Collecting HOWTOs for a router/AP project

I'm in the midst of collecting HOWTOs/guides for a project I'm hoping
to embark on soon, and wondered whether anyone had any suggestions for
additional reading material!

The plan is to replace my current Netgear router/wireless AP with a
homebrew system on something like a Jetway JBC373 from mini-itx.com.
Aim is to have it serving as router and access point, doing content
filtering, acting as nameserver and handing out IP addresses.

Planning to have it hand out static IP addresses to at least a subset
of the devices that use the network - couple of network printers, a
wired desktop (Linux), wired backup server (Linux), several laptops
(mix of Windows and Linux), iPad, iPhone, couple of Android phones...
Use known MAC addresses to hand out predictable IP addresses.... And
act as a DHCP server for visiting devices, or the mobile devices from
the above list that wouldn't really benefit from having a predictable
IP.

Likely installing Ubuntu 14.04 LTS when it comes out, and building on
that.

Not having done this kind of thing before, would the following
sequence of steps be about right?

- install base Linux
- get the wired ethernet ports (x6, probably) working
- get it working as a switch (one upstream/WAN port, 5 downstream)
- nameserver/DHCP stuff in here?
- then wireless AP stuff?
- then any filtering software (DansGuardian or similar)

What would folks preference be for software for each stage (eg which
nameserver, which DHCP daemon...)?

And have I missed anything that would be essential, or even useful, on
such a box.

Reading so far:

http://forums.funtoo.org/viewtopic.php?id=892

http://askubuntu.com/questions/376717/how-to-set-up-a-linux-server-as-a-router

http://www.enterprisenetworkingplan...Build-A-LinuxBased--Wireless-Access-Point.htm

http://www.enterprisenetworkingplan...A-LinuxBased-Wireless-Access-Point-Part-2.htm

http://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/442417-create-a-secure-linux-based-wireless-access-point

Cheers

Colin

 

Not much point using a desktop distro for such a basic feature set - if
I was using that hardware I'd start with a no-gui Debian install, or
something like Smoothwall, but I'd be more inclined to try running it on
a Raspberry Pi.

 

Why not something that's designed for the job - OpenWRT or similar
rather than a straight *nix distro? All the
networking/DNS/DHCP/iptables etc. built in. Just needs configuring.

 

Other people have suggested various lightweight distros; I couldn't
comment on that. But at least I'd recommend you install Ubuntu Server
rather than desktop. If there are desktoppy bits you need you can
install them separately.

 

Thanks for the comments - drove me back to looking more fully at
OpenWRT/DD-WRT. That would certainly be the cheaper option - even if
8-port kit that are supported are rare to non-existent, a 4-port or
even 2-port router plus an unmanaged switch would do the job...

However, one of the prompts for me doing this is providing content
filtering for the whole house, and I was anticipating dansguardian or
squidguard or similar. Dansguardian doesn't seem to work on either
OpenWRT or DD-WRT - eg
http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=625373 or
http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/294156-open-wrt-dansguardian-and-squid-proxy-on-router
Partly a software issue (versions of the C++ library), and partly a
processor power issue - the filtering needs some muscle...

As for choosing Ubuntu over any other distro - just familiarity, since
the other Linux boxes I administer are all Ubuntu... Would pare down
the installation as much as possible.

Still thinking - does help to try and articulate the questions/sketch
what I've learned, and get reactions to it. Thanks.

Cheers

Colin

 

<snip>

Check these out:

http://www.ipfire.org/
http://www.ipcop.org/docs.php
https://www.pfsense.org/
http://www.endian.com/en/community/overview/#.UzAdLpZ9Cy4
http://www.devil-linux.org/product/features.php
http://bsdrp.net/BSDRP
http://www.zeroshell.org/
http://sms.it-ccs.com/faq.html