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mdlbearFry's is selling the Linksys WRT54G wireless/broadband router for $69 (down from $99) this weekend, so I bought one. One of the cheapest hackable embedded Linux boxes on the market. Because it's Linux, there are at least three different distributions you can run on it. Now I just have to figure out which one. And exactly where it goes in the network:
Currently I have a Linux box with two ethernet cards that serves as both a router and a web server (on four of my five static IP addresses). The simplest thing I could do would be to put the Linksys box between my router and the ADSL modem -- but that might be hard to configure correctly; I'd have to have NAT and DHCP turned on for the wireless segment, but not for the "internal" ethernet.
The other simple thing would be to put both the Linksys and the router on a hub connected to the modem, with the Linksys taking the fifth IP address in my range. Wastes the Linksys's 4-port switch, and might be slow because I don't have a spare 100base-T switch handy, but it gives me good isolation between the wireless and wired segments, which I don't have currently, and a well-isolated DMZ that might come in handy for VOIP.
The third option is to hang a third port on my router and pretend to the Linksys that it's the ISP. Fairly straightforward, and it's not as if I'm lacking for ethernet cards. The advantage here is that I could go in through the Linksys's switch side. I would, of course, have to do NAT and DHCP on my router, but that's what I'm doing anyway, and my DHCP daemon is easier to configure.
Finally, I could hang the Linksys on my internal network and use it as a bridge, which is basically the (admittedly insecure) configuration I have now.
Any suggestions out there? It'll probably be a while before I get around to doing anything more than just fiddling with it and admiring the complexity of the problem.
Currently I have a Linux box with two ethernet cards that serves as both a router and a web server (on four of my five static IP addresses). The simplest thing I could do would be to put the Linksys box between my router and the ADSL modem -- but that might be hard to configure correctly; I'd have to have NAT and DHCP turned on for the wireless segment, but not for the "internal" ethernet.
The other simple thing would be to put both the Linksys and the router on a hub connected to the modem, with the Linksys taking the fifth IP address in my range. Wastes the Linksys's 4-port switch, and might be slow because I don't have a spare 100base-T switch handy, but it gives me good isolation between the wireless and wired segments, which I don't have currently, and a well-isolated DMZ that might come in handy for VOIP.
The third option is to hang a third port on my router and pretend to the Linksys that it's the ISP. Fairly straightforward, and it's not as if I'm lacking for ethernet cards. The advantage here is that I could go in through the Linksys's switch side. I would, of course, have to do NAT and DHCP on my router, but that's what I'm doing anyway, and my DHCP daemon is easier to configure.
Finally, I could hang the Linksys on my internal network and use it as a bridge, which is basically the (admittedly insecure) configuration I have now.
Any suggestions out there? It'll probably be a while before I get around to doing anything more than just fiddling with it and admiring the complexity of the problem.
