On 2022-03-14, Nicolas Goy <k...@goyman.com> wrote: > Hello, > > I use OpenBSD for all my network gears except wireless access points. > > My current access points are getting old and I'd like to replace them. > > I did a bit of researches and there are quite some boards supported by > OpenBSD, but I cannot find one that tick all my boxes. > > Here are my requirements: > > - OpenBSD compatible without proprietary binary blob (coreboot...) > - Wifi .11ax or way to update to it in the future (mini PCI), I can manage > without it for now with .11ac, my current AP are .11n > - SMA/i-pex... connector > - 1 gigabit ethernet > - Bonus: PoE but I don't mind if it doesn't, I'll manage > - can be a board, a full computer... I'll manage. > - the form factor doesn't really matter as long as I don't have to hang a > midi tower to my wall. > - must be available in europe (switzerland) > - < 200$ > > If you have any suggestion, I would be delighted. > > Regards >
There's no chance of meeting all of these requirements with OpenBSD. For AP-side 11ac there are some bwfm(4) devices which _might_ do but they are not common. Really at this point the emphasis for wifi on OpenBSD is for client-side not AP-side. There are some options but they are limited, and bwfm is the only one with 11ac. Ignoring trying to run it on OpenBSD, for setups with more than a couple of APs I would probably get either TP-Link Omada or Ubiquiti Unifi with an on-site controller. Omada is a Unifi clone and so far they haven't made quite such annoying/questionable decisions as Ubiquiti have been doing recently. They both use java 8+mongodb for the controllers. Unifi runs on amd64 OpenBSD (you need to install it from ports as we can't distribute packages - you can't run distributions direct from upstream as some binary part in one of the .jar files isn't built for OpenBSD). I haven't tried running omada on OpenBSD recently; last time I tried it didn't work but that may have changed. There are fairly cheap small "hardware" controllers which might not be a bad idea. MikroTik was mentioned too, that might be an option but IMHO they are better at routers and wireless bridges than they are at making APs for normal end-devices to connect to. 8 APs is enough that you probably do want some kind of management setup; they have this but it's more complex than unifi/omada (https://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Simple_CAPsMAN_setup) -- Please keep replies on the mailing list.
