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How to turn anything into a router

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Re: How to turn anything into a router

#171

Post by kev009 »

miladyincontrol wrote: post #91
tombert wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recommend Pfsense or OpnSense if your hardware works with a FreeBSD-based thing. They're super easy to set up and don't have many surprises. After I upgraded to a 10GbE ethernet card in my previous router, my card didn't work correctly with FreeBSD-based stuff anymore. I changed to ClearOS and that was actually comparably easy to Pfsense...maybe even easier? I recommend checking that one out.

While I am a linux advocate for networking in the current day outside of hyper specific CDN use cases (a la netflix)... its pretty common for people to just virtualize opnsense/pfsense to take advantage of linux network drivers. Especially if their actual routing requirements are modest and dont require full use of the hardware. Beyond getting support for devices completely absent on freebsd, quality of drivers, bugs…

This is the kind of low quality information you see on fanboy forums. There is nothing special about Linux drivers and anyone can go look at them. A lot of hardware uses a HAL and there is a smaller OS adaption therefore most of the code is similar across OSes.

Virtualization means you now have multiple layers of drivers and privileged code in the mix to add and amplify bugs, it can and should work but if you are doing this in the name of stability that is a bit curious.

The reason Netflix can do what they do is they have good relationship with their HW vendors, NVIDIA(Mellanox) and Chelsio. If they were on Linux, they'd need the same level of support.

Re: How to turn anything into a router

#172

Post by forinti »

mintplant wrote: post #170

This seems like it might be a good place to ask: does anyone know of a low-cost, readily-available SBC box with built-in dual Ethernet interfaces? I've been very interested in some of Radxa's boards in the ~$30-70 range, like the E52C [0] and the E20C [1], but they don't have many distributors and seem to have stocking issues [2]. [0] https://radxa.com/products/network-computer/e52c/ [1] https://radxa.com/products/ne…

Banana Pi makes SBCs with lots of networking ports.

Re: How to turn anything into a router

#173

Post by doubled112 »

j45 wrote: post #165
doubled112 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basically any computer is a router if you're brave enough. Windows PCs had (have?) that Internet connection sharing feature for a long time. It was really just a checkbox to enable NAT too. Sometimes I think combining a firewall/router/switch/AP/file server/etc into a device called a "router" really confuses people. Even people who should know better.

It is much, much easier than it used to be. The documentation and videos alone available make something like this a very welcoming learning experience that anyone can complete step by step by pausing a video and replaying it.

Like most things, really. I used to build routers from old PCs, but eventually those tiny appliances caught up with the performance/functionality I need.

You can do a lot of routing on a $70 Mikrotik, although they might not be "easy".

Re: How to turn anything into a router

#174

Post by whalesalad »

mintplant wrote: post #170

This seems like it might be a good place to ask: does anyone know of a low-cost, readily-available SBC box with built-in dual Ethernet interfaces? I've been very interested in some of Radxa's boards in the ~$30-70 range, like the E52C [0] and the E20C [1], but they don't have many distributors and seem to have stocking issues [2]. [0] https://radxa.com/products/network-computer/e52c/ [1] https://radxa.com/products/ne…

Not sure if this counts as low cost... https://store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-ms-r1-works...

Re: How to turn anything into a router

#175

Post by mintplant »

whalesalad wrote: post #174
mintplant wrote: post #170

This seems like it might be a good place to ask: does anyone know of a low-cost, readily-available SBC box with built-in dual Ethernet interfaces? I've been very interested in some of Radxa's boards in the ~$30-70 range, like the E52C [0] and the E20C [1], but they don't have many distributors and seem to have stocking issues [2]. [0] https://radxa.com/products/network-computer/e52c/ [1] https://radxa.com/products/ne…

Not sure if this counts as low cost... https://store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-ms-r1-works...

Quite a bit beefier and pricier than I'm looking for, yes! But thank you anyway.

Re: How to turn anything into a router

#176

Post by jcalvinowens »

I recommend replacing hostapd with an enterprise access point plugged directly into an ethernet port on the router. Most support VLAN tagging based on SSID, so you can still set up different subnets and firewall rules for the different SSIDs.

As much as I love hostapd... the performance using commodity hardware has always sucked for me. I can get 150MB/s over wifi with my proprietary AP!

Re: How to turn anything into a router

#177

Post by j45 »

doubled112 wrote: post #173
j45 wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is much, much easier than it used to be. The documentation and videos alone available make something like this a very welcoming learning experience that anyone can complete step by step by pausing a video and replaying it.

Like most things, really. I used to build routers from old PCs, but eventually those tiny appliances caught up with the performance/functionality I need. You can do a lot of routing on a $70 Mikrotik, although they might not be "easy".

For sure, it's a path and passage towards devices like that.

Everyone has a starting point, starting with soemone has lying around is one thing.. the quicker they can get going the more they can get to leveraging the real power in most devices.

Re: How to turn anything into a router

#178

Post by moffkalast »

socalgal2 wrote: post #162
moffkalast wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And of course probably 1000x the power usage compared to the average off the shelf router that runs off a borderline microcontroller.

good point! I think you can run it on a PI though.

Otoh it would make sense if you could combine it with a home server, then it's just a side process and you actually save power by not having an extra device.

Though you'd still need a switch or two. And a fiber modem which already has a router and a switch built-it. Oops.

Re: How to turn anything into a router

#179

Post by jcalvinowens »

Bender wrote: post #117

Something I did not see in the article are router specific tuning such as net.ipv4.ip_early_demux = 0 net.ipv4.tcp_early_demux = 0 net.ipv4.udp_early_demux = 0 in /etc/sysctl.d/10_router.conf to slightly reduce overhead when being used primarily as a router. There are many other router related knobs but those I would always set especially if trying to reduce overhead for VoIP/Gaming setups. There are many other knobs…

How much does disabling early_demux actually matter? I do this too, but honestly I've never tested what difference it makes.

I've always found fq_codel to be good enough for gaming through my router. But I have a 10gbps uplink.

Re: How to turn anything into a router

#180

Post by esseph »

doubled112 wrote: post #173
j45 wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is much, much easier than it used to be. The documentation and videos alone available make something like this a very welcoming learning experience that anyone can complete step by step by pausing a video and replaying it.

Like most things, really. I used to build routers from old PCs, but eventually those tiny appliances caught up with the performance/functionality I need. You can do a lot of routing on a $70 Mikrotik, although they might not be "easy".

I really want to end up with one of these for at least a few months: https://mikrotik.com/product/rds2216
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