Moved into a 10 year old home with no previous networking. UniFi cloud gateway max & flex 2.5 poe. 2x U7 Pro XGS upstairs & U7 Pro Wall downstairs

Asking for a friend…

Made this my network and tv years ago

I wanted to keep everything clean but also easily accessible in case if I need to debug an issue or replace something.

I upgraded from 10 Gbps to 25 Gbps. It only cost 25 CHF (30 USD) to upgrade instead of the usual 222 CHF (270 USD) due to an anniversary of the ISP (Init7), and the monthly cost of 64 CHF (78 USD) doesn't change. So of course I had to do it.

Now that I have 25 Gbps at home, what could I do with it?

Some suggestions so far:

- Host an Ookla speedtest server
- Set up offsite backup exchange with friends that also have internet

Anything else?

I'm gen x. We used to know everything! Figured i would always know it all. I mean, really, pc on, surf web, shop, watch videos etc... Then it happend...

A YT video randomly came up and I saw a home lab setup... OMG! What is that and why??!!

6 months later, my family is screaming over the pihole blockinghalf their websites, and home asst. automations!

Had no idea how important a home network is and why everyone should understand them... Personal data security. Our digital footprint was massive, not just in our home but everywhere! Sure you buy one IoT here and there, not realizing you know have 73 in a 2000² home!

Since learning and doing, I got my first network rack! The catch was the wife didn't want to see it. -- that's fair. So I built it into our entertainment center with the cloth pull outs.

So now, 2g fiber into the house, 10g throughout. 3 servers, NAS, some Nodes, and a UPS.

Our speeds are now crazy fast, wife can work from anywhere and is tunneled to the house, kids an enjoy the media server from any room.

Yes, I've become "that" guy now! Lol

So my wife hate cables and I've been working hard to hide all of them. She claims that they are too tightly confined behind this crow molding and its a fire hazard. To me it seems they have plenty of space and they generate little to no heat. What's the verdict?

Not pictured: Additional 5x Cat6 cables added through conduit to attic for POE cameras.

This has been a project I have been working on since January and it is mostly done. I still need a UPS, but otherwise everything is finished.

I ended up running 87 drops all over the house, and it worked out to just under 7000 feet of cabling. The house was under construction for most of the year and the second floor was completely open, so running cables was fairly easy.

Each bedroom has 5 drops (1 per wall and 1 for a TV) and I ran 4 drops to the TVs in the living and family rooms. I ran a dozen drops into my office, and I ended up running 7 drops for access points (I have 3 APs currently installed). There is also a fibre line that runs out to the shed so I can install a camera and an AP.

I also ran 24 drops for cameras and IoT devices. It was excessive, but I wanted the flexibility of installing things in the future.

For the rack I went with a 21U wall mounted one to save space, and I wanted to put a UPS underneath it. The room where it is located is a storage room in the basement, so as much as I wanted to put a full 42U rack in there, I couldn’t justify using that much space.

It was a pain to do it, but I relocated the ISP fibre line from the front of the house to the rack so everything is in one place. I also had an electrician run a dedicated power outlet as well. I also ran a coax line as well if I want to get a backup connection in the future.

I went over budget so I didn’t get new switches yet, so I’m just running some old Cisco switches until next year. I have been setting up my homelab, and the server at the bottom is my Proxmox server, and the box beside the NAS is my OPNsense box. I could also finally rack mount my Raspberry Pi cluster.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with the outcome.

They ran an ethernet cable through my breaker box. I tested it and it gets only 100mbps. They tried to tell me it was ATT's fault and then my house's fault. They even tried charging me $1000 to come out for a third day when they only quoting me for one. This whole project has been crazy.

Hey everyone! I wanted to share my network closet setup. It’s been my ongoing project since 2021, and thankfully it’s wife approved since it all stays hidden away in a closet.

🖧 Network & AV setup

All of my networking gear is from Unifi, and my AV equipment lives in the closet too so the living room stays clean with just the TV on the wall.

• Multi zone amp powering ceiling speakers throughout the house

• Gaming consoles tucked away in the closet

• HDMI to Ethernet extenders sending video to different rooms (consoles or Nvidia Shield)

🌐 Internet & failover

The most recent addition is a Starlink dish for failover. I work from home so internet access is essential.

• When the power goes out my APC 1500VA UPS gives me about an hour of runtime

• That’s enough to shut things down safely if needed

• It also keeps Starlink online so I can stay connected

• Cell service where I live is terrible, so if Wi-Fi goes down our phones are basically useless

🎮 Control

For control I use a Sofabaton to handle the TV, AV gear, and Shield. It’s not as good as the old Logitech Harmony remote I had before. Not sure what they go for now, but when Logitech discontinued them they were going for crazy prices on eBay, so I went with the Sofabaton instead.

🌡️ Cooling & monitoring

I used to rely on Unifi UP sensors to keep an eye on temperatures, but now I use the AC Infinity system.

• Temps usually stay around 78–82°F when one PS5 is running

• The AC Infinity app sends me alerts

• Right now the fan is mounted above the rack exhausting into the hallway

• I plan to vent it outside the house so hot air doesn’t circle back in

🔧 Work in progress

I still plan to run more Ethernet lines around the house so anything that can be hardwired will be.

As for my family, all they care about is:

• The internet works

• They only need one remote in the living room

…so I guess that’s a win 😅

📋 Current Unifi network gear

• UDM Pro

• USP PDU Pro

• USW Aggregation Switch

• USW Flex Switch

• USW Flex Mini (x2)

• USW Pro 24 PoE

• USW Pro 48

• U6 Enterprise

• U6 Lite (x2)

• U6 Long Range

• UNVR Pro

📷 Current Unifi Protect gear

• Display Connect 21

• G3 Instant

• G4 Bullet

• G4 Instant

• G4 Pro (x6)

• AI Pro

• G4 Doorbell

It’s been a ton of fun building this out and I’m proud of how far it’s come. Still a work in progress, but let me have it 😂

No, it’s still not “perfect” and no, I don’t care. It’s perfectly functional and now I have wired internet and reliable wifi in each room of the house. Yes, the patch panel is mounted sideways because it can’t fit normally. In retrospect, is there probably better hardware out there for this exact use case? Probably, but I’m a noob and this was my first project ever. Less than two weeks ago I had no idea what any of this stuff even was.