DIY Home Router

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jrdobbs

106 posts

Master Geek

#315637 1-Aug-2024 14:13

For the first time in many years I'm contemplating using a homebrew router for the internet. The plan is to move over to Quic in the next couple of months, initally on gigabit but eventually hyperfibre. One option for a router is to use the following (J4125 processor version),

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003378019857.html

Does anyone have experience of this router? I will probably use Linux or a BSD on it, don't require opn/pfsense.

Other option is to use an existing Mini-ITX box and get a 6th/7th gen Intel board with a 2.5GB dual nic in it.

Any thoughts/comments would be welcome.

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549 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3267129 1-Aug-2024 14:29

Yeah we purchased 10 of them for testing. Cool little machines. We still have a few sitting around and in use for things like SpeedTest servers.

Don't buy them with RAM or SSDs, buy those locally. Every device excluding one had the SSD, RAM or both fail.

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jrdobbs

106 posts

Master Geek

#3267131 1-Aug-2024 14:33

CamH:

Don't buy them with RAM or SSDs, buy those locally. Every device excluding one had the SSD, RAM or both fail.

Thanks for your reply Cam. Yes, I was thinking of using my own RAM and SSD.

rscole86

4942 posts

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#3267204 1-Aug-2024 15:34

https://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=66&topicid=307078&page_no=1#3131477

I went with the N100 route with pfsense.

Gurezaemon

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#3267215 1-Aug-2024 15:54

Since hearing about OPNsense a few months back, I've been really interested in setting up my own router, partly because (as evidenced by the Quic DHCP/PPPoE threads) my old Asus router is getting a bit long in the tooth. I'm personally looking at one of the N100 Topton boxes, as they have a bit more grunt and could be usable for other things as well looking forward.

My understanding is that using one of these little boxes will pay for itself in terms of power used within a year or so, but that will depend on what alternatives you could be planning on using. LTT covered this a while back, and shared this graph.

I'm not terribly current with a lot of the networking issues, but I'd like to learn a bit more. How safe is setting up (for example) OPNsense with recommended settings and then going from there, gradually fiddling and locking it down? I'm a bit reluctant to just follow basic instructions and then blithely open my whole network to the outside world.

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rscole86

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#3267219 1-Aug-2024 15:58

Plenty of good advice out there, my understanding is that pfsense defaults to deny and a fairly locked down system for you to build from. Lawrence systems are really good for easy to understand guidance.

shrub

767 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#3267230 1-Aug-2024 16:20

I've been running one for a year now. Like others have said buy own ram and drives locally. Used laptop ram is cheap as. Mines running a J6426 which was running hot out of the box and a re-paste fixed it.

Opnsense is ok. Plenty of guides online to follow for setup etc.

Some have had issues with the i-225v controllers v1 was bad but v3 is ok? i226 seems to be ok

jrdobbs

106 posts

Master Geek

#3267233 1-Aug-2024 16:26

Gurezaemon:

My understanding is that using one of these little boxes will pay for itself in terms of power used within a year or so, but that will depend on what alternatives you could be planning on using. LTT covered this a while back, and shared this graph.

One of the factors for my decision is power usage and, with electricity prices on the rise it just makes sense to try use a box that is low power.

eonsim

383 posts

Ultimate Geek

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#3267291 1-Aug-2024 20:06

If you want to go really low power have a look at the NanoPi R4S or R6S. They're ARM based and run at 2-6W typically with either 2x Gigabit ethernet or 2x2.5gb+1x1gb and similar size to a RPi. They can run openWRT and make an excellent router capable of full gigabit speeds. Or you can install Ubuntu or Debian if you want to roll your own with a standard Linux install. The CPU's are often significantly more powerful than the cheap older J series celeron processors (R6S GB6 800/3000, vs J4125 400/1000).

I've been running a R4S for the last couple of years on Orcon and now Quik, openWRT supports docker if you want to install additional software.

Gurezaemon

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#3267499 2-Aug-2024 11:59

CamH:

Yeah we purchased 10 of them for testing. Cool little machines. We still have a few sitting around and in use for things like SpeedTest servers.

Don't buy them with RAM or SSDs, buy those locally. Every device excluding one had the SSD, RAM or both fail.

Doing the basic math on the 16 gig, 256 NVMe N100 bundle, there's only $15 difference between this ($367) and buying the barebones and adding RAM and NVMe yourself ($367, with parts from PBTech).

Sounds like a no-brainer to pay the extra $15 for peace of mind for name-brand parts.

Get your business seen overseas - Nexus Translations

1yippy1

67 posts

Master Geek

#3267513 2-Aug-2024 12:23

I purchased the 305 256gig drive 16gig memory unit https://cwwk.net/products/12th-gen-intel-firewall-mini-pc-alder-lake-i3-n305-8-core-n200-n100-fanless-soft-router-proxmox-ddr5-4800mhz-4xi226-v-2-5g
It’s being running pfsense without blinking for about a year now, highly recommend these little box’s running your choice of router os that suits you.

alavaliant

213 posts

Master Geek

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#3267522 2-Aug-2024 12:55

I recently bought an R86S mini pc (from aliexpress) to use as my router with opnsense. Found setting up opnsense for quic using dhcp required no real configuration (I'm setup for untagged vlan).

Batwing

659 posts

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#3267786 3-Aug-2024 08:56

I've just spotted that the nanopi doesn't appear officially supported by opensense, only some fork called friendlysense which isn't confidence inspiring. Make make me lean to the x86 route over ARM for now.

alavaliant

213 posts

Master Geek

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#3267789 3-Aug-2024 09:10

Batwing: I've just spotted that the nanopi doesn't appear officially supported by opensense, only some fork called friendlysense which isn't confidence inspiring. Make make me lean to the x86 route over ARM for now.

That's more or less why I ended up avoiding arm when I selected my mini/rouer pc to use. The x86 hardware is generic enough that it should be usable going forward with newer firewall appliance software versions even if the vendor stops support. But the arm situation is a lot more complex in terms of getting new OS software releases to work without vendor support. I really wish the arm vendors would settle on a generic/universal boot standard so you don't need a custom build to be able to boot on each different arm hardware board.

jrdobbs

106 posts

Master Geek

#3269024 7-Aug-2024 12:37

Just an update, I have given up on the J4125 4-port router as it's possibly getting a bit long in the tooth and not that future proof. The N100 is better in regards of performance and future proofing but have seen postings online about heat issues from those devices. However, I will keep it in mind.

One option I do have is a Fujitsu Esprimo Q556 mini PC which I use for messing about with, specs here

https://www.hardware-corner.net/desktop-models/Fujitsu-Esprimo-Q556/

Have tested power usage at idle on this machine and it sits there at about 8W which gets a tick from me. Using speedtest-cli it draws about 16W, again which isn't bad. One disadvantage is that it only has one network interface (no option to add more) so have ordered two 2.5Gb USB network adapters from AliExpress - these have got good reviews for use with Linux. Just waiting for them to arrive mid month and will test.

Also been playing with pfSense under KVM - gives about 760/400 (down/up) using virtio drivers. Pretty meh but guess using physical nics on passthrough might yield the usual 930/515 speeds I see at my desktop normally. Can anyone confirm the faster speeds with physical nics?

For comparison I did a Linux router under KVM and get about 900/470 (virtio drivers) so much better than pfSense. I don't really want to go the KVM route but thought it would be an interesting experiment.

Well that's where I'm at, more to follow...

MadEngineer

4188 posts

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#3269027 7-Aug-2024 12:48

Would you try Mikrotik’s RouterOS?

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

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