Linux Router

[mairving]

All right, I currently have a Linksys Cable/DSL router that I plan on getting rid of. I think that the router is going out. It loses either local or internet settings quite often forcing a reboot (unplug the cord). So I am going to do my own routing with an old computer that I have. I have an old P166 w/64MB RAM that I planned on using. I had looked into the Linux Router Project, in which you could build a router and have everything run off of a floppy. The documentation is not all that great on that project though, so I am thinking about building a Linux/BSD box to do my routing.

What I would like to do is to setup this router, then take off the monitor and keyboard and just run it like that. I will go ahead and plug it in to my UPS.

Any advice about what to put on there. E-smith(or whatever they are now) seems to be an option, since it is small and doesn't load much unneccessary stuff.

[DrZaius]

mairving: Have you checked this article?

[mairving]

Yeah, I have played around with that. It is a pretty neat little project but there is little documentation on it. Doesn't really seem to have been much done on the project in over a year. It fits on a floppy which is cool, but I have yet to get my NIC's to work properly. So I thought that I would just throw a Linux Distro on there to give me some more options. I am downloading SME-Server 5.0 right now. Thought that I would give it a try.

[Xayd]

There are several pre-packaged LRP distros that work nicely and are incredibly easy to set up. www.freesco.org is probably the most in features, it even has a web based admin tool similar to what you get with standalone soho routers. If you need PPPoE, www.coyotelinux.com supports it, but that extra space on the floppy eliminates the point-and-click admin page and instead just gives you the AE editor and a menu for the config files.

Both run flawlessly, I'm running coyote right now.

Caveats:

1) Nic compatibility. You'll probably have to get rid of plug and play on your two nics, and only the common chipsets are supported (Linksys, 3Com, etc.). Might have to manually add some drivers.

2) No DMZ without the availability of a third nic, but then again you have unlimited NAT configurability (or at least as much in rc.masquerade that your floppy can hold ), so that's not really that big a deal.