Quest for router that doesn't reboot itself!

DeathByMonkey · 10 Aug 2006 at 15:11

null said:
As for recommendations go, my G-1000s haven't caused me any trouble.

These g-1000s ..... do they support WPA? What about other security? Just had a quick look (not much spare time cuz I'm at work) and it says it's got WEP 64/128 but doesnt mention WPA.

I'm deffo interested in this setup, cuz it means it would give me something to tinkey with and potentially I'd have a very stable network. Might cost a bit, I'll have to do some costing up to see how much it will set me back total.

VaderDSL · 10 Aug 2006 at 15:15

Hi

apologies for jumping into thei thread and hi-jacking. However I was wondering, I don't have a spare switch nor the funds really to buy one.

However I do have a second PC with 4 NIC's ... can I run something like monowall on this? and plug other PC's into this and have the spare PC handle firewall, DHCP etc.? or do I specifically have to have a switch?

tolien · 10 Aug 2006 at 15:20

tolien said:
A PC running anything (m0n0wall or whatever) will never come up to the performance of a proper switch

Nothing stopping you running m0n0wall, but expect all your LAN traffic to hit the m0n0wall box's CPU, PCI bus etc.
You've presumably already got something with a switch built in though - a router maybe?

DeathByMonkey · 10 Aug 2006 at 15:21

VaderDSL said:
Hi apologies for jumping into thei thread and hi-jacking. However I was wondering, I don't have a spare switch nor the funds really to buy one.

However I do have a second PC with 4 NIC's ... can I run something like monowall on this? and plug other PC's into this and have the spare PC handle firewall, DHCP etc.? or do I specifically have to have a switch?

Sounds interesting, however sans wireless. null - you seem to be the man with all the knowledge - spread the wealth

DeathByMonkey · 10 Aug 2006 at 15:24

tolien said:
Nothing stopping you running m0n0wall, but expect all your LAN traffic to hit the m0n0wall box's CPU, PCI bus etc.

I get ya... learnt about the basics of routers and so forth and that a regular pc can end up being a bottle neck because of the lower bus bandwidths on the motherboard (like you said, pci bus would be the culprit). But how much of a performance hit would it actually take?

If i can't notice any real world difference with this new setup, and the reliability is rock solid, then i might just go for it.

VaderDSL · 10 Aug 2006 at 15:25

tolien said:
Nothing stopping you running m0n0wall, but expect all your LAN traffic to hit the m0n0wall box's CPU, PCI bus etc.

True, in reality though on our small network we won't have much traffic going across ... in fact all we will really have is small amounts of data from online gaming, web browsing and e-mails.

The spare PC is an A64 3200 // 512Mb DDR400 ... will the PCI bus become saturated from low amounts of data transfer?

tolien · 10 Aug 2006 at 15:27

DeathByMonkey said:
But how much of a performance hit would it actually take?

Your mileage may vary. My point was directed at VaderDSL though - I'm referring to using the box as a switch, not the routing parts.

VaderDSL · 10 Aug 2006 at 15:30

tolien said:
Your mileage may vary. My point was directed at VaderDSL though - I'm referring to using the box as a switch though, not the routing parts.

Yeah I have an old Draytek Vigor 2600 ... I think it might be easier to get a switch

they're not that much I guess.

tolien · 10 Aug 2006 at 15:31

VaderDSL said:
Yeah I have an old Draytek Vigor 2600 ... I think it might be easier to get a switch they're not that much I guess.

4 ports on the back of that and switch off DHCP et al? Hardly difficult.

z0mbi3 · 10 Aug 2006 at 15:33

NickR said:
I have a USR9106 and it's rock solid

Quoted for truth.

VaderDSL · 10 Aug 2006 at 15:38

tolien said:
4 ports on the back of that and switch off DHCP et al? Hardly difficult.

Ahh I'm having a slow day ... I'm not sure I am following

As it stands, I have :

ADSL Filtered faceplate > RJ-11 > Vigor 2600 into which we have 2 PC's and a wireless router plugged into.

To use the spare PC as a smoothwall/ipcop/monowall/pfsense/clarkconnect box I would (myself not being too knowledgeable) then have the 2 PC's and the wireless router plugged into the PC? Disable DHCP on the router? and set it to forward all traffic to the monowall box (will DMZ setting allow this?)

Please forgive me for being unknowledgeable

tolien · 10 Aug 2006 at 15:42

So you'd be using the 2600 as a modem?
I did say spare router...

VaderDSL · 10 Aug 2006 at 15:46

tolien said:
So you'd be using the 2600 as a modem?
I did say spare router...

Sorry

gonna pee you off even more now, I have a spare Netgear DG632

for fault testing purposes. I guess I could use that then use the draytek as the spare switch. I'm loathed to use the Netgear one though

tolien · 10 Aug 2006 at 15:48

Or just buy a switch.

VaderDSL · 10 Aug 2006 at 15:49

tolien said:
Or just buy a switch.

Aye

Mr. Brightside · 10 Aug 2006 at 17:43

Eeeep thread's getting difficult to follow now

DeathByMonkey said:
Sounds interesting, however sans wireless. null - you seem to be the man with all the knowledge - spread the wealth

They originally were WEP only but since first release were updated. When I bought mine a year ago they had WPA support out of the box no firmware upgrade needed.

Hope this helps, null

DeathByMonkey · 10 Aug 2006 at 19:42

null said:
They originally were WEP only but since first release were updated. When I bought mine a year ago they had WPA support out of the box no firmware upgrade needed.

Hope this helps, null

Thanks man. Been working some stuff out and reckon I can get this "separate stacker hi fi" of a router set up for about £85 - £90 so I might go for it. 'Bout £20-ish for a 8 port switch (always think 4 is too low) and then about £65 for a wireless AP (the zyxel g-1000). Not too bad if this setup works well, but I think I'll lull it over some more before I make a decision.