Building a Bulletproof Homeserver: My Setup with a Flint 2 Router and Ecoflow USV
Why I Needed a Failsafe Homeserver
I run a bunch of important stuff on my homeserver, and I was tired of it going down every time the power flickered or my internet had a hiccup. My goal was to build a setup that could handle these interruptions without me having to worry about it.
The Gear I Used
After a bunch of research, I settled on a couple of key pieces of hardware:
- Flint 2 (GL-MT6000) Router: This thing is a beast. It's a Wi-Fi 6 router with a ton of features, but the main selling point for me was its multi-WAN support. This means I can have a backup internet connection ready to go.
- Ecoflow River 3 USV: I needed a way to keep my server and router powered during an outage. The Ecoflow River 3 is technically a portable power station, but it works perfectly as a cheap and effective uninterruptible power supply (UPS).
How I Set Up the Failover Internet
This was the fun part. I configured the Flint 2 to use my main cable internet as its primary connection. Then, I plugged in a USB LTE dongle to act as a backup. Now, if my cable internet ever drops, the router automatically switches over to the LTE connection. It's seamless, and my server stays online.
Problems I Hit Along the Way (More on this later)
Of course, it wasn't a perfectly smooth process. I ran into a few issues getting everything to play nicely together. I'm planning on writing a follow-up post with all the gory details and how I fixed them, so stay tuned for that.
Bonus: Monitoring Everything with iobroker
I'm a bit of a data nerd, so I wanted to be able to see what was going on with my new setup. I'm using iobroker with the ecoflow-mqtt addon to keep an eye on the Ecoflow's battery level and power usage. It's great for peace of mind.
Bonus 2: Keeping an Eye on the Network (More on this later, too)
I'm also working on a way to monitor the network status of the Flint 2 itself. I'll share the details of that once I've got it all figured out.