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On Wed, Nov 27, 2019 at 12:36 PM Dale <rdalek1967@×××××.com> wrote: |
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> |
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> I've found that asking here is best. If it wasn't for my post here, I |
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> would have stuck with Linksys because it is what I've used in the past. |
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> Thing is, a post here lead me to a better product, even tho it wasn't a |
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> Linksys product. It's one reason I post questions here quite often. I |
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> get more info from here than I could likely ever find elsewhere because |
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> most people here post about their own experience not some theory. You |
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> should know, you post about yours quite often and it's generally a good |
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> idea to give it some weight when deciding something. |
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> |
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Linksys had that one router eons ago that was capable of running linux |
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(might have run it out of the box - I forget). Back in the day there |
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weren't many options and they were one of the better ones. |
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They only got worse, and a lot of much better options have come out |
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since then. LOTS of better options. There are ARM-based PCs designed |
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to run pfsense and so on with multiple NICs. Buffalo makes routers |
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with DD-WRT pre-installed, and while I'd double check in the past they |
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could all be trivially flashed to OpenWRT. |
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I'd also seriously consider Ubiquiti. An ER-X can be found in the $60 |
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range and supports routing at gigabit speeds. It runs linux already |
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out of the box with ssh/etc and a CLI, or a nice web GUI. It looks |
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like it isn't hard to flash OpenWRT on it as well though there seem to |
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be some caveats (disclaimer: I've never tried it). |
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There are a couple of good options. |
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I'd seriously consider using something that does what you want out of |
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the box before going the OpenWRT route. I don't think EdgeOS is |
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actually FOSS, but it is largely built on FOSS, so if it does what you |
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want out of the box and is easy to maintain that is a win, and if at |
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any point it doesn't get support you can then go the OpenWRT route. |
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That said, I've run a router on OpenWRT for ages as well. I think |
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that is a bit more work without much gain, but you can do it. |
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Oh, one thing I would avoid doing is running a bazillion services on |
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your router. Yes, if it is a linux/bsd box you can run whatever you |
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want on it. Yes, a lot of that stuff is already packaged and easy to |
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install. Just consider why you have a firewall in the first place (ie |
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another layer of isolation), and that this is likely a device with |
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minimum CPU/RAM/etc and whether you REALLY want to be hosting all this |
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stuff on a box that is a serious PITA to backup/image or rescue if it |
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doesn't boot up right. Generally I don't host anything on a router |
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that isn't directly related to its mission, so that could include |
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updating a dynamic DNS address, serving DHCP, or maybe serving DNS. |
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I've tried running OpenVPN and such on them and have found performance |
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generally suffers for it. |
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|
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-- |
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Rich |