The Perfect SOHO router - Part 1
чети на 
This is the first part of series of articles in which i will explain how to create the perfect SOHO router. I have to note that this is my idea of a perfect router with all the good and bad points stemming from it.
The series will comprise of the following articles:
- Basic hints, ideas, needed services and some thoughts - Here i will try to argument myself upon the choice of software and services for the router
- Base install - i will describe the way our system will be installed and minimized
- Configuration of DNS and DHCP services - here i will describe with arguments what i think is the best configs for the task
- Configure the routing - here is the heart of our routing. I will suggest some tricks that make the life easier, also some pointers for more specific stuff
- Configuring very basic monitoring system
- Extending our router - i will describe some small things that make our life tad easier, smooth and not so demanding
Off we go with part one.
The idea
From some time i am toying with the idea for these articles. The topic of SOHO routers is interesting from many points. On one side they should be cheap machines. On the other side they sould be effective to do the task. And maybe the last point is that i haven’t seen such article(s). And really the last - i really like to write it.
Needed services
Here must go the most of the thinking. We should define exactly what services our router will execute. The absolute minimum is routing/masquerading and SSH. In reality this is enough but a bit uncomfortable. Mine minimum is:
- Routing/masquerading/NAT - without it there is no point of router
- SSH - for console management
- Caching DNS - for our own fake zone, speed and partial independence from our ISP
- DHCP server wihich will configure our network in automatic fashion
- Minimalistic web based system for monitoring, statistic and simple checks
All in all this is a good set of services which require minimum maintenance and ease of use. I personally prefer to have the following additional services:
- Samba - to calm down windows machines in our network. It serves MasterBrowser and WINS
- NTP server - for serving correct time
- FTP server - for remote upload of stuff
Some thoughts
So after we have chosen our services, the choice for distribution still hangs. I personally prefer debian and will realise this project with it. Everyone is free to chose whatewer he wants and feels comfortable with. We should think early for the security, the rights of access, shall we use quotas/limits. What type of masking we will use and other small things. Most of this questions pop in the process of work so please read the whole series before trying to use it.
General pointers
This is not a simple project. It is supposed that you know what you are attempting to accomplish. Every error that has slipped trough can bite you at a later stage. So think in time and think it at least twice.
The Series continues with The Perfect SOHO router - Part 2
Fatal error: Call to undefined function related_posts_exist() in /var/www/web1/web/wp-content/themes/gps-fluid-fire-edit-10/single.php on line 33