what even ARE all the modern open source router options?

[Twice_Shy]

By modern I mean the software is up to date - not that it's only running on fast modern routers. Even "fast ethernet" 100mbit routers can be on the list provided the aftermarket firmware upgrades are not 8 years old like apparently DD-WRT is.(?)

Reading responses to my other post here on QoS and a linked article, I realized things were more complex than I thought (when gigabit routers are working nowhere near gigabit in some cases) and being reminded of another problem that makes me rethink things - with all the Snowden leaks and other things which covered how even Cisco put backdoors in their hardware and such, I realized I don't really trust the included software on most things I buy anymore.

So that being the case...

For routers in the 100mbit through 1gbit classes, what kind of open source firmware replacements exist, or apparently building your own router is a thing now since that Ars Technica article seemed to involve homebrew hardware as well which greatly interested me. Shows i'm totally out of touch with what routers have been doing then. A "whole PC in a router" homemade is fine with me as long as the wattage is low and it doesnt performance bottleneck.

My top need of course is robust Quality of Service flexibility including putting some ports as higher priority than others, and not bottlenecking unreasonably in that mode. Even being suggested the Edgerouter as an off the shelf solution I realize it's not open source code so i'm now more interested in what will do the same job that is so I can trust my home network again.

Maybe some are even suited to integrating to a home NAS with a bunch of host bus adapters to combine fileserving with in-house routing, those can be on the list too. I just realize I don't even know what exists!

 

[sfx2000]

Router's are easy on the routing side for the most part...

There are some exceptions - e.g. Broadcom's CTF.ko for example - but the big challenge for the FOSS community is the wireless drivers and closed source there...

DD-WRT is a bit more open, OpenWRT is much more strict...

Netgear has been working a 3rd party community with their devices, and AsusWRT has a couple of strong community releases... Linksys is working to improve things with OpenWRT and the Marvell platform to some degree...

 

[Twice_Shy]

Wireless irrelevant to me, i'm one of those people who is sensitive to it. I'm also willing to put a single commercial wireless router on a light switch on the opposite side of the house so the girlefriend can flip it on the few times she needs it to load games or updates to the cellphone and back off when she's done. What I don't like are all i've read about secret backdoors in wired stuff even full pro Cisco rack stuff and such that are probably even more so on what I already have.

I at least want my topmost level primary router secured so that the part closest to the internet is not a hackable hole right off the modem. From there I can watch for suspicious traffic or problematic stuff downstream at least.

 

[sfx2000]

Good example here...

 

[kvic]

Except big iron shops such as Cisco and Juniper, smaller vendors (including open source router distributions) are based on either Linux or a favor of BSD. In a sense it means they're all open source. Due to open source license, most vendors will have their firmware source code available for download. Proprietary modules mostly drivers e.g. HW encryption will be close sourced anyway. Between Linux and BSD, I think majority routers run on Linux especially in consumer all-in-one's (since almost everyone is based off WRT codebase started in early 2000).

A router's core functions (for SOHO users) essentially perform inside Linux kernel. Hence, kernel optimization is essential for a strong firmware release. There are other important functions handled outside the kernel. These are mostly open source projects too. Now you see for non big iron vendors there isn't much room for innovations.

Vendors can add a lot of features to make their firmware look attractive. So really depends on what you want. To the bare minium (and in my book at least), the things vendors can do to stand out are: system optimization, system configuration management and user interface (both GUI and CLI to make config change as well as display various system status). Among the three, vendors have more room to innovate/differentiate on the latter two. Last but not least system integration and testing. All four factors contribute to the basis of a strong router firmware.

With that said EdgeOS is Linux (Debian based) with Vyatta (system configuration management + CLI). Vyatta used to be an open source project, coded in PERL so readable to all. Drivers like HW encryption and some 'enterprise' routing features may come as binary only.

RouterOS is another popular 'enterprise' grade routing OS. It's Linux based too. Its nature is less open than EdgeOS. However, it does a (maybe much) better job in system optimization and robustness in performance. I really like the team's dedication to such things where EdgeOS people perhaps can't compete anytime soon. However, its config management and user interface are mostly on its own and dated (back to 1996?). Regardless, all config change can be done through GUI where EdgeOS has to go CLI for more advanced or less frequently used features.

These two attract my feverish attention at the moment. I'm sure people will introduce you to some others.

Referring to your comment about QoS on another thread..when you get higher bandwidth from ISP, the need for QoS is significantly reduced. In SOHO environment your line is mostly idle when you get to e.g. 500/500 or 1000/1000. No congestion no QoS needed.

 

[msheffer]

Good example here...

View attachment 8151

Using the free version of pfsense, you can achieve about the same performance from an older PC with a dual 1GB NIC and a SSD. I used an old dual core with 4GB RAM I had just sitting in the basement. I have never had any issue with it.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Chunkers]

I have just been through all this preceding my decision (for the first time) to assemble a pfSense router based on the PCEngines APU2. I know there are other options but pfSense seems to tick all the boxes to me : opensource unix base OS, massive user base, lots of support, frequent updates.

Given that almost all home / consumer are "designed down" to a price its no surprise they end up with underpowered hardware and buggy unsupported firmware - this is what pushed me over the edge to pfSense which seems to answer all these questions.

C

 

[Nullity]

I have just been through all this preceding my decision (for the first time) to assemble a pfSense router based on the PCEngines APU2. I know there are other options but pfSense seems to tick all the boxes to me : opensource unix base OS, massive user base, lots of support, frequent updates.

