haven't used their camera offerings though.

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