4 ms·

Has anyone tried using a beaglebone as a router? I was considering getting one and using a USB Ethernet to add a second interface. An aside - are there any arm

by zaius 13y ago

Has anyone tried using a beaglebone as a router? I was considering getting one and using a USB Ethernet to add a second interface. An aside - are there any arm boards with dual Ethernet? Are there any with gigabit Ethernet? Could they theoretically even keep up with 2 gigabit ports?

nburns 13y ago
If you are looking to make a diy router check out these: http://www.pcengines.ch/alix.htm http://www.pcengines.ch/alix.htm its not arm its x86 I think, but you can put bsd and m0n0wall or pfSense on them. Also I believe these boards are designed for what you want to do and would do abetter job then a beaglebone.
lhl 13y ago
I have a bunch of these Linux ARM boards including the original beaglebone, rpi, pcduino, ODROID-X2 and a few others. Most of these have less than stellar IO and almost all are 10/100 only. The i.MX6-based Sabre Lite has gigE, although perf maxes out much lower. Here's lots of details: http://boundarydevices.com/i-mx6-ethernet/ http://boundarydevices.com/i-mx6-ethernet/ - it can't get close to maxing out a single, much less two ports. If you are looking for something exclusively to do routing, you really should take a look at dedicated hardware from guys like Mikrotik http://routerboard.com/ http://routerboard.com/ or Ubiquiti http://dl.ubnt.com/Tolly212128UbiquitiEdgeRouterLitePricePerformanceVsMikroTik.pdf http://dl.ubnt.com/Tolly212128UbiquitiEdgeRouterLitePricePer... - they're actually cheaper than the Sabre Lite and perform much, much better. They're also pretty open/hackable to boot.
- devicenull 13y ago
  Good luck actually getting your hands on an EdgeRouter. They're apparently backordered forever from everywhere.
- zaius 13y ago
  Thanks for these links. I ended up grabbing a routerboard 450G because they look like a really nice piece of kit. Probably overkill for playing around with routing, but I couldn't help myself.
  - lhl 13y ago
    Cool, the Mikrotiks are perfect for getting into routing as the RouterOS docs are very in-depth w/ lots of examples (yay, wikis): http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:TOC http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:TOC You can install OpenWRT to compare although it looks like installation is a slight pain: http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/mikrotik/rb450g http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/mikrotik/rb450g - it's probably easier to install as a metarouter if you're just playing w/ it: http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Metarouter http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Metarouter
disposablename 13y ago
Why mess around with modifying something that's not a router? You can get a very nice 5 port gigabit, wireless-N TP-Link router for $45. OpenWRT has very good support for them.

by zaius 13y ago

nburns 13y ago

If you are looking to make a diy router check out these: http://www.pcengines.ch/alix.htm http://www.pcengines.ch/alix.htm its not arm its x86 I think, but you can put bsd and m0n0wall or pfSense on them. Also I believe these boards are designed for what you want to do and would do abetter job then a beaglebone.

lhl 13y ago

I have a bunch of these Linux ARM boards including the original beaglebone, rpi, pcduino, ODROID-X2 and a few others. Most of these have less than stellar IO and almost all are 10/100 only. The i.MX6-based Sabre Lite has gigE, although perf maxes out much lower. Here's lots of details: http://boundarydevices.com/i-mx6-ethernet/ http://boundarydevices.com/i-mx6-ethernet/ - it can't get close to maxing out a single, much less two ports. If you are looking for something exclusively to do routing, you really should take a look at dedicated hardware from guys like Mikrotik http://routerboard.com/ http://routerboard.com/ or Ubiquiti http://dl.ubnt.com/Tolly212128UbiquitiEdgeRouterLitePricePerformanceVsMikroTik.pdf http://dl.ubnt.com/Tolly212128UbiquitiEdgeRouterLitePricePer... - they're actually cheaper than the Sabre Lite and perform much, much better. They're also pretty open/hackable to boot.

devicenull 13y ago
Good luck actually getting your hands on an EdgeRouter. They're apparently backordered forever from everywhere.
zaius 13y ago
Thanks for these links. I ended up grabbing a routerboard 450G because they look like a really nice piece of kit. Probably overkill for playing around with routing, but I couldn't help myself.
- lhl 13y ago
  Cool, the Mikrotiks are perfect for getting into routing as the RouterOS docs are very in-depth w/ lots of examples (yay, wikis): http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:TOC http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:TOC You can install OpenWRT to compare although it looks like installation is a slight pain: http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/mikrotik/rb450g http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/mikrotik/rb450g - it's probably easier to install as a metarouter if you're just playing w/ it: http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Metarouter http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Metarouter

disposablename 13y ago

Why mess around with modifying something that's not a router? You can get a very nice 5 port gigabit, wireless-N TP-Link router for $45. OpenWRT has very good support for them.