TPLink ER605 or Omada Router/Network Automation Questions/Sanity Check

Third party integrations
1

HI All

So i really don’t know exactly which direction I should go. Was watching an online video where I saw somebody setting up Home Assistant to do various things on their home network like Turn off the Internet or Turn off Facebook. All of which sound very interesting to me…

Would also be nice to have indicators of bandwidth usage etc…

I have no idea if I can do this with my current hardware and if not… What is a good router/hardware direction to go for such controls.

I have a ER605 version 2.
I started playing with the their Omada controller setup… which seems a bit confusing to me. I am currently just using the free cloud controller, not the hardware controller device they sell. (Does it make any sense to buy that in a simple home network setup?)

I was looking at this integration

But I cannot seem to get it setup/connected at all…
I’m confused if that needs to point to the ER605 or the Controller… If it needs to point to the Controller… Can I point to the cloud controller?? Even if so… i tend to not want to be reliant on something in the cloud so I would probably buy a controller…

Stepping back… Will any of this hardware give me the control I am seeking through Home Assistant or am I better off investing in other hardware?

Thanks!

2

I think the first question is: Can you achieve the control you are seeking through the Omada environment itself? For example, you mention “Turn off Facebook”. Do you want this for all users on your network or just specific clients or at specific times? Have you tried to use the Omada tools (Settings - Network Security - URL Filtering, or other methods) to do this in the way you want?

Omada and network security/management in general is complex.I would focus on learning about and getting more comfortable with these kinds of capabilities within Omada itself before trying to integrate those capabilities with Home Assistant.

3

Yeah… Cannot say i disagree. Which in part is why I am asking if there is other Router hardware I should consider.

I’m definitely somewhat confused as I don’t see any network security settings now that I switched the ER605 from local config to Omada Cloud Controller config… Seems like lots of settings are now gone… Which is why I am wondering if I need a hardware controller.

I posted something on the TP Link forum as well…