It’s been a bit since my last post here, and I’m starting to come to my senses.
While having an on-premise DC/Pi-Hole/Plex for the case is a good idea, I’m likely to be colocated again by the end of this year, power at home is far more stable than it was where I used to live, so the need for on-premise is lessened.
If I were going to “simplify” the setup as before, I’ll pick up another MikroTik GrooveA 52 ac (as there’s not an 802.11ax version yet) for WiFi client mode, the modern MikroTik hEX S refresh, and couple these with the existing Cisco PoE switch, which will power the hEX S as well as a standalone AP, probably a Cisco CBW150AX. Actually, what had the setup be so simple in the past was that the router was also the primary AP, so maybe the hAP ax S then and forego the switch and standalone AP. Hmm… maybe I’ll just full send on everything.
By “full send on everything” I mean forego the Fitlet3 and rely on colocation and/or cloud hosting while having a strictly network gear setup. I’ve yet to decide on the full layout of this, however.
The devices mentioned earlier are what we’ll focus on. The hEX S will work perfectly for the edge device: it can be powered by PoE and will output passive PoE for the GrooveA 52 ac. As for local WiFi I could pivot to the hAP ax S, but the Cisco Business WiFi setup seems to be the best option due to the mesh extenders and the virtual wireless controller. Before I spend the money on the new items for this, I’ll need to verify I kept the tripod I bought long ago to strap the original GrooveA to. If I have, then I’ll absolutely get this plan going. While the GrooveA is a 1×1 802.11ac device, it served its purpose extremely well in the past before I had more reliable cellular connectivity, and admittedly, I do miss having it as it was a good tool in general. I’ll probably end up with a separate case or bag to hold the GrooveA, the tripod, and the mesh extenders separate from the case itself. I do want the case proper to be an integrated system, so all the “external” devices will need to be stored separately, which is another issue to work out. I’m sure once I have everything in hand I can figure out an appropriate size.
I might spend some time in Visio over the next few days to figure out the feasibility of this new plan.
Until next time!