[SOLVED] Dell 9020 wifi 6 and ethernet cards?

[cheese-sticks]

I'm planning on getting a refurbished Dell Optiplex 9020 to run as a router, Home Assistant host, and NAS/Media server, and a caching, recursive DNS server with adblocking. For the most part it looks great, with far more power than I really need for this setup so I should be decently future proof. I'm trying to find a good wifi 6 and bluetooth card and a 4 port gigabit ethernet card (preferably fiber) for it at around $100US or less. I'd prefer to sick with the sff model, but could instead got with the mini tower. Any thoughts are greatly welcome! Also open to others computers that'll meet my needs and are ~$500US or less if you have any recommendations. These are both running a 3.4Ghs i7, up to 32GB RAM (probably starting with 16GB), and a 2TB SSD, so any other recs would preferably be around there or better. Here's some relevant specs and photos.

	MT	SFF
Bays	2 internal 3.5” 2 external 5.25”	1 internal 3.5” 1 external 5.25” (slimline)
Expansion Slots	1 full height PCIe x16 1 full height PCIe x16 (wired x 4) 1 full height PCIe x1 1 full height PCI	1 half height PCIe x16 1 half height PCIe x16 (wired x 4)

SFF Rear View

SFF Motherboard

MT Rear View

MT Motherboard

Got lucky and found some labeled expansion slots for the MT

 

[cheese-sticks]

Forgot to mention I'd be running ubuntu server and would need the wifi card to support AP mode

 

[SamirD]

I've got the 3020 SFF and the 9020 is basically the 'premium' model in the line--7020 being in between these two. What does the 9020 add in SFF trim? Well, the biggest thing you get is 4x memory slots like the 7020, so 32GB is possible, otherwise you're limited to 16GB.

You have just enough slots for your expansion card needs and will need to make sure you have proper cooling for the 4x ethernet nic as it will be right up against the power supply due to the positioning of the x16 slot.

Depending on what processor you're using, you may also want to consider the 'high performance' cooling hsf and shroud since it will reduce fan noise due to more effective cooling. I forgot exactly what part number this is but can look it up if you want. I had to purchase it to keep my 4790k properly cooled.

 

[cheese-sticks]

Depending on what processor you're using, you may also want to consider the 'high performance' cooling hsf and shroud since it will reduce fan noise due to more effective cooling.

Looks like the RD6XX? I knew I needed to get one, thanks for letting me know they already have a good one.

 

[SamirD]

Looks like the RD6XX? I knew I needed to get one, thanks for letting me know they already have a good one.

Yep, that sounds like it. My invoice showed "089R8J 0RD6XX" and was $9.98 shipped, so nice and cheap too.

 

[kanewolf]

I'm planning on getting a refurbished Dell Optiplex 9020 to run as a router, Home Assistant host, and NAS/Media server, and a caching, recursive DNS server with adblocking.

Running your NAS and router on the same hardware is not a great idea. Your router will be constantly attacked. You want as little functionality that can be compromised as possible on the router. DIY router is a waste of hardware when companies like Mikrotik sell enterprise feature set routers for $60.

 

[cheese-sticks]

I ended up finding a pcie wifi 6 and Bluetooth 5 card that supports AP/master mode, just get one with an intel ax200 card if you’re going to use Linux. The proper driver for AP mode can be found here.

 

[cheese-sticks]

Running your NAS and router on the same hardware is not a great idea.

I strongly disagree. This is a common combo, every major router manufacturer has made this combo for a decade now, and many more consumer routers support connecting a hard drive via USB.

DIY router is a waste of hardware when companies like Mikrotik sell enterprise feature set routers for $60.

Those are not what a truly enterprise system would use, and have relatively weak with features due to severe hardware constraints. In fact, true enterprise systems will have a similar, though typically much larger, system just with separate APs because they have to cover such a wide area and more clients than a single subnet.

I’ve tried a ton of routers and have not been happy with them, and have some specialized needs that make this a great option for me. It’s also very much not going to be like the average router, but rather comprehensive and with plenty of room to grow. This will take over many of my smaller, weaker, highly specialized pieces throughout the house and work much more elegantly and efficiently. This is going to require a lot of work and, because of that, it was not a decision made lightly nor without extensive research and experience.

 

[SamirD]

Yep, even the Mikrotik offerings get expensive for similar functionality of a well done 'roll your own' router or enterprise router. Besides with enough ram and a good cpu, it is easy enough to run a hypervisor and virtualize everything.

 

[kanewolf]

I strongly disagree. This is a common combo, every major router manufacturer has made this combo for a decade now, and many more consumer routers support connecting a hard drive via USB.

Router manufacturers want to sell routers. They don't care if it is an insecure approach. If they think they can sell additional devices by saying you can add a USB device for shared storage they will. They will also misrepresent WIFI performance and the usefulness of MIMO.
You and I will disagree. The device that is the attack point should be as lean and purposeful as possible. That is how the software risks are minimized.

 

[SamirD]

Router manufacturers want to sell routers. They don't care if it is an insecure approach. If they think they can sell additional devices by saying you can add a USB device for shared storage they will. They will also misrepresent WIFI performance and the usefulness of MIMO.
You and I will disagree. The device that is the attack point should be as lean and purposeful as possible. That is how the software risks are minimized.

And this is absolutely correct when applied to the normal consumer routers out there. But OP is building something a lot better than that, and if it is virtualized, there's a lot more enterprise level security going into the setup so trivial attack points shouldn't be an issue.

 

[kanewolf]

And this is absolutely correct when applied to the normal consumer routers out there. But OP is building something a lot better than that, and if it is virtualized, there's a lot more enterprise level security going into the setup so trivial attack points shouldn't be an issue.

The only software stack that has been listed by the OP is "ubuntu server". Whether the OP can tailor Ubuntu into "a lot better" than consumer routers is unknown. They might be a CISSP certified engineer. I don't know. But I do know that it is very easy to get the configuration of Linux wrong and have security vulnerabilities.

 

[SamirD]

The only software stack that has been listed by the OP is "ubuntu server". Whether the OP can tailor Ubuntu into "a lot better" than consumer routers is unknown. They might be a CISSP certified engineer. I don't know. But I do know that it is very easy to get the configuration of Linux wrong and have security vulnerabilities.

True, but most anyone messing with this with the angle of building something specific for their use case knows more than the average consumer fumbling around in linux.