Planning the Overkill Home Network

As discussed a previous post about Home Plans, I mentioned about building the best network I possibly can (relative to our needs). To accomplish this, I had the builder of my house run 11 Cat6 cables throughout our house, all going back to the closet of the bedroom that I'm designating my office. I've chosen Ubiquiti Unifi for all of the network equipment. 

General Plan

The network will consist initially of 3 PoE security cams, 2(ish) Access Points, and 6 wall-jacks (one for each bedroom + kitchen + living room). My plan is to use a Unifi 2nd-gen 24-port PoE switch as a "core" switch in the network closet and then use smaller PoE-powered 5-port downstream switches (Unifi USW Flex Minis) at the wall ports for more devices where necessary. Bedrooms and the living room will have an AppleTV and a TV at a minimum. I'm not planning on connecting TVs to the network, since their apps are usually garbage. I also do not intend on hooking up home theater components like an AVR or Blu-Ray player to the network. Thus, rooms like our master bedroom, guest room, and living room will work just fine with a single wall-port. The wall ports in mine and my wife's office will need a downstream switch to accommodate an AppleTV + a computer. The wall port in the kitchen is a bit more interesting. Some of the smart home tech I'm planning to use requires a hub or bridge wired into the network. I needed an area that was central to most of the house that wasn't a metal box like an equipment cabinet. The kitchen is perfect, but I also want to hide these things, since they're not tucked away in an equipment cabinet. On top of the kitchen cabinets seems perfect to me. With a wall port up there, I can discretely place a downstream switch, a couple smart bridges, and a couple Sonos speakers for audio in the kitchen, all out of sight but right where I need them to be. 

Routing

I'll be utilizing a 940x35 Cable connection, so for routing I'm planning on going with Unifi's UDM-Pro. It's completely overkill for a home network application, but I like the fact that it's a firewall/router/network mgmt appliance/NVR all-in-one box. It's not without it's faults, but recent firmwares have been reported as quite stable and I'm not in need of any wild requirements.  

Wireless

The 2 APs will be Unifi NanoHD units, ceiling mounted, and I'm using one AP per floor. The general footprint of the home is 40'x57', so I initially thought that one AP per floor would be more than enough. After playing around with the Unifi controller software, the coverage map feature in particular, it seems I may have thought wrong. According to that, one NanoHD covers upstairs very well, but one downstairs may not be enough. My plan is to pick up the 2 NanoHD APs and start with that and add APs as needed. I can use a couple  of my wall ports for In-Wall HD APs and even throw something like a BeaconHD in my garage, where I have no cables to use. This expansion would allow me to increase the WiFi coverage without mucking about in the attic spaces to run additional cable.

UPDATE: I started with a single NanoHD in the downstairs location and I have not found Wifi to be lacking in any particular spot of the house. I'll have to do more testing, but that little NanoHD is a boss. 

Security Cameras

For security cams, I'm looking at the Unifi G4 Bullets for my 2 outdoor camera locations, and the upcoming Unifi G4 Dome for my interior location (s. I may add another one at some point). I may do something like a G3 Micro in the garage where I have no cables ran. The Unifi Protect platform looks the best to me and I like the idea of keeping my camera footage local. 

Video Doorbell

I'm liking the upcoming Unifi G4 Doorbell. It's a wireless camera powered by the doorbell wiring, but it's another Unifi Protect camera in the larger picture. I'm hoping that a Homebridge plugin will allow exposure of the motion sensor and 2-way audio feature to Apple's HomeKit. Aesthetically, I think that how noticeable a video doorbell is depends entirely on how often one sees them, but they've got their popularity going for that. In time, the general public won't look twice at a video doorbell vs an old non-video doorbell.

Rack & Organization

In the interest of aesthetics and organization, I'm planning on using a wall-mounted 12U equipment rack. I'll only need about 5 RU for the shelf + router + switch + cable pass-thru panel + UPS. Additionally, I plan to use 4 RU for stereo amplifiers for a distributed audio setup and their own UPS. My plans would leave me with 3 RU left over for growth or additional gear. I would love to add a 4- or 8-bay NAS, but I'm not in any particular rush to do so.

Other options

At one point, purely for price reasons, I'd settled on TP-link gear. They have wired routers, decent PoE and non-PoE switches, a handful of AP options, and a small network management appliance from Omada. However, the single-pane-of-glass management of the Unifi platform is what brings me back to them. Other more expensive options found in higher-end installs are Luxul, Package, or Araknis, but that gear is a bit too rich for my blood (wallet). 

Overall, this network setup has me excited. I think it will be a great start to build on top of. I'm sure I'll take more specific looks at individual components or systems in the future.