Any guides to DIY routers?

[jzchen]

Are/Is there any guides to making your own home made router? I tried to (over the phone) talk my son through updating a very expensive Ubuntu Lambda desktop his first day/week at his new job, and it bricked, requiring creating a recovery USB and restoring the darn thing...

TIA

 

[Tech9]

Are/Is there any guides to making your own home made router?

Type in Google "Build own router, firewall with FreeBSD, pfSense, OPNSense, OpenWrt, Arista, Sophos, etc." even "FreshTomato x86" if you like and hit Enter. Multiple results will come up including forums, articles, tutorials, videos. Your question doesn't belong to this thread.

 

[dave14305]

This is a very good series on building a Debian-based router:

DIY Debian Router - Part 1: Foundations and network architecture

Architectural overview and design decisions for building a secure, DIY router using Debian Linux

betweenlayers.io

 

[Tech9]

pfSense and OPNsense are perhaps the most popular choice for x86 appliances:

pfSense Documentation | pfSense Documentation

docs.netgate.com

Welcome to OPNsense’s documentation! — OPNsense documentation

docs.opnsense.org

 

[Viktor Jaep]

Type in Google "Build own router, firewall with FreeBSD, pfSense, OPNSense, OpenWrt, Arista, Sophos, etc." even "FreshTomato x86" if you like and hit Enter. Multiple results will come up including forums, articles, tutorials, videos. Your question doesn't belong to this thread.

 

[Viktor Jaep]

Are/Is there any guides to making your own home made router? I tried to (over the phone) talk my son through updating a very expensive Ubuntu Lambda desktop his first day/week at his new job, and it bricked, requiring creating a recovery USB and restoring the darn thing...

TIA

But thanks for asking, because I have a feeling may of this may be going down this path here very soon.

 

[killweav]

I'm here for the same advice. Considering replacing the layered security handled with ASUS-Merlin and turning that router into AP instead. Current layered security consists of AiProtection 2 way IPS only, Skynet, Control D daemon for DNS filtering.

I'm looking into MiniPC options. Before I drop upwards of $400 can I get advice on if this is a good strategy if my goal is a more stable environment with more visibility and control? My Linux skills are not very robust but I'm a good see-and-do monkey. I used to manage Linux servers at the VM level, but when it came to diving into the OS for deeper troubleshooting, I reached out to a vendor. That's why I'm looking at OPNSense + Suricata. I'm told OPNSense built-in IPS/IDS is based on Suricata. Does that preclude me from still installing the product? I'm comfortable with the install of the OS.

Should I stick with an Intel N100 based mini PC to get the most stable experience and performance on 1G fiber? Intel 2.5G LAN ports as well. I'm fine with adding my own RAM + SSD but was reading about incompatibilities with Corsair or Crucial, with people citing Samsung SO-DIMM a stable option for some of these mini PCs that I see.

In the long run, I'm looking for less troubleshooting and firmware updates to my ASUS router and want more in-line control via the GUI of my router. Something I can set and leave running updates as needed and just peek in on once in a while knowing it's doing it's job.

I've read that the layered security that I've got already is sufficient, while moving to MiniPC will have marginal benefits maybe the cost won't justify it. I'm kind of up in the air with this.

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.