Looking for Router Suggestions

Fri Jul 6 15:36:23 MST 2012

Larry,

I queried FlashRouters if they require any vpn or dynamic dns services, or
if they modify the dd-wrt firmware in any way, and got this response:

"VPN and DNS service are not required at all, however it is quite simple to
integrate them with DD-WRT routers.
We load tested, stable DD-WRT builds onto the device, we do not modify the
actual firmware."

Have you had a bad experience with FlashRouters?

Mark

On Fri, Jul 6, 2012 at 12:25 PM, Dazed_75 <lthielster at gmail.com> wrote:

> Be sure to look at the fine print.  They are setting that router to work
> with a specific provider of what I think is dynamic DNS and offer special
> encryption at fee that can come to about $10/month.
>
>
> On Fri, Jul 6, 2012 at 10:34 AM, Mark Phillips <mark at phillipsmarketing.biz
> > wrote:
>
>> 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 <james.dugger at gmail.com>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 <
>>> mark at phillipsmarketing.biz> 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
>>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> James
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Dazed_75 a.k.a. Larry
>
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