[dundee] Any OpenWRT afficianados around?

[Kris Davidson]

Hi Colin,

I've managed to find hardware with 5 ports that's supported but you'll be fine with something that has 4 ports and using a switch. Once you get everything setup (which is usually pretty easy, every using OpenWRT) the router or access point will chug along pretty nicely, occasionally I've set them up with a scheduled reboot but mostly as a paranoia measure. Another option for blocking would be to intercept all DNS requests and redirect them to OpenDNS or another DNS blocking service.

You actually have a few options, if you want to consider something else:

* OpenWRT - https://openwrt.org/ | http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/start
* DD-WRT - http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/index | http://dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices | http://dd-wrt.com/site/support/router-database 
* Tomato - http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato | http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Tomato_Firmware/Supported_Devices
* TomatoUSB - http://tomatousb.org/ | http://tomatousb.org/doc:build-types 
* Gargoyle - http://www.gargoyle-router.com/ | http://www.gargoyle-router.com/wiki/doku.php?id=supported_routers_-_tested_routers 

I used to run the old Tomato and now run Gargoyle, mainly because both had the best traffic shaping implementation at the time I've used the others in different deployments though.

There are a couple of attempts at ADSL drivers out there that sort of work, but getting a modem or a single port router that can work in bridged mode (currently I run a TP-Link TD-8816 going into a TP-Link TL-WR1043ND) is probably the best option. Assuming you don't already have a connection with a cable or fibre router.

My one word of slight caution is to pay attention to the hardware versioning as some versions aren't support or require a different flashing procedure. In some cases you might even need to use a speciality shop for a certain version instead of buying from a mainstream retailer.

Kris

> -----Original Message-----
> From: dundee-bounces at mailman.lug.org.uk [mailto:dundee-
> bounces at mailman.lug.org.uk] On Behalf Of Colin Brough
> Sent: 20 March 2014 11:10
> To: Tayside Linux User Group
> Subject: [dundee] Any OpenWRT afficianados around?
> 
> Folks
> 
> My ignorance of networking is not helping me wade through the profusion of
> information online... Any help appreciated!
> 
> I'm wanting to get a router/wireless AP to be the hub of my home network.
> It needs to run some variant of Linux, provide the normal
> DHCP/nameserver/routing type functionality, and additionally do content
> filtering for the whole network (dansguardian or squidguard or similar). It
> should hand out predictable IP addresses to at least some of the devices
> (desktop, server, printers), and perhaps all the normally connected devices
> (by MAC address), as well as being able to do cope with guest devices when
> friends come round... Looking for at least 5x Gigabit LAN ports on the
> network side (plus 1x WAN side)
> 
> I could spend too much money and get a mini-PC from mini-itx.com. eg
> Jetway JBC373 Quad LAN plus extra LAN daughterboard...
> 
> I could try and find some hardware that OpenWRT runs on (or dd-WRT?), but
> there seems a dearth of supported 8 port kit... Would a 4 port router and a 4
> port switch hanging off one of the router ports do it for me? How easy is
> OpenWRT or dd-WRT in practise (to install/setup and to maintain)?
> 
> I could give up and wander off confused!
> 
> --
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Colin
> 
> Rev Colin Brough
> Minister
> Fintry Parish Church of Scotland, Dundee Scottish Charity Number: SC020742
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Colin Brough                             Colin.Brough at blueyonder.co.uk
> 
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