James, It sounds like a fun project! I am very tempted....... However, I found this one - https://www.flashrouters.com/netgear-wnr3500l-ddwrt-router.php for $80. It has wireless, but I can just turn it off. A 480 MHz processor, and dd-wrt installed and tested with openvpn. I haven't priced out your parts list, but I would be surprised if it comes to less than $80. Also, I think the netgear router will consume less power and space in my crowded cable "closet" (aka the top shelf in my cupboard). Answers to your questions - I need a total of 20 gigabit LAN ports for my network. Currently, I have two 8 port gigabit switches, and 4 10/100 ports on my current BEFSX41 router. I want to upgrade the router for open vpn, and gigabit speeds. So the router is also a switch. What is the advantage of running the whole thing virtualized? But still, the fun of building this little project may outweigh the high costs ($ and amps)..... Mark On Thu, Jul 5, 2012 at 11:10 PM, James Dugger wrote: > MSI Micro ATX board with Athlon II processor w/ 4 PCI slots (or 2 PCI and > 2 PCIE) > 2 GB RAM > 4 gigabit NIC cards > IDE or SATA to Compact Flash Adaptor > Compact flash 2GB memory - install Linux or Router based distro on CF card > or USB memory stick > External power 120v to 12v transformer w/ mono power converter > Small micro case > Set BIOS to boot CF Card or USB Memory stick > Ubuntu 10.04 or 12.04 LTS server minimum install > - Install Openssh > - Firewall > - OpenVPN > - iptables > > Basically you are building an edge router/vpnserver. There are a lot of > instructions to build a high end router/openvpn system using a minimum box > configuration. The mobo chip and RAM maybe overkill but smaller ATOM > based boards probably won't have 4 PCI slots. you should be able to pick > up these for very reasonable cost compared to a higher end router. Do you > need all 4 - 1 gigabit connections to the router or can the connections to > the VPN be shared off of one or two NICs? OpenVPN needs a minimum of 2 > NIC's (Unless you have set up virtual network adaptors and bridged them > together). Are you dedicating each user to a NIC for speed? If not you > could allocate the 4 users to a NIC and connect the router/vpnserver to a 4 > port gigabit switch. > > I'm sure there are a number of the ways to do this and there even might be > fairly high end router for a good deal but most will also have built in > wireless as well. to find a dedicated wired only higher end router you may > pay as much as the system I just outlined and it would be no where near the > capabilities of the above system unless it was a lot more expensive. > > I'm sure that there are others here with a lot more experience with > consumer and enterprise level equipment then myself but I have had success > with the above. Also keep in mind that the Athlon II is 64bit with SVM > built in for virtualization. With additional memory you could run the > whole thing virtualized using KVM or VMware. > > Good Luck! > > > > > On Thu, Jul 5, 2012 at 7:53 PM, Mark Phillips wrote: > >> I am looking for a router with the following characteristics: >> * No wifi >> * 4 gigabit LAN ports >> * 1 WAN port to connect to my Cox Cable Modem >> * 400 MHZ+ processor so I can run OpenVPN SSL for a max of 4 remote >> users to access the LAN at the same time. >> >> The last point comes from reading various forums about running openvpn on >> the router, and they all say get the fastest possible cpu. I probably have >> to run dd-wrt on the router to get openvpn running on the router, but I am >> open to other options (most of the open source router packages support >> openvpn, so anyone will do). >> >> Thanks! >> >> Mark >> >> --------------------------------------------------- >> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us >> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: >> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >> > > > > -- > James > > > > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >