DD-WRT Capable Gigabit wireless router

DominionZA

DominionZA

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Not sure if the right place to post this. Does not seem to quite fit anywhere else.

Anyways... My firewall solution is currently Kerio Control running on a Dell GX-280. It has served me very well for the past 4 years.
I have just purchased a 42U rack and moved all my servers into it. I don't want to waste a 4U chassis on the Dell components and would prefer a smaller and lighter solution.

From what I have read, DD-WRT is the way forward. I am struggling to find a modern - up to date - wireless router with support for DD-WRT though. Literally been hunting for about 3 hours now and getting lost in the options.

What I am after is something with 8 Gigabit ports (or more), and wifi (802.11N). I would prefer dual band wifi but not critical. Gigabit ports is a must have though.

Any ideas on what is the best performing router for this purpose? And more importantly, where to get one - like yesterday.
 
I can't help directly, but www.smallnetbuilder.com carries reviews of routers, switches etc

Wouldn't it be easier to purchase as separates i.e. a router plus a switch ?
 
rrh said:
I can't help directly, but www.smallnetbuilder.com carries reviews of routers, switches etc

Wouldn't it be easier to purchase as separates i.e. a router plus a switch ?
Click to expand...

No. It is to replace my aging D-link Dir655 which sits in the dining room and branches out around the house.
My ADSL is currently outside in my home office along with the Dell firewall which manages the traffic.
I want to bring the ADSL into the house and terminate the line in the office. The ADSL will stay on my Cisco ADSL modem, and I want to replace the Dell and D-Link with a router than can manage traffic as the Dell does and replace the D-Link for switching traffic.

I can't have too much stuff in the dining room.
 
Mike Smit said:
... From what I have read, DD-WRT is the way forward. I am struggling to find a modern - up to date - wireless router with support for DD-WRT though. Literally been hunting for about 3 hours now and getting lost in the options.

What I am after is something with 8 Gigabit ports (or more), and wifi (802.11N). I would prefer dual band wifi but not critical. Gigabit ports is a must have though.

Any ideas on what is the best performing router for this purpose? And more importantly, where to get one - like yesterday.
Click to expand...
Mike your gold standard for price/performance WAS (but, as their management apparently decided they hate money, is sadly no more*) the TP-Link WR1043ND, as carried by Uniterm. Who currently have no stock anyway (at least they didn't last week when I asked).

*Hardware versions 1.0-1.4 worked GREAT on dd-wrt but by the time we got to 1.8, the current one, short of a painful and back-asswards procedure to even GET dd-wrt onto it, it's no longer even (sanely) possible. And even if you do, the result tends to have ..character.

On a related note, dd-wrt isn't actually the best, it's just the best known. :cool: By design OpenWrt is streets ahead in many ways but, of course, isn't as sexy to look at or as easy to play with ..okay, put it this way: dd-wrt fails after 1.4 but (I now see) OpenWrt is good to go even up to 1.10 - that we don't even have here yet.

But if you're in a rush and want something (that should be) stable/minimum fuss, head over to Miro for the Buffalo WZR-G300NH; it comes with dd-wrt preinstalled. Oh, and if you want to buy an appliance-type device with EIGHT GbE ports (at any prie, much less a sane one), GFL ..and please reveal it here.
 
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bdt said:
Mike your gold standard for price/performance WAS (but, as their management apparently decided they hate money, is sadly no more*) the TP-Link WR1043ND, as carried by Uniterm. Who currently have no stock anyway (at least they didn't last week when I asked).

*Hardware versions 1.0-1.4 worked GREAT on dd-wrt but by the time we got to 1.8, the current one, short of a painful and back-asswards procedure to even GET dd-wrt onto it, it's no longer even (sanely) possible. And even if you do, the result tends to have ..character.

On a related note, dd-wrt isn't actually the best, it's just the best known. :cool: By design OpenWrt is streets ahead in many ways but, of course, isn't as sexy to look at or as easy to play with ..okay, put it this way: dd-wrt fails after 1.4 but (I now see) OpenWrt is good to go even up to 1.10 - that we don't even have here yet.

But if you're in a rush and want something (that should be) stable/minimum fuss, head over to Miro for the Buffalo WZR-G300NH; it comes with dd-wrt preinstalled. Oh, and if you want to buy an appliance-type device with EIGHT GbE ports (at any prie, much less a sane one), GFL ..and please reveal it here.
Click to expand...

Very informative. Thanks man.
I read about OpenWRT but assumed DD-WRT would be the best. This broadens the horizon a bit.

