Re: [gentoo-user] To all IPv6-slackers among the Gentoo community

[Rich Freeman]

On Tue, Nov 26, 2019 at 8:10 PM Dale <rdalek1967@×××××.com> wrote:
>
> I went to Newegg.  Hey, I buy stuff there sometimes.  Anyway, I've
> looked at several routers and none of them mention IPv6 that I can
> find.  I even skimmed the reviews and can't find a mention of it.  Is
> there some secret way to know when IPv6 is supported?  Is it called
> something else maybe?
>

IMO there are three reasonable approaches you can take towards getting
a router you won't curse yourself for buying a year from now:

1.  DIY.  PC or other general-purpose computing hardware with multiple
NICs.  There are SBCs that work well for this.  You can run pfsense or
some other router-oriented distro/software/wrappers.  Or you can just
roll your own with netfilter and such.  Max flexibility, but also max
fuss.  Unless you use a SBC you'll also be paying a price in
electricity.  Don't underestimate how much you pay for any x86-based
system that runs 24x7 - especially anything old you have lying around.

2.  OpenWRT/DD-WRT/etc.  Again it is a bit fussy but generally way
less so than going pure DIY unless you're running pfsense or some
other appliance-oriented distro.  If you go this route then definitely
check for recommendations on hardware that is known to work WELL.
Some stuff technically works but can be very prone to having to play
around with JTAG and such if you make the slightest mistake.  You'll
probably spend an extra $20 on hardware you won't regret buying - do
it.

3.  Something commercial that isn't terrible.  There are various
options, but everybody always points to Ubiquiti and I'm mostly happy
with them.  If you want something that is more gui-based I'd go with
their Unifi line.  I'd avoid Amplifi as it is more consumer-oriented
and you'll end up being frustrated with it.  EdgeOS is getting closer
to something like OpenWRT - it runs linux and you can get a shell and
mess around with the CLI.  However, while the EdgeOS routing options
are great they aren't so good with WiFi and EdgeOS and Unifi don't
interoperate all that well (not impossible, but they don't really talk
to each other so you have to maintain two configs).  I also really
dislike that the EdgeOS management software is only supplied as a
docker image, which is a pain if you're not using docker (one of these
days I'll have to get it working with my bridge interface as it always
tries to create its own and ends up having no physical network
access).  The Unifi controller software is packaged for a couple of
distros which makes it much more flexible to deploy (and you can use
it on docker if you wish).

Personally I'm running EdgeOS on my router and Unifi on everything
else.  If I could go back I might have gone with Unifi on the gateway
but it does bug me that it is so much more expensive and does the same
thing.  If I had it then end-to-end VLAN/etc would be much more
practical, though I'd need a pile of managed switches to make it work
well.

I've run all three options at various points.  Unless your needs are
special I think there is value in just going with #3.  It just runs
itself for the most part, and if you want multiple access points or
anything like that the network basically runs itself.  I just plug in
new hardware and then on the controller software it shows up, and one
click provisions it which configures it to fit in with all my global
settings.

-- 
Rich