linux router question...

Gentoo Bob · Posted: Wed Apr 19, 2006 5:56 pm Post subject: linux router question...

I'm wanting to turn my Gentoo linux box into a router but not just a wired router but also a use it as a wireless router. I have talked to a few people who have accomplished this but never got the instructions. I know I need to buy a wireless PCI adapter card that is capable of Ad-hoc/access point networking. Can anyone help me get this going? I would really appreciate it.

Thanks,
Gentoo Bob

hegga · Apprentice Joined: 04 Jun 2003 Posts: 210 Location: Norway

I know this doesn't answer your question, but it is an alternative.

I've got an wireless Zyxel Zyair router, and i wanted Gentoo to be my router. So
i installed and configured my Gentoo router, connected it to the ADSL modem and in the
kable switch on my Zyair. I then disabled dhcp on my Zyair since it's running on the Gentoo machine.

All my wireless laptops now receives an ip from the Gentoo machine, without having to buy a wireless card to it.
Just a tip incase you have a wireless router laying around, i'm very satisfied with the solution.
_________________
hegga

Voorhees51 · Guru Joined: 05 Nov 2003 Posts: 358

Just a suggestion, if you're not dead set on using gentoo you could take a look at monowall http://www.m0n0.ch/wall/ It does will do it for you, it's a farily easy setup.

Also for the wireless card, one that uses the atheros chipset is my recomendation, I haven't had any problems with them.

a5friemen · n00b Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 21

I have a gentoo box as a router for my home network. It's not hard. I would recomend, though, that you use a wireless bridge or router rather than a wireless card in the machine. You will have MUCH more range and more flexibility with your network topology.

I'm using a Cisco/Lynksys wireless broadband router and I added the Linksys high gain antenna set. I have wireless anywhere on my property. Total was around US$100 from a Nationwide Wal-store. I only use it as a wireless bridge. I have disabled the Broadband, routing, DNS, NAT, DHCP, etc. on the router. It's just not configurable enough for me. It is used for WEP and WPA, and if you want to allow friends/public on the wireless net it can query a RADUIS server. It also has 4 10/100 wired ports that I use for my wired network. If you need more a hub can be easily uplinked.

My Gentto router box is an old desktop system that I don't have any other use for, and has three wired 10/100 cards. One to connect to the wireless router, one to my cable modem, and one that I use for a DMZ to run public servers. On this box I run gShield firewall, and DHCP and DNS for the local network. (this isn't the safest setup, it would be better on a different box on the local net) I have iptables and NAT enabled in the kernel as modules. This box forwads the public server ports to the DMZ. You don't need this if you don't plan to have any publicly available servers. Setup took less than a day, and was mostly defaults.

Obviously this is very general, if anyone would like specifics please ask, and I'll try to put together a detailed HOWTO.
_________________
Running on a ...

Pentuim MMX
64MB ram
VGA Console

I LOVE Linux!

erik258 · Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 8:29 pm Post subject: I am trying to do this too.

I also want a wireless router/gateway/firewall.

Currently I have a $12 belkin wireless B AP. It works OK. Actually it works pretty great for internet access, and I would definitely suggest to someone needing to add Wireless to an existing network that this might be a good choice.

However I find it less than ideal for a few reasons. Firstly, the configuration utility is a windows program ;; (. Of course, I can always boot into windows, but who wants to do that? Of course I handle all the other network stuff, incuding network services, from linux, so it's a pain in the ass to have to reboot a box to get to the configuration utility. Actually, in general the belkin configuration system leaves a lot to be desired.

Secondly I want to 'bump it up a notch' and move to G. I put in a samba fileserver that just crawls over the B ap.

Thirdly I want better control over packet shaping. I know I could do this concerning my AP's ip address instead of adding a card, but it seems like a card is a lot cleaner.

I already have a D-Link DWL-G520, I think, maybe it's a 510. It has an Atheros chip and of that I can be sure without opening up the box of the computer which I'm not within 20 miles of right now. good ol' ssh ; ).

Can anyone tell me:
1 Can I use this Atheros-based device as an AP?
2 Can I make it work just like my belkin did, for all intents and purposes?
3 What network topology do I want? *
-and-
4 Can I use MAC address filtering so only people I know can use the G connection?

(* I would like it if I could get back at my wired subnet, to ssh into the computers wirelessly and use their services. However, can I do this? That subnet goes out eth1 on my router, and into a switch. The ap is hooked up to that. Do I need a new subnet? I need dhcpd to listen on ath0 (the atheros device) at least, and dnsmasq too. )

As you can see, I'm about 70% clueless about how this would work.

also, does anyone have any thoughts/ideas about setting up traffic shaping on my old B wireless AP so that my poor internet-lacking neighbors, if they have wireless, can use a trivial amount of my substantial bandwith? Any ideas or advice on that?

Thanks, this is a project in which I am most interested.

UberLord · Posted: Fri Apr 21, 2006 11:00 pm Post subject: Re: I am trying to do this too.

erik258 · Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 4:56 am Post subject: hmm

Thanks for your reply; developers make the most helpful replies.

UberLord · Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 10:28 am Post subject: Re: hmm

erik258 · Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 4:09 pm Post subject:

thanks again. this is really helpful.

kill[h]er · n00b Joined: 02 Sep 2003 Posts: 30

UberLord · Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 4:33 pm Post subject:

erik258 · Posted: Sat Apr 22, 2006 5:17 pm Post subject:

that's great. thanks again.

erik258

Hi.

I've spent a few days setting this up on my router, but to no avail. But i'm close, very very close I think.

I haven't gotten to the security part yet... i guess it seems like that's only important if I can get DHCP and DNS working. And ipTables too.

Here's my problem. I can set up the wifi as an ap. It was a little difficult, but only insofar as I -gasp- had to do some sleuthing and read some instructions. I can set up my laptops (clients) to connect to it and if I configure the ip address, gateway, nameservers it works. But (as you guessed already) dhcp does not work. I have no idea why.

Ironically, I was doing really well at first. I had problems with my iptables, or so I think. I am using the Gentoo Home Router Guide http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/home-router-howto.xml#doc_chap4 as a reference. (is it just me, or is iptables pretty tricky? ) I think these lines are the problem:

UberLord

erik258 · Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 2:54 am Post subject: thanks a million

Greetings once more from beyond the internet.

I hope to decipher and copy/modify/use your script, once I have a few hours to work on this. Thanks a ton, I will keep my eyes on it as it evolves.

Thanks for the help. I was kind of wondering why I had set up dhcpd and dnsmasq together... doesn't make much sense, does it. Who knows what I was thinking ... if I recall correctly I wanted a commercial-grade dhcp server. Why? who knows - probably delusions of grandeur due to reading The Linux Administration Handbook.

Hopefully I can get this working soon. 54Mbps G, here i come!

PS dhcpcd and dnsmasq don't inherently conflict, at least I don't think so, since I have dhcp services disables in dnsmasq. But now that I have other more important things to configure, and better ways to make my life more complicated, I will take your advice to heart. I very much love it when my network is "golden".
_________________
Configuring a Firewall? Try my iptables configuration
LinuxCommando.com is my blog for linux-related scraps and tidbits. Stop by for a visit!