Given that almost all home / consumer are "designed down" to a price its no surprise they end up with underpowered hardware and buggy unsupported firmware - this is what pushed me over the edge to pfSense which seems to answer all these questions.

C

The only problem I see with pfSense (FreeBSD) is the lack of modern QoS, since you mentioned QoS as a priority.

Ultimately this probably isn't a problem if you configure the QoS optimally but it's something to be aware of. pfSense doesn't have fq_codel or many of the other algorithms released in the past decade.

pfSense will eventually inherit fq_codel from FreeBSD but it will be a bit strange (unusable for most advanced users?) because it's implemented in dummynet(FreeBSD)/limiters(pfSense) rather than ALTQ queues.


Choose Linux-based systems if you want the most modern QoS.

 

[sfx2000]

Except big iron shops such as Cisco and Juniper, smaller vendors (including open source router distributions) are based on either Linux or a favor of BSD. In a sense it means they're all open source.

Juniper's JunOS, if I recall, is BSD based...

 

[sfx2000]

There's a lot going on in the opensource community once outside of the WRT based builds - mostly as a result of OpenStack evolution and development...

https://opennetlinux.org/

http://opendataplane.org/

http://openvswitch.org/

And of course the Neutron component within OpenStack itself...

https://www.openstack.org/software/
https://www.openstack.org/software/releases/mitaka/components/neutron

 

[Twice_Shy]

Just to followup (been swamped-busy with stuff so forgot i'd posted things) one of my problems is that the fastest internet i'll have for now is 25meg down and 3meg up. So the QoS is essential for VOIP use. So really any router which is well skilled and handling something under those conditions is top tier. It was suggested pfSense may be out due to that.

Something fairly easy to set up and configure is important - I dont' want to have to get a degree.

Starting with something inexpensive (I already have some WRT54 routers laying around, so if throwing Tomato or something on it will do it i'm set) for now, it's also a general curiosity in "what is the next step upgrade" from there... and whats the top of the line... so I have something to compare against.

I'm told some people run VPN software on the router instead of as client software. I would like to know why they do, what the benefits are, and what kind of router is required to do this if I decide to do it too. (i'm sure the homebuilt PC ones would qualify)

All those links are interesting to me (and being bookmarked even if I cant read as much right now - that OpenStack stuff looks SUPER useful, thank you so much for that heads up! I'm not ready for it now but I didn't even know there were alternatives like that existing/that WILL be useful later, thanks), this is in part a general brain picking thread, to take notes for the future, to research a little more thoroughly as soon as I have a chance. Like starting back from zero:

STEP ONE - I'm told DD-WRT is no good, so what are other options for the WRT54G type routers that used to be the hot thing due to custom firmware? Can one give me really nice VOIP priority? (since i'm only sharing a 3up/25 down connection and thus QoS really matters as there's not unlimited to share esp in a household everyone is doing everything including torrents at all hours of the day)

STEP TWO - When the internet eventually upgrades, it will probably be to something like 120-200 down. So a router that wont bottleneck and can handle these speeds is desired. Still with QoS because if the full pipe is being used I cant have the VOIP lagging. This is where I may want those VPN features as well to be able to fully maximize the pipe up and down, while my duckhead roommate whom I cant throw out is torrenting his brains out (family obligation/owed debt), and while still having separate calls occurring on the phone without dropouts or problems. Thats the worst case scenario and the big major planned upgrade.

WHATS THE BEST - then what is beyond even this, like people building routers that will saturate gigabit both ways under all conditions for fiber, or even faster links then that, or other cutting edge cool stuff? I may not need this, i'm just wondering whats beyond even my own planned needs to look forward to or consider later. Like may have future business use, the step one/step two above is just personal, but things like those Open Switches and such are things i'll want to investigate for future projects that may come about.

 

[System Error Message]

If you want open sourced openwrt is better than dd-wrt in that regard. In general openwrt is just better not only in terms of being open sourced but the firmware is more reliable and standardised and you have way more functionality too. openwrt being popular and functional is well maintained with compatibility being the main concern.

Many linux based OSes are open sourced, you can always go this route though difficult but it gives you the chance to keep everything updated. You could update the OS itself (kernel and such), the libraries and the software you plan to use. There are options to run these on non x86 though but not many.

DD-WRT is still good, i wouldnt say it is no good, i just think of it like a synonym to mikrotik. They are both focused and closed source but are pretty good routers.

Most live under a rock when it comes to routers. Routers that support symmetric gigabit NAT without hardware acceleration or tricks have been around for years. The mikrotik RB1100AHx2 is one example and many PCs used as routers were always capable of multi gigabit NAT ever since pentium 4. If you read the old pfsense requirement pentium 4 is capable of 1Gb/s symmetric NAT.

so with x86 you have choice of updated softwares. There is no best as every product is good or bad at something and there are various pros and cons of every product/solution. Just dont buy into the VPN routers hype as those are absolutely horrible. I personally prefer mikrotik as routers but i also do like using x86 as a router as well as the flexibility of stuffing and overclocking a server into a 1U/2U chassis and also making it a file and torrent server too. My mikrotik router is capable of 10Gb/s symmetric NAT without any sort of hardware acceleration and has been around for 2 years at least.

With VPN x86 is the best choice if you plan to utilise openVPN. hardware AES is important as well but x86 is the fastest for VPN until mikrotik finally makes it so that 1 tunnel an use multiple cores.

 

[sfx2000]

Lot's of interest stuff coming soon... 2H-2017..

QCA and Intel, along with Marvell...