Home router, the winnah!
Jan. 29th, 2008 08:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
johnridleyOK, I got the new router in, a Linksys WRT54GL - it's the version that they released which retains the old Broadcom CPU, and has enough RAM and flash ROM to run the Linux firmwares that are so nice (the mainstream WRT54G was converted to a different CPU and OS and less RAM/ROM several years back - saved money but not compatible with 3rd party firmware).
I installed DD-WRT last night (v24 RC6). Folks, THIS (dd-wrt) is the right answer. Whatever you want to do, it should be able to handle it. Besides all the stuff the base firmware supports, it has graphical bandwidth monitoring, cron, a thousand things that can be set that weren't there before. You can SSH into it if you want to get down and dirty. Heck, it's got ipchains support. It can mount external storage devices, so you could probably use it in combination with a NAS drive as an FTP server or something.
It's nice getting real-time updating load numbers for the CPU, bandwidth, and bandwidth usage per client. There is a specialty versions for people who want to run a VoIP server or a VPN. There are tutorials on the wiki for adding a serial port, connecting SD/MMC memory cards to the filesystem, etc.
Also, this router is one of the few < $100 routers that doesn't contain in the user reviews at retail sites the warning "Works OK for a year or two then dies." Seems there are a lot of disposable routers. I went through this with the Netgear 614. Really pretty good router for $35 (the usual sale price) but they use cheap capacitors which fry after a couple of years. I opened up 2 of them and fixed the capacitor, but come on. Spend an extra 2 cents and get a good cap, or just TELL us they're designed to self-destruct in 2 years.
A warning for those who want to try it; the factory firmware is too dumb to know it can accept this large of a firmware, it'll say "Update are failed!" [sic]. So you have to flash in the mini version of dd-wrt, then use that to flash in the full version.
It should be noted that dd-wrt supports quite a few routers. Especially if you think you might want to start hacking, like adding serial ports and memory cards, read the FAQs and wiki articles; the Buffalo unit seems to be the most hackable. I got the Linksys because I don't plan to do any of that stuff, and the Linksys will hold value if I decide to do something else with it.
I installed DD-WRT last night (v24 RC6). Folks, THIS (dd-wrt) is the right answer. Whatever you want to do, it should be able to handle it. Besides all the stuff the base firmware supports, it has graphical bandwidth monitoring, cron, a thousand things that can be set that weren't there before. You can SSH into it if you want to get down and dirty. Heck, it's got ipchains support. It can mount external storage devices, so you could probably use it in combination with a NAS drive as an FTP server or something.
It's nice getting real-time updating load numbers for the CPU, bandwidth, and bandwidth usage per client. There is a specialty versions for people who want to run a VoIP server or a VPN. There are tutorials on the wiki for adding a serial port, connecting SD/MMC memory cards to the filesystem, etc.
Also, this router is one of the few < $100 routers that doesn't contain in the user reviews at retail sites the warning "Works OK for a year or two then dies." Seems there are a lot of disposable routers. I went through this with the Netgear 614. Really pretty good router for $35 (the usual sale price) but they use cheap capacitors which fry after a couple of years. I opened up 2 of them and fixed the capacitor, but come on. Spend an extra 2 cents and get a good cap, or just TELL us they're designed to self-destruct in 2 years.
A warning for those who want to try it; the factory firmware is too dumb to know it can accept this large of a firmware, it'll say "Update are failed!" [sic]. So you have to flash in the mini version of dd-wrt, then use that to flash in the full version.
It should be noted that dd-wrt supports quite a few routers. Especially if you think you might want to start hacking, like adding serial ports and memory cards, read the FAQs and wiki articles; the Buffalo unit seems to be the most hackable. I got the Linksys because I don't plan to do any of that stuff, and the Linksys will hold value if I decide to do something else with it.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-29 02:36 pm (UTC)Also, just so you know, what I'm finding is that there is a 4096 connection limit with it, just so you know... A handful of popular torrents will very likely eat that up, but otherwise it seems pretty good.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-29 02:43 pm (UTC)4096 should be OK with me. I generally set Azereus to limit each torrent to 200 or so connections anyway.
I suppose if it were a problem I could recompile, though I might have to use the mini code base to make room.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-29 02:51 pm (UTC)You may want to give this a read to understand why I want to do it.
Otherwise, it sounds like it'll be pretty all right.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-29 02:58 pm (UTC)I just throttle my outbound bandwidth so I'm not hitting the ISP limit, so they don't start killing my acks. That's a lot easier. Try going into the QoS tab and setting an outbound data rate limit on the WAN port. That should keep outbound stuff from killing your downloads.
I haven't tried this since going to DD (last night) - I've been doing it manually in my apps (which is klunky) but back when I ran a linux box as my firewall, I did this successfully.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-29 03:01 pm (UTC)I don't mind doing it (mostly) the way listed on that page, just because then I can do things like... have ACKs highest, SSH stuff second, then everything else below it. I have to use the exact same rule file for setting up port forwarding and NAT and whatnot anyway, so it's not too hard to do.
I just need to (and just remembered that I need to) start doing bandwidth tests from home so I can establish a reliable upstream rate.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 04:16 am (UTC)So I have been unwilling to take the plunge. (That and I am busier than a 1 armed paper hanger lately...)