Slashdot Mirror
Choosing a Router/Firewall for the Home LAN
Dr. Zowie asks: "How should one choose a router for a home LAN? We just added a few hosts on our home ethernet, which is connected via DSL. There are an amazing
number of new entries into the market for routers and even stand-alone
firewalls. NetGear,
Linksys,
SMC, and even Panasonic
all have boxen in the $99-$300 range, each of which will do some
combination of NAT, routing, source-IP filtering, port filtering, and
content filtering."
"It's not at all obvious from the packaging, the web sites, or the drool-proof pamphlets in the boxes which routers will do what. For example, we'd like to pass through packets for our two server machines, and use NAT/DHCP on a third address for the rest of the LAN. Nearly all the boxes advertise that they can do NAT routing, but many don't support NAT and static-IP routing simultaneously.
Die-hards will insist that one should run a standalone box with dual ethernet cards and the appropriate routing goodies -- but these standalone boxes, at 5-15 watts and a couple hundred bucks, seem like comparatively hassle-free solution. Which one do you use?"
Practically Networked
All kinds of good information and reviews on exactly what you're looking for.
http://www.smoothwall.com should get you to the main product page. It's a freeware GPL firewall running Linux, but designed for ease of installation and administration via a web browser afterwards. The new version 0.99 is due for release any day now, and the beta of 0.99 works quite well for me.
Since most people have an old 486 or Pentium lying around, the cost to set this up is next to nothing - and it has features the hardware firewall/router boxes don't include. (EG. Ability to auto-update your dynamic IP with the dyndns.org service and "snort" to log hack attempts with details on what was attempted.)
I love the IP forwarding of the linksys. All connections to port 80, 443, 21 and 22 are reditected to my Linux box, and all other ports that involve games and *apster clones are redirected to my Game box. Remaining ports are blocked.
You don't need a hard drive for a firewall/router made from an old machine. Check out the LRP for a solution that fits on a single 1.44 mbyte floppy that can be write-protected and just needs to be power-cycled to be reboot.
I do not have any servers, but this works well and has the following features...
- DHCP server
- NAT
- RJ-45 for connection to Cable/DSL and a DB-9 for connection to a modem.
I particularly like the fact that it can do Cable/DSL and Dial-up. Since I am moving a lot, I never know what is going to be available. You can even use the dial-up as a backup, should the Cable/DSL fail. Web based administration is straightforward. But I can't comment on that beyond the basics.
Power consumption is low (22W I think) and it is a lot quieter and much smaller than a PC.
It is good for my simple needs, but you may need more for your servers.
Here is a link to the product page. You can download the product brochure and check it out for yourself.
Remember, You are unique...just like everyone else.
I have a netgear router myself, and have locked it down pretty well with the advice I found.
The above post is an editorial, the poster cannot and will not be held responsible for all or in part for it's contents
Sure, you can build one out of an old computer and spare parts. But, think about the physical size, noise of the fans, and electrical consumption. Plus, you could use that old computer for something else. I got a D-Link DI-804 for $51 from Amazon.com this week. $80.00 - $30.00 rebate - $10.00 online coupon + 11.00 S/H. It seems to have all the features you want. It has a simple web interface for basic stuff but it also has a telnet interface for more advanced features. Look at the D-Link site for the product (http://www.dlink.com/products/broadband/di804/).
Note: The picture on the D-Link and Amazon.com websites is of an older design where the four switch ports are on the front, and the WAN port is on the back. On the one I received yesterday, all ports are on the back (much less messy). I emailed them telling them that the picture didn't look anything like the actual product and so they apparently pulled the webpage for the product temporarily.
The setup was painless (basically, just plugged it in, attached network cables, renewed my IP leases, and changed the admin password). I even upgraded the firmware in less than a minute. It is also silent (no fan) and it is about the size of the area of a keyboard between the [ESC] and the right-alt key. It is working great.
It has four ports in the built-in switch. Port one can be used either as a normal switch port or as an uplink. It also has a serial port that you can attach an external modem to share as a backup for then your cable/dsl connect goes out.
For $51, it is basically the same price as the 486 solution that someone else cited as $45, and it even comes with a one-year warrenty (apparently, D-Link used to have a lifetime warrenty but I guess they don't do that for the consumer stuff any more).
CPU 32bits ARM RISC CPU
Memory 512 Kbytes Flash Memory
4 Mbytes SDRAM
Standards IEEE 802.3 10Base-T Ethernet
IEEE 802.3u 100Base-TX Fast Ethernet
IEEE 802.3x Flow Control
ANSI/IEEE 802.3 NWay Auto-Negotiation
Protocols Supported
TCP/IP
NAT
DHCP
UPD
PAP
CHAP
MSCHAP
RIP1/RIP2
PPPoE
Virtual Server
VPN Pass Through Function*
PPTP
L2TP
IPSec
Firewall Protection: Built in NAT firewall using stateful packet inspection
Management: Web-Based - requires a PC, Mac, or Linux based computer with a Web Browser capable of running Java script.
Firmware Upgrade: Web-Based - requires a PC, Mac, or Linux based computer with a Web Browser capable of running Java script.
Ports:
4 x NWay 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet LAN
Port 1 has Uplink/Normal switch
1 x 10Base-T WAN
1 x RS-232 (230 Kbps, male DB-9) - for back-up analog modem connection
LED's
Power
WAN
Console
Link/Act. (Link / Activity)
10/100 Mbps
Power DC 5V 2A
Operating Temperature 0 C ~ 40 C
Storing Temperature -20 C ~ 70 C
Humidity Max 95% Non-condensing
EMI Certification FCC part 15 Class B in US
Also, and I cannot overemphasize this, set the password. Not only are Linksys routers administered via a web interface, and attackable that way, they accept firmware downloads via TFTP, and will accept a firmware download from the WAN side. So an attacker can patch the thing remotely if it's not secured.