Bozzlife: Living the Dream (Machine)

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I wasn't exactly sure where to put this post, but since it deals with technology, I hope the STEM community will give me a little leeway. I have been wanting one of these for a long time, but the other day I finally pulled the trigger and purchased an Ubiquiti Dream Machine for my home. I have been doing some part time work for @eos.detroit as their staff writer, so decided to treat myself.

I would have loved the Dream Machine Pro, but for my uses I figured I could get by with just purchasing the Unfi Dream Machine (UDM). This is the most money I have ever spent on a router. The fact that it is so much more than a router makes it totally worth it.

In the past I had a $100 Netgear Nighthawk wireless router that did the job, but occasionally had dead spots and didn't have all of the features I wanted. Most home routers like the Netgear Nighhawk don't give you the ability to set up your own wireless networks. You can have a 2.4 Ghz one and a 5 Ghz one and that is it (some let you have a guest network too).

I was looking for something that would allow me to setup my own SSID's so I could keep the streaming traffic in my house separate from the other wireless traffic. The UDM not only does that in spades as well as many other things.

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It seems like everything out there today has an app. I was at a clients house to set up a new HP printer they had purchased and I was immensely annoyed to find I needed to download an app on my smartphone just to run through the setup process. That was literally the only way you could set the printer up.

The Netgear Nighthawk I mentioned earlier had an app as well and quite honestly it was horrible. When it actually worked, it was quite useless to get any information or make any changes to the router.

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I was so happy to find that is not the case with the Ubiquiti app. To be fair, I have used the app in the past for the occasional access point or wireless bridge that I have installed at my work or a clients location. One of the things I really like about the Ubiquiti stuff is that is considered a "prosumer" line of equipment. This means you get the features of enterprise level equipment with out paying the enterprise level price.

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Probably the biggest drawback of the UDM is the fact that it has been out for a while now and it doesn't support Wifi 6. Since I don't currently have any devices that support Wifi 6, I was okay going in knowing that I would not have that ability in the future.

Other than that, I have been overjoyed at the number of options the UDM gives me.

I now have three separate SSID's setup in my house. I have the main network for our tablets and phones, I have one for streaming that includes all of my Rokus, Amazon Firesticks, and my Plex server. I also have an IoT network that I will eventually add some of our smart home devices to when we purchase them.

In addition to the separate SSID's, the UDM also allows me to setup separate vLans so I can further isolate the traffic. It is pretty awesome. That is just the beginning of the network features the UDM gives you. It also has an intrusion detection system, an intrusion prevention system and a honeypot to keep attackers out of your network.

There is also a wide range of add on devices you can connect and control with your UDM. If we find that there is not enough wireless coverage on the second floor of our house, I can purchase another access point that will connect to the UDM via wireless mesh and extend our coverage.

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Another thing I love about the UDM is the amount of statistics that it gives you about every aspect of your network. It is pretty awesome.

Here are just a couple of the screenshots:

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So far I am loving my UDM. It also has four gigabit Ethernet ports, so I was able to set the vLan for the port that my Plex server is connected to. I am really happy that I finally took the plunge and picked this up for my home.

I think it was @themarkymark that mentioned Ubiquiti is going to be making a video doorbell, so I will probably be adding that as one of my first IoT devices. Eventually, I would like to add a smart thermostat as well, but I think I need to add some wiring to my furnace before I go down that route.

If you are into networking but you don't have the time or funds to run a full scale enterprise environment in your home, I encourage you to check out the Ubiquiti line of products. If PoE is your thing or you are thinking about adding some wired cameras, you might want to check out the UDM Pro. For me, it just wasn't cost effective.


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@eos.detroit Staff Writer/BOID Team Leader

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All pictures taken by myself or @mrsbozz



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26 comments
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If you post via https://stemgeeks.net you will receive 100% of your share of STEM tokens, otherwise you only receive 50%. You will also auto post to the STEMGeeks community when doing this and won't have to worry about the STEMSocial guidelines as they are a lot more strict than ours.

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Okay, I will remember that for the future. It is probably too late for me now right?

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Yes, you cannot move a post from one community to another, but you can cross post it. As for the STEM token penalty, nothing can be done after a post has been broadcasted.

You can see if your post has been done on STEMGeeks by looking for the icon on https://stemgeeks.net.

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Okay, cool. The tokens are nice of course, but that isn't my main motivation. Thank you for all the info!