What I actually need from my device is the following (maybe you or someone could tell me what is the best software to use and on with hardware - will settle for a 4 port ;))

1. Assign users by IP (which is statically assigned via DHCP). Transparent proxy.
2. Real time usage by device/user/IP
3. Bandwidth throttling by User/IP.
4. Curent activity (URL visited) by User/IP.
5. Deny Internet by User/IP.
6. QoS. By IP or protocol.

The above is what I use most on my current setup and what I would need from whatever I move to.

Can either DD-WRT or OpenWRT do this?
I think once I have figured out the best software to use, I can dig around for hardware.
 
If you want to stay with, frankly a hobbyist/semi-pro (for the most part, but that's another story) OS, you can scratch around the HOWTOs page. But the previous posts are right, RouterOS is the shizz. And can go large. Which, for your tiddly :rolleyes: home usage is probably even sillier than getting into a truck to guy buy a litre of milk at the corner cafe... But you do get TWELVE GbE ports in deal! :p (yes, this is meant to be a case of reductio ad absurdum)
 
Sounds promising. I have a router board that I have not used in nearly 2 years since I stopped using JAWUG. Will fiddle with it a bit.
Could be overkill for my needs though.
 
Mike Smit said:
Very informative. Thanks man.
I read about OpenWRT but assumed DD-WRT would be the best. This broadens the horizon a bit.

What I actually need from my device is the following (maybe you or someone could tell me what is the best software to use and on with hardware - will settle for a 4 port ;))

1. Assign users by IP (which is statically assigned via DHCP). Transparent proxy.
2. Real time usage by device/user/IP
3. Bandwidth throttling by User/IP.
4. Curent activity (URL visited) by User/IP.
5. Deny Internet by User/IP.
6. QoS. By IP or protocol.

The above is what I use most on my current setup and what I would need from whatever I move to.

Can either DD-WRT or OpenWRT do this?
I think once I have figured out the best software to use, I can dig around for hardware.
Click to expand...


I had specifically the same requirements. I used a Buffalo router (almost the same one as was suggested in this thread already), but it came at a price tag of R1500 :( I installed DD-WRT on it and I wrote a custom monitoring script in order to monitor the bandwidth on a per user basis. This worked great and I was very impressed with it. (It is not so difficult to get the monitoring script going and it is very user friendly). I am not sure if you will get the URL visited by IP on DD-WRT. Was very happy with this until lightning came along. It destroyed my WAN port (and only that). That is when I realised that DD-WRT is not as powerful as one would think. I could not change the vlan's on the device. I was able to swap the LAN ports and the WAN port (which was ultimately useless as the router would only have wireless then).

I decided that it was time to get another router, so I decided to go with a mikrotik router (was a bit cheaper). I eventually settled with This Router. My findings are that it is much more difficult to understand and configure, but after a bit of googling it was quite manageable. I think all and all it is much more powerful and will perform better in the long run.
 
+1 on all you've said.

However i'd rather use Gargoyle as my router firmware (based off of Open-WRT) but with a way nicer interface / graphing / reporting to show who's visiting what URL's etc etc.

I'd also look @ [TL-WDR3600] as opposed to the WR1043ND mentioned below. It does 5GHZ wifi as well and is better spec'd.

http://www.dbg.co.za/product_info.php?products_id=873&osCsid=96fa1bmlrboa2vf7sol1rqmml1

Alternatively setup a PFsense or Smoothwall firewall on an old pc.

J

bdt said:
Mike your gold standard for price/performance WAS (but, as their management apparently decided they hate money, is sadly no more*) the TP-Link WR1043ND, as carried by Uniterm. Who currently have no stock anyway (at least they didn't last week when I asked).

*Hardware versions 1.0-1.4 worked GREAT on dd-wrt but by the time we got to 1.8, the current one, short of a painful and back-asswards procedure to even GET dd-wrt onto it, it's no longer even (sanely) possible. And even if you do, the result tends to have ..character.

On a related note, dd-wrt isn't actually the best, it's just the best known. :cool: By design OpenWrt is streets ahead in many ways but, of course, isn't as sexy to look at or as easy to play with ..okay, put it this way: dd-wrt fails after 1.4 but (I now see) OpenWrt is good to go even up to 1.10 - that we don't even have here yet.

But if you're in a rush and want something (that should be) stable/minimum fuss, head over to Miro for the Buffalo WZR-G300NH; it comes with dd-wrt preinstalled. Oh, and if you want to buy an appliance-type device with EIGHT GbE ports (at any prie, much less a sane one), GFL ..and please reveal it here.
Click to expand...
 
