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82 lines
3.4 KiB
HTML
82 lines
3.4 KiB
HTML
After ongoing issues maintaining a reliable Internet connection at home I
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decided to add a custom built router to the network that would be in charge of
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assigning IP addresses and sharing our Internet connection with the rest of the
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network. I wanted something with at least two Ethernet ports so that all
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Internet traffic would flow through the device and allow bandwidth hogs to be
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identified at times when the connection appeared flooded.
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After a bunch of research into appropriate hardware and software I
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decided on a [PC Engines ALIX][alix] single board computer (alix2d13). The
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ALIX is a small board about the size of a CD case with the following
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features:
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* 500Mhz AMD Geode (x86 compatible) CPU
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* 256Mb RAM
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* 2 × USB ports
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* 3 × 10/100 Ethernet ports
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* Mini-PCI socket (for WiFi if desired)
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* RS-232 serial port
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* CompactFlash socket
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I also ordered one of [PC Engines cases][case] (case1s2u) to go with it.
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[alix]: http://www.pcengines.ch/alix2d13.htm
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[case]: http://www.pcengines.ch/case1d2u.htm
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For the software I settled on [OpenWRT][openwrt]. I chose it for a number of
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reasons:
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* Good support for ALIX boards.
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* Designed to run from Flash and read-only file systems.
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* Great binary package manager that allows additional software to be
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installed.
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* Lightweight [Lua] based Web UI available ([LuCI][luci]).
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[openwrt]: https://openwrt.org/
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[luci]: http://luci.subsignal.org/
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[Lua]: http://www.lua.org/
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After learning to use the excellent OpenWRT build system I was able to
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build a custom CompactFlash image for the board to run. I also created a
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package for my [weather logging software][weather-software] so that the
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ALIX can do all my [weather station][weather] logging.
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[weather]: /personal/2010/09/weather-station/
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[weather-software]: /technical/2010/09/weather-station-software/
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I moved many of services that my ADSL modem and AirPort base station were
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performing to the box and it's proven extremely reliable. This includes
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maintaining the PPPoE connection to my ISP. I'd certainly recommend a set up
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like this to anyone who is looking for a small, dedicated home router.
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If you don't like the prospect of building your own custom OS image I'd
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also highly recommend <tt>[m0n0wall]</tt>, which is a [FreeBSD] derived
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router system. I ran this on the ALIX initially and it was very easy
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to get up an running (write image to CF card, boot from card - default
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settings worked fine but can be changed via a web UI) and very reliable.
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[m0n0wall]: http://m0n0.ch/wall/
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[FreeBSD]: http://www.freebsd.org/
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<figure>
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<img src="/images/2012/01/_MG_0562.jpg" width="600" height="258" alt="Front view" />
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<figcaption>Front with three LEDs. The behaviour of the LEDs can
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be customised in OpenWRT. I have the left one indicating power and
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the middle one indicating activity on the WAN port. The other one is
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currently unused.</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<figure>
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<img src="/images/2012/01/_MG_0569.jpg" width="600" height="600" alt="Top view with CD for size comparison" />
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<figcaption>Top of case, showing size in comparison to a CD case.</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<figure>
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<img src="/images/2012/01/_MG_0567.jpg" width="600" height="600" alt="alix2d13 board" />
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<figcaption>The ALIX board itself with the following connected: WAN
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and LAN Ethernet, 8Gb [MosKeyto USB flash drive][moskeyto],
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weather station USB cable and 32Mb CF card that the system boots from.</figcaption>
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</figure>
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[moskeyto]: http://www.lacie.com/au/products/product.htm?id=10425
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