Some router advice?

[Molerat]

Hello, I am the proud owner of an NX70V...great machine. Now, I am considering adding the wireless card to the mix, sometime in the future. So I thought I'd plan ahead. I'd like to ask for router recommendations. Here are my anticipated needs:

-Ethernet and Cable or DSL connectivity. Now, I don't know if there are differences, and I may be hooked up through a modem for the latter two. But I want to cover my bases. Ethernet is definately needed (probably never faster than 10Mbps), though I'd like to have DSL/cable compatability, if it's possible/not too expensive.

-OS support: Windows XP / Win9x, Linux or UNIX, possibly Mac (OS9 or OSX) - Basically, I'm going to be running a wide range of operating systems.

-Wireless capability - I'll add a WAP later, if I do purchase the CLIE wireless card, but I thought I'd consider this anyway. I may be adding a wireless laptop, so what considerations do I need to make (hardware wise) for wireless expandability?

-Router performance - I need a flexible router. I want to SSH into my Linux machine, run VNC services, and map a shared network drive remotely. Later I may want to run Apache or whatnot. Of course, I don't want Russian hackers using my network to spam everyone in existence, so I need decent firewall protection.

I'm not adverse to learning what I need to do to configure all this, not at all. I'd rather have a complicated system, than a limited "wizard" system. It's much easier to research one particular task than sift through all the information on home networking. So I ask for some pointers from the people here. Any takers? :)

[Corbuloman]

I guess I'll start. :)
You've got options out the wazoo.
But I'll cheat and tell you my setup to give you an idea or two.
Since you are Linux knowledgeable you might like this setup.

1.2mb cable modem connects directly, I say directly (Do not pass Go, Do not collect $200, Go Directly...) to a PII400 running Smoothwall. (I've got IPCop too, already installed on another machine, but I'm just too darn lazy to swap 'em out!)
And the PII400's second NIC connects it to my home network.

What is Smoothwall (or IPCop)?
Smoothwall is a Linux based, "self-contained" firewall. I call it "self-contained" because when you download the file and create the CD it has everything you need right there. It supports DHCP, DNS, and Intrusion Detection. Nothing fancy. And it works and it's FREE! Did I mention it works, did I mention it's FREE?
IPCop is a offshoot of the Smoothwall project. Eventually I'll switch to it.

Why did I make the "Do not go" comments above?
Some people (and "professional" cable installers) tend to want to plug the cable modem into the same hub as the rest of your home network. Quick and easy yes. Secure, um, no.

My WAP is an Apple Airport (white), and a Symbol AP.

I haven't gotten my NX WiFi card yet either. But I'm afraid it will be soon. (There goes another weekend!)

This should give you something to think about, I'll ramble some more later if you wish.

Corbulo
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Thought for the day: Mutants are not your friend.

[blastradius]

LEAF is a decent alternative to running a firewall that needs hard disk. It's a firewall, derived from Linux Router Project, that boots from a floppy, copies itself to RAM, and runs completely from a RAM disk. No HDD to crash. I actually have mine booting an running from an 8MB IDE/ATA Flash Disk.

[Corbuloman]

Blast: Will that run with a 486?

Molerat:
> -OS support:
The firewalls discussed here so far are independant units therefore are pretty much OS agnostic. I've got Windoze (most flavors), Mac's, and an occasional Linux box.
I personally prefer the standalone PC based firewalls as opposed to the single unit cablemodem/DSL/WAP/firewall/hub/coffemaker type unit.
I have alot of flexablitly with this setup. Should my firewall die, my WAP and wired switch are still functioning so my family can continue using our computers, just no Internet. If the WAP dies, I plug the laptops into the wall. You get the idea.

> -Router performance
Apparently you are familiar with Linux and then are probably not afraid of using newsgroups or websites for support. (hmm, websites, support. Why does that seem familiar?)
Although I don't do it myself (at least not yet) I have read the threads on the various support sites for Smoothwall/IPCop that all of your requirements are very do-able.

Corbulo
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Thought for the day: Psykers are not your friend either.

[blastradius]

Yeah LEAF and Linux Router Project (LRP) will run on a 486. I ran it on a 486/40 (AMD) for a long time until I came across a deal of a Pentium/166 mobo and CPU. I needed the extra horsepower because in addition to standard firewall, router duties, my LRP setup also runs BIND (DNS), Squid (Web Proxy), PortSentry (IDS), DHCP Server and DHCP client. Mine also runs on a 2.0 kernel, pretty dated but very stable (plus I don't feel like converting my whole setup just to be "up to date").

[Molerat]

Originally posted by Corbuloman
Apparently you are familiar with Linux and then are probably not afraid of using newsgroups or websites for support. (hmm, websites, support. Why does that seem familiar?)
Although I don't do it myself (at least not yet) I have read the threads on the various support sites for Smoothwall/IPCop that all of your requirements are very do-able.


Thanks, very interesting comments. Building my own solution is a great idea (I knew it was possible, but don't know why it didn't cross my mind!). Through the magic of Moore's Law, I managed to aquire a decent (PII450) machine to do all this on. Now that I have a general direction, (I think) I'll be able to RTFM my way through it. ;)

I have a 5-port switch now. So if I hook that up to my Linux box, I can get a little DHCP action to sort out IPs for whatever I hook into that switch? Then DNS will allow me to reference machines on my network? With a little-handwaving, does this sound plausible?

Thanks again, now I've got some Googling to do!

[Corbuloman]

Congratulations! You are now well on your way to total world destruction! Film at 11.


I keep mentioning Smoothwall in my posts, but the more I think about it the more you might want to start out with IPCop.
http://www.ipcop.org
It is a "fork" of the Smoothwall "project". And I think the support might be a little more, um, congenial.
Good mail-list too.
And yes it will provide you with DHCP, DNS lookup, ID, etc.
It will do DNS, but, since most users want to lookup Internet addresses, it defaults to going to your ISP. I understand though it will act as a true DNS server. I use my W2k Domain Controller, for internal and the firewall external.

And remember, though the docs will says this also, you _must_ have 2 NICs. One for external (Red) and one for your internal (Green) home network. Only the Green NIC gets plugged into your home switch.

Corbulo
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Thought for the day: You are not cleared for the Thought of the Day.

[Molerat]

^ I've done some reading on the subject, and Smoothwall appears more attractive to me, at the moment. I've heard grumblings from both camps -- that IPCop is slow to develop, and slow to respond to security issues, while SW may not be free forever. On the whole, SW seems to have positives than IPCop. Hmm.