Even though the Mikrotik is cheaper than all the responses you got, I still believe it's a superior product. Bought my first one about 4 years ago and it runs the same firmware as all the others I have. So a definite plus on updates and support. It also has a highly customizable firewall so it can replace your PC. I see you all ready have a Routerboard, why not get a indoor case and use that? Will work out less than R200. Second cheapest option is the http://www.scoopdistribution.co.za/product_info.php?cPath=100_119&products_id=1281. It only has 5 GigaBit ports so you will need an additional switch. Also has wireless and external antenna connector. Also comes with a USB port so you can add a modem and have 3G failover or a hotspot. They have a live router interface on their website so have a look at the options and what it can offer.
 
krieg said:
Even though the Mikrotik is cheaper than all the responses you got, I still believe it's a superior product. Bought my first one about 4 years ago and it runs the same firmware as all the others I have. So a definite plus on updates and support. It also has a highly customizable firewall so it can replace your PC. I see you all ready have a Routerboard, why not get a indoor case and use that? Will work out less than R200. Second cheapest option is the http://www.scoopdistribution.co.za/product_info.php?cPath=100_119&products_id=1281. It only has 5 GigaBit ports so you will need an additional switch. Also has wireless and external antenna connector. Also comes with a USB port so you can add a modem and have 3G failover or a hotspot. They have a live router interface on their website so have a look at the options and what it can offer.
Click to expand...

Thanks dude. Think I will go with the option at scoop. From what I recall, the RouterBoard I have in my wug setup is quite big. Plus I want it to look nice (living in the dining room). Scoop option seems to be the best - thanks ;)
 
I managed to pickup a TP-Link WDR4300. 580MHz CPU, 128MB RAM and 8MB Flash, 4 * Gigabit LAN and 1* Gigabit WAN. Dual band wireless. Paid R550 for it and waiting for it to be delivered now.

So looking at the options I have decided to settle on OpenWRT.

My next question now is the best real time bandwidth monitory tool to go with. After some reading, it appears iftop is about the best bet. Looking at screenies, it appears to not just show traffic by IP, but also protocol. This is too much. I need a simple - at a glance - view of traffic by IP on my network, and if I see a machine hogging the line I can select it for more info."

I have attached a screeny of what I am using at the moment. As you can see, the list at the top is one line per IP and total bandwidth used. Selecting one of the lines gives me a breakdown in the tabs below.

Kerio.jpg

Any ideas on what can give me similar functionality? Will also need a WebGUI. I don't want to have to putty into the router each time I want to see what is happening. Must be part of WebGUI that I can access from anywhere.
 
Mike Smit said:
I managed to pickup a TP-Link WDR4300. 580MHz CPU, 128MB RAM and 8MB Flash, 4 * Gigabit LAN and 1* Gigabit WAN. Dual band wireless. Paid R550 for it and waiting for it to be delivered now.

So looking at the options I have decided to settle on OpenWRT.

My next question now is the best real time bandwidth monitory tool to go with. After some reading, it appears iftop is about the best bet. Looking at screenies, it appears to not just show traffic by IP, but also protocol. This is too much. I need a simple - at a glance - view of traffic by IP on my network, and if I see a machine hogging the line I can select it for more info."

I have attached a screeny of what I am using at the moment. As you can see, the list at the top is one line per IP and total bandwidth used. Selecting one of the lines gives me a breakdown in the tabs below.

View attachment 41196

Any ideas on what can give me similar functionality? Will also need a WebGUI. I don't want to have to putty into the router each time I want to see what is happening. Must be part of WebGUI that I can access from anywhere.
Click to expand...

Hi,

Where did you order it from for that price?

Thx
 
Lol no thx, thought u got it at a good price somewhere, R550 is a bargain! Also if the router supports tomato try that especially by shibby least effort I ever had with router. Enjoy.
 
Asus RT-N16 , that is all.

Used the N15 for 3 years now, it was practically desighned to run DD-WRT, and has enough CPU power and ram to keep even the most hardcore user happy :)

But you will have to settle for 4 ports + 1 WAN port gigabit.
 
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I have finished setting my my TP Link WDR4300 (N750) and went with Gargoyle. I went for this as it boasted quite a few bandwidth reporting tools.
The Bandwidth Distribution seems to be just what I was after. Gives me nice real time updates by host on the network. Perfect.

The old Dell GX280 running Kerio Control has been switched off :) It has served many many years of 24/7 operation - so fair well my old Dell. :(

Flashing Gargoyle was such a breeze. What a bonus. I lasted a whole 10 minutes on the stock firmware then moved on.

I can swear browsing the net is faster on the TP Link compared to when the Dell managed everything. Probably placebo affect :)

The 4 Gigabit LAN is nice, but wasted. I only need one to hook up to my 8 Gigabit switch which then feeds into the house and through a few more Gigabit switches. Nice to have - just in case though.
 
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