X86 Router Distro

[IFLATLINEI]

I used to run Smoothwall 3.0 but a botched update caused many issues I was unable to get into at the time. Im currently looking to either go back to Smoothwall or try a new one. Ive looked at ClearOS, PFdefense, and DDWRT X86.

Currently Im using a Linksys CM100 modem connected to a Linksys WRT54GS version 6 router and its hell. In order to get any stability out of this router I was forced to turn off every available option. Its basically nothing more than a switch right now.

Im looking for suggestions as to which distro I should run. Im into some heavy gaming and I host servers often, I stream video both from services like netflix and from my own NAS. We have 3 users in the house and many devices. 3 laptops, 3 desktops, 3 WiFi enabled smartphones, and one WiFi enabled Android tablet.

I want flexibility, security, speed, and ease of use. I dont have alot of time these days to mess around with settings and test. It would also be nice to be able to use this box to run a print server but its not a deal breaker.

Any suggestions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated for im kindoff hitting a wall on making a decision.

 

[IFLATLINEI]

Wow I thought this site would produce some feedback. Not even one response out of 80 people who read my OP. Im kinda stunned considering the scope of this site.

So it looks as though ive narrowed it down between Smoothwall and DDWRT X86. Reasons are Im familiar with Smoothwall and I like the light footprint of DDWRT. Anyone have any thoughts? Recommendations?

In my experience consumer grade routers suck but Im willing to entertain the idea of getting one if its everything it should be.

 

[stevech]

I'll bite: Smoothwall - why?

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

I encourage you to try a bunch of distros and see which one you like, which one works best for you.

I've tried most of the distros out there over time....I have a list of most of the more popular ones here..granted the list needs some updating.
http://forums.speedguide.net/showth...-own-powerful-router...many-fun-linux-distros

For sheer raw high speed performance and QoS...PFSense is fantastic.
ClearOS is more of a suite...combo of server, web server, mail server, database server, and firewall. Although its QoS is pretty good. Smoothwall, m0n0wall, IPCop, good old standbys. Endian, Untangle, Astaro..more towards UTM distros...high security, antivirus and antispyware features, content filtering....great for higher security for surfing (keeping employees safe)...but not really high performance.

I know you said you don't want to put the time in...but based on the huge variety of hardware that you can build your x86 box with, it's best to try a bunch and see which runs best on your hardware, which web GUI you feel most comfortable with, stuff like that. What makes it really easy for you...download an ISO..burn to CD..and boot from it. Many of them allow you to test drive them from the bootable CD without taking the time to install them. Don't like it? You only spent a CD and a few minutes of your time...move onto another one.

 

[stevech]

For a home situation, do I need more than a good consumer router provides for firewall/QoS, etc? ( use a Cradlepoint MBR900).
I haven't felt the need for a proxy.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

For a home situation, do I need more than a good consumer router provides for firewall/QoS, etc?.

Hard to answer with that limited information.
Do you do anything that appears to exceed the ability of your current router?

I'd say for 99% of the people out there...an "off the shelf retail router" is fine. But some people push their network very hard and bog down home grade routers..and get frustrated with that.

 

[IFLATLINEI]

I encourage you to try a bunch of distros and see which one you like, which one works best for you.

I've tried most of the distros out there over time....I have a list of most of the more popular ones here..granted the list needs some updating.
http://forums.speedguide.net/showth...-own-powerful-router...many-fun-linux-distros

For sheer raw high speed performance and QoS...PFSense is fantastic.
ClearOS is more of a suite...combo of server, web server, mail server, database server, and firewall. Although its QoS is pretty good. Smoothwall, m0n0wall, IPCop, good old standbys. Endian, Untangle, Astaro..more towards UTM distros...high security, antivirus and antispyware features, content filtering....great for higher security for surfing (keeping employees safe)...but not really high performance.

I know you said you don't want to put the time in...but based on the huge variety of hardware that you can build your x86 box with, it's best to try a bunch and see which runs best on your hardware, which web GUI you feel most comfortable with, stuff like that. What makes it really easy for you...download an ISO..burn to CD..and boot from it. Many of them allow you to test drive them from the bootable CD without taking the time to install them. Don't like it? You only spent a CD and a few minutes of your time...move onto another one.

Thanks for the reply and the info. Your right. I guess theres no way around it. Im just gonna have to try a few. I know what to expect from Smoothwall but what you said about PFSense has me interested. Ill try that one this weekend and see what happens. Im probably also going to get into DDWRT this weekend.

 

[stevech]

Hard to answer with that limited information.
Do you do anything that appears to exceed the ability of your current router?

