I mostly work from my office at home. Usual stuff, computers, printers, NAS, connected TVs etc and a couple of 802.11ac capable weireless access points (moderate sized apartment), no "things", apart from the Android TVs.
I have an Exchange Server hosted by MS with Office/Azure accounts, including AD if I need it. Presently I feel the need to bolster my network security as some of what I am working on attracts the attention of people who do not have our best interests at heart.
My present network hardware consists of a gateway device, an 8/10 port PoE switch, a network controller and two wifi access points. On the plus side, all the devices are solid state, so silent (no fans) and they are all configured and managed by the same controller software. Which is very convenient, there is even a "dashboard". BUT it is possibly the worst software I have ever come across, being maintained and developed by the worst programmers I've ever encountered (and that is saying something), and it all gives me a really bad feeling. I've tried being polite to them, I've even been an "alpha tester", but nothing gets better because they do not know that there are alternative ways of achieving their objectives, that are far better.
So, having worked through a few of the Juniper/Junos on-line courses (a couple of my clients are MNOs), looked at the CLI and thought that I'd feel happier and more secure with a Juniper gateway and switch.My present controller is a tiny Debian PoE powered "stick" that is more convenient than running running the controller remotely or on another local device.
Looking at what is available, I thought to use a SRX-300 gateway and an EX2200-C switch, as these are silent as far as I can tell.
As this is a small network, and I'm paying for it out of my own pocket, I am anxious to avoid ongoing charges (my MS annual subscriptions recently went up 22% as a result of post Brexit instability).
So are there any charges associated with operating a switch and a gateway device? Do I have any controller options?