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I want to reward users with STEM tokens that are using STEMGeeks and not just posting about Bitcoin price and using #technology tag because well Bitcoin is a technology yet their post has nothing to do with technology or STEM.

The change seems to be working really well.

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Okay cool. I totally hear you about that. I will definitely keep that in mind for some of my future stuff. Tech is what I do every day, so it shouldn't be too hard! :)

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As for the Ubiquiti doorbell, it is already out. A bit more expensive than the Eufy one I got, but it fits into the Ubiquiti ecosystem better and has some really cool features.

Amazon

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Oh, sweet, I guess I will have to start saving up some more of my money! Thanks for the info!

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Good evening @bozz
you have shared Super information regarding dream machine. Keep it up !!!

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It looks really cool, and I get some of it, it's just more than I need. My netgear nighthawk does just fine by me :)

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Mine was a quick replacement from when ours got fried by the basement flood. It was a decent unit, I have just always wanted something a little more.

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I get it. I really do. Plus there is the coolness factor. I have stuff on my motorcycle that is just too cool. Like the electric windshield. Most wouldn't know or care, but...

I bought an HP printer not long ago and like you was irritated because I needed the app to install. It sure was easy, though. Install and registered in like 4 minutes.

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That does sound really cool. You had better luck with your printer than I did. It took me a good half hour to get it taken care of and lots of walking back and forth!

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Hmmmm....Hmmmm interesting. Never heard of it, But I love learning about new tech.
Just got myself a bto 2020 macmini (3.2ghz/6-core i7/512gb SSD) from the USA arrived a couple of days ago and trying to soup up my whole editing system (I've just completely worn out my old 2009 Imac over the past 8 months) and trying to speed up my WD nas box cause I feel that the 1gb ethernet (plugged directly into the macmini) is too slow... so going to experiment with usb3 end to end cables to see if that help and am planning on buying a Razorcore chroma Egpu with some sort of shithot graphics card which will then make me feel like I've parked up the 1970's Combivan, gotten into a normal 21st century car and then jumped into a Lamborghini instead.

So happy to learn about your dream machine, cause it could become apart of my dream machine and so happy to learn that you are so happy with your dream machine too!

See, dreams can come true!
Nice one @bozz thanks so much! So glad that you did post about it.

And here's one for you

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I have been looking at upgrading my graphics card. The prices of the new ones are pretty reasonable if you can get your hands on one. I think supply is the big issue right now. That is pretty awesome what you just picked up there. Have fun with it! I hope the USB-C connection gives you better luck.

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Next week are the black Friday sales! I can't wait! lol...

Lucky we just came out of lockdown and I just started work again!

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That is awesome. We are going back into lockdown over here and many of the stores are doing online black friday from now until Christmas just to make it easier on everyone.

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See, lockdown doesn't mean the world completely closes up shop- it just goes even more digital and there are bargains to be had! I hope you get some great stuff!

Sorry that you're going back into lockdown, but it worked for us and we're still alive, the shops are open again so it wasn't that bad...You can do it Bozz, you're a creative and proactive person.
The time will fly and you will come out of it winners again!

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How separate are the different networks? I heard Steve Gibson on Security Now talk about using three routers to reduce possible issues with an IOT decide looking at stuff on your PC network. With some devices they have to be on the same network, e.g. my Ikea lights. It is all a bit of a security nightmare and can be hard to know what to do if you don't want to do without the gadgets.

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They are separate SSID's and separate subnets, so for example my main network has addresses on 10.10.1.x and my streaming is 10.10.4.x and my IoT is 10.10.8.x.

I obviously have a bit of networking experience, but even if I didn't it still would have been pretty easy. There is a huge community online and on Reddit for help. The UDM can route traffic so certain things get where they need to be and you can further lock down the stuff you don't want. My Plex server is on the .4 network and my printer is on the .1 network but I can still print from the server to that printer.

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Only 2 wired devices? My ageing router has 4 and that's not enough.. I have to flip them about when I plug in the NAS. It's old gear.. and doesn't have wireless but I don't want to dump it for just that reason.

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No, I only have two connected. It has four Gigbit ports. You can add a managed switch if you want. Like I said, their stuff is pretty cheap for the features you get.

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I've not seen these before but looks like an interesting bit of kit. I need to have a damn good sort out of my WIFI at some point. I use Orbi currently but haven't really done anything other than secure it out of the box.

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I was looking at a mesh system, but my big problem with a lot of them was not being able to create my one additional wireless networks. I also didn't like the lack of vlans that many of them have.

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