Indecision on new gigabit router/firewall

For a while now <years> my WRT54GS v1.0 (DD-WRT v24-sp2 (09/01/09) std) router has been an utter fantastic workhorse. Of late the tBase 10/100 has been not enough bandwidth for my needs. So time to rethink my network setup.

So build my own, or buy a ready made appliance..

Since I got plenty of parts to make 4 more computers... Older ones. This is a very desirable route for me. Minus extra power consumption/ Being I am fond of the BSD based solutions. All I would need to buy is 4 gigabit NiCs that support jumbo frame and full duplex. Plus one switch that support same.

Now I been poking around for routers that offer the ability to install Linux. Seen a few that interested me. None really step out at me. Though my main draw is power consumption. Which this route has the edge on a hand rolled router/firewall.

So - I can go with a BSD router/firewall (pfsence/m0n0wall or such) or poke around and find a store bought router that supports DDWRT or Tomato. Also one uses muh less electricity that the other. So I am still mulling over that also. I need VPN support and some other features not listed here. Like iSCSI.. But not a deal breaker.


Any input, insight or discussion?

ive been through a nightmare with wireless n routers this year tryed 4-5 of them before buying a linksys e3000 and so far it has worked flawlessly and it has dual radios 2.4 ghz and 5.0 ghz every other one ive tried were honorable also it supports tomato and dd-wrt.http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices#Cisco_Linksys_.28Wireless_a.2Fb.2Fg.2Fn.29

Thanks for the input!


I really do not need much in terms of wireless. About the only thing that is wireless in my LAN is my printer. I can use the trusty WRT54GS as as a bridge or repeater if need be for that.

There was a rather lengthy discussion you might want to checkout:
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=656705

About two pages, and many different options/etc were voiced. Good info, IMHO.

All that said, I'm a huge Smoothwall fan, and currently run it with gigabit connections via ESXi

I'd also suggest a computer instead of a pre-built box. You can do so much more with it. You could build/use a low end system now and upgrade the components as needed. Need to upgrade the NIC? Easy, just drop in a card. No need to replace the whole unit. In addition to that, you have a wide variety of good operating systems you can run. Smoothwall, Astaro, etc. These are going to be way better (performance and feature wise) than any small box. Cost is usually a bit more, but I think it is worth it.

Well I am sort of concerned about power draw. The small energy draw versus powah! and comfort.

I do have a bit of hardware I can use. 450Mhz / 950Mhz and an AM2 2100le. I got all sorts of hardware to accomplish the hardware aspect. I am familiar with BSD and Linux enough - Where software is not an issue for me. My BSD based server (UFS) is running just fine and does it's job great. If need be, I can easily use a Linux based package for the routing and firewall. Not hard to grab the custom tables and rules I got in place, off the WRT54GS. I am familiar with CLi, so headless does not matter much to me. I do like to disconnect the monitor and HiDs after i do the install. If I cant network install it.

Doing the math, the parts I would need to get, are about equal in cost. The NiCs/one switch versus getting a ready to flash set top unit.

One thing that is important to me. Is magic packets.

I've spent a lot of time trying to find out what to get as a router. I have a 100mbit fiber connection to the internet and gigabit network in the house. After a lot of hair pulling I finally decided to go with a Routerboard RB450G (gigabit wan port, 4 gigabit lan ports, 256MB ram).

It comes with their own OS called Routeros which is based on Linux. Far more capable and flexible (IMO) then dd-wrt (atleast a few years ago when I last tried), but set up can be quite a bit more involved. I find a lot of people are replacing low end cisco stuff with these.

Did not install it yet, I'm still trying to figure out how I will pull two separate wan ip's and route them to different vlans.