I'd say for 99% of the people out there...an "off the shelf retail router" is fine. But some people push their network very hard and bog down home grade routers..and get frustrated with that.

The Cradlepoint routers' firmware has maybe 50 times the functionality of the typical consumer router, and much more than DD-WRT. Many QoS choices, a variety of port forwarding, SIP ALG, fail-over to a 3G/4G cellular modem, syslog, filters, and many more. Doesn't do proxy, but I don't have the need.

I wish there was a simple way for me to get reverse-proxy- so my two web servers can get what each is responsible for. Apache has rev-proxy but it's too arcane, and I lose my support for ASPX (used by my pages handled by HomeSeer's web server) with Apache. I don't want IIS here - it's a virus magnet. I tried but had to bail out on Barracuda Drive's system/r-proxy.

 

[IFLATLINEI]

I'll bite: Smoothwall - why?

LOL Well.......Consumer grade routers are crap and we demand alot out of our network here in my house. Sharing files, streaming video, online gaming while hosting the gaming server, and all sorts of other stuff. Any one of these things can cause me to have to power cycle my router. Slow data transfer begins to be a problem real quick as well. The only way I can get acceptable performance out of it is to basically use it as a switch. Obviously that makes me vulnerable.

With Smoothwall I would get the same speeds I would if I directly connected to the modem. In some cases faster due to Smoothwalls cache feature. Whats also nice about the cache is that when I download a windows update im technically only downloading it once . The other PCs will get it from the cache. It ran reliably for over a year with zero reboots on an old P3 with 512 ram and a 40 gig drive.

I know I can get a better router but I had a chance to test some of the best a couple years ago and found none gave me the power and flexibility of Smoothwall. The only thing to worry about now is power consumption and the tradeoff is well worth it.

 

[stevech]

LOL Well.......Consumer grade routers are crap and we demand alot out of our network here in my house. Sharing files, streaming video, online gaming while hosting the gaming server, and all sorts of other stuff. Any one of these things can cause me to have to power cycle my router.

Perhaps you're overstating the severity.
If you want a step up from mass-market, you may know to look at
1) But a wired-only router and keep the WiFi independent, via access points.
2) Consider a step up from consumer stuff: CradlePoint (highly recommended by me), ZyXel, and others that aren't high cost but have simple web based admin. and a huge feature set.

 

[IFLATLINEI]

Perhaps you're overstating the severity.
If you want a step up from mass-market, you may know to look at
1) But a wired-only router and keep the WiFi independent, via access points.
2) Consider a step up from consumer stuff: CradlePoint (highly recommended by me), ZyXel, and others that aren't high cost but have simple web based admin. and a huge feature set.

Please clarify what I'm overstating? The performance of my current router? Most certantly not. My need for a Smoothwall type appliance? Absolutely! It never broke 30% CPU usage even under the most strain I could throw at it. But I never had an issue when Smoothwall was in the mix. Never had to think about it and that was a welcome change. Plus free just can't be beat at that level of performance.

I'm going to look into the two brands you mentioned but they are going to have to be pretty cheap and light on power requirements in order to justify their purchase over one of the better x86 distros. Maybe I'm missing something. I'm no expert by any means which is why I posted here. Hoping to pick the brains of the more advanced.

A new possibility presented itself today. One of the offices I work with has a pair of Cisco 1700's they may throw away. As long as they are still good would one of these be a good solution?

I have plenty of time to work that out because I'm now dealing with some coax wiring issues. I'm finding too much noise in the line and it was causing dropouts. I found an estimated 200ft of extra cable and a section of very old and damaged r6 cable the installer 'tapped into hidden in a wall. So I'm working on an all new rewire and hopefully moving my router and modem into the cool basement.

Thanks for the replays and info.

 

[GregN]

A Vote for PFSense

I've been working on an article series about OpenFiler, all about setting up a SAN. The more I work with Openfiler, the more I've come to appreciate PFSense.

Though their purpose is different, they have a lot in common, administration and management of a complex problem space with a WebGUI. PFsense does this elegantly, in a multifaceted fashion. A coherent UI, that is generally well thought out. Not a huge number of traps and holes you can fall threw. The same can't be said of Openfiler.

Additionally, in contrast, the community around PFsense is actually helpful and responsive. Instead of trying to press you reluctantly through some fine grain money filter.

And to top things off SNB has a recent, good series of articles that steps you through the ins and outs of raising, caring and the feeding of a PFSense router.

 

[IFLATLINEI]

Thanks Greg. I did get Smoothwall running again and its now in place but I'm not done. I wanted to get to pfsense along with ddwrt but I didn't have enough time. Hopefully by the end of the week ill get pfsense up and running for comparison.