5 ms·

Do you have a router you recommend? Ideally something running free software

by ancarda 6y ago

annoyingnoob 6y ago
OPNsense or pfSense
- anonymousiam 6y ago
  I have used both OPNsense and pfSense. I currently OpenWRT which I find to be full featured, secure, and lightweight.
alias_neo 6y ago
Hardware wise, I run Ubiquiti EdgeMAX but I wouldn't recommend them anymore, their software has gone down hill since many of their best developers left. Software wise, pfSense is where it's at, but I don't have experience with their own hardware other than the ones we ran at work all failed due to a silicon flaw in the Intel SoCs they ran.
- 7steps2much 6y ago
  > Ubiquiti EdgeMAX but I wouldn't recommend them anymore Sadly there isn't exactly a lot of alternatives in the hobbyist network setup area ... It's basically just ubiquity and mikrotik at this point as far as I know
  - zokier 6y ago
    I've heard good things about Turris hardware too, but no personal experience. https://www.turris.com/en/omnia/overview/ https://www.turris.com/en/omnia/overview/
- JoshTriplett 6y ago
  > Software wise, pfSense is where it's at Recent events suggest that the people behind pfSense are not especially responsible stewards; see https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/03/buffer-overruns-license-violations-and-bad-code-freebsd-13s-close-call/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/03/buffer-overruns-lice... and https://opnsense.org/opnsense-com/ https://opnsense.org/opnsense-com/ .
Iolaum 6y ago
Look at the range of devices from GL.inet. They run a custom version of openwrt with a nice UI on top. But most are upstreamed and you can flash vanilla openwrt on them. They re quite cheap as well. I m not affiliated with them but I have bought devices from them. I use one between the router s ISP and my home network.
- alias_neo 6y ago
  This is a safe bet if you don't need advanced hardware features, I have several gl.inet devices, you can build your own OpenWRT for and turn off the phone home functionality.
- stilisstuk 6y ago
  The 2 hub valica mesh model is a contender :)
bytearray64 6y ago
I like Mikrotik for routers. They're cheap and have a lot of knobs in the SW (maybe too many if you just want NAT). They do run linux, but their SW isn't open. I've been pairing my Mikrotik hEX with a Unifi AP. Not sure what I'll do going forward, as I've heard Mikrotik's APs aren't as good as their routing and switching hardware. If I was going the "dedicated machine" route, I'd probably go with OPNsense nowadays.
bscphil 6y ago
The PC Engines hardware line is popular here. The firmware is coreboot and you can run OPNsense on it for an entirely free software solution. It's quite solid, have had no issues at all. See e.g. https://www.pcengines.ch/apu4d4.htm https://www.pcengines.ch/apu4d4.htm Not aff'd, just a customer.
kaylynb 6y ago
OPN/pfSense have been mentioned. Don't waste time with WiFi on the gateway itself as most WiFI chips you can buy are crippled in firmware for regulatory reasons. Just use a dedicated commercial AP hooked up directly or VLANed. Once you get comfortable with something like pfSense I highly recommend switching to regular Free/OpenBSD, or Linux depending on what you're comfortable with. I find it much easier to manage a gateway with the entire configuration in version control than a GUI. There aren't that many services that a gateway needs to run. If you feel like you'll miss pf on the *BSDs check out nftables on Linux. It's not as well documented but it's much less painful than iptables. To loop this into the UPnP discussion: when you build your own gateway from scratch you have to add a UPnP daemon and configure it yourself, instead of forgetting to disable it and exposing poorly configured IOT stuff.
Daho0n 6y ago
Not pfsense. https://github.com/doktornotor/pfsense-still-closedsource https://github.com/doktornotor/pfsense-still-closedsource

Do you have a router you recommend? Ideally something running free software

annoyingnoob 6y ago

OPNsense or pfSense

anonymousiam 6y ago
I have used both OPNsense and pfSense. I currently OpenWRT which I find to be full featured, secure, and lightweight.

alias_neo 6y ago

Hardware wise, I run Ubiquiti EdgeMAX but I wouldn't recommend them anymore, their software has gone down hill since many of their best developers left. Software wise, pfSense is where it's at, but I don't have experience with their own hardware other than the ones we ran at work all failed due to a silicon flaw in the Intel SoCs they ran.

7steps2much 6y ago
> Ubiquiti EdgeMAX but I wouldn't recommend them anymore Sadly there isn't exactly a lot of alternatives in the hobbyist network setup area ... It's basically just ubiquity and mikrotik at this point as far as I know
- zokier 6y ago
  I've heard good things about Turris hardware too, but no personal experience. https://www.turris.com/en/omnia/overview/ https://www.turris.com/en/omnia/overview/
JoshTriplett 6y ago
> Software wise, pfSense is where it's at Recent events suggest that the people behind pfSense are not especially responsible stewards; see https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/03/buffer-overruns-license-violations-and-bad-code-freebsd-13s-close-call/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/03/buffer-overruns-lice... and https://opnsense.org/opnsense-com/ https://opnsense.org/opnsense-com/ .

Iolaum 6y ago

Look at the range of devices from GL.inet. They run a custom version of openwrt with a nice UI on top. But most are upstreamed and you can flash vanilla openwrt on them. They re quite cheap as well. I m not affiliated with them but I have bought devices from them. I use one between the router s ISP and my home network.

alias_neo 6y ago
This is a safe bet if you don't need advanced hardware features, I have several gl.inet devices, you can build your own OpenWRT for and turn off the phone home functionality.
stilisstuk 6y ago
The 2 hub valica mesh model is a contender :)

bytearray64 6y ago

I like Mikrotik for routers. They're cheap and have a lot of knobs in the SW (maybe too many if you just want NAT). They do run linux, but their SW isn't open. I've been pairing my Mikrotik hEX with a Unifi AP. Not sure what I'll do going forward, as I've heard Mikrotik's APs aren't as good as their routing and switching hardware. If I was going the "dedicated machine" route, I'd probably go with OPNsense nowadays.

bscphil 6y ago

The PC Engines hardware line is popular here. The firmware is coreboot and you can run OPNsense on it for an entirely free software solution. It's quite solid, have had no issues at all. See e.g. https://www.pcengines.ch/apu4d4.htm https://www.pcengines.ch/apu4d4.htm Not aff'd, just a customer.

kaylynb 6y ago

OPN/pfSense have been mentioned. Don't waste time with WiFi on the gateway itself as most WiFI chips you can buy are crippled in firmware for regulatory reasons. Just use a dedicated commercial AP hooked up directly or VLANed. Once you get comfortable with something like pfSense I highly recommend switching to regular Free/OpenBSD, or Linux depending on what you're comfortable with. I find it much easier to manage a gateway with the entire configuration in version control than a GUI. There aren't that many services that a gateway needs to run. If you feel like you'll miss pf on the *BSDs check out nftables on Linux. It's not as well documented but it's much less painful than iptables. To loop this into the UPnP discussion: when you build your own gateway from scratch you have to add a UPnP daemon and configure it yourself, instead of forgetting to disable it and exposing poorly configured IOT stuff.

Daho0n 6y ago

Not pfsense. https://github.com/doktornotor/pfsense-still-closedsource https://github.com/doktornotor/pfsense-still-closedsource