Building a router...

[obob]

Ok, after realizing that my DI-604 is quite possibly a flaming POS, I want to build my own router out of a box of hardware (also I think it'd be super cool to say I have a router with a 3dfx Voodoo2, lol)

SO!
I'm thinking multiple CPU systems, running openmosix so that it works like an SMP (not so it has a higher GFlop rating, but so it can do more things @ once)

SO
my question is how do I connect it into the network? modem -> eth card 1 -> it -> eth card 2 -> switch, that should work right?

also, what OS would be good to run in addition to openmosix and Debian (or can I just pick another OS entirely and still get firewall/routing features?)

edit
just remembered i have a P4 2GHZ, I could just use that, lol
What OS is best though? ClarkConnect? m0n0wall? smoothwall GPL?

[Jack2000]

I have strong evidence that my isp uses something like squid(/2.5.STABLE3)
to do its biding

[bedouin]

Leave 1999 behind.   There's no need to have a huge, ugly beige, noisy box running 24-7 and consuming electricity (perhaps alongside a CRT) when you can buy a $50 Linksys router and install DD-WRT on it (or other 3rd party firmware of your choice).  Look into the WRT-54GL.

[mobrien_12]

Depends on what you want your router to be able to do.  Can the linksys do everything a full beige box can?  No.  

However, I think the beige box is probably serious overkill for home network applications.  

There is the coolness factor of it all though...

[solemnwarning]

I've got an Athlon XP 2500+ acting as an NAT router and webserver for my LAN, and why would you have a monitor running on it??

[pofnlice]

uh huh....

I have a Motorola surfboard SB5101E connecteed to a hewlett-packard pavilion 6465 (pentium II, 466MHz w/ 128Mb ram) to a Lincsys 5 port router then to the rest... do what you like...it's your stuff!

[H_TeXMeX_H]

So you're saying you wanna make a router out of a computer. Well I could think of many better things to with that computer than make it into a router. Just buy a router and use the computer as a computer is meant to be used. And why would a router need a 3dfx Voodoo2 ? :rolleyes:

[Pathos]

I would set it up to do more than routing.

add a large hard drive for backup and storage with SAMBA.
add a wireless card and set it up as a wireless access point.
set it up as a torrent client/scheduler.

[worker201]

If you can't find anything else to do with it, you could give it to some poor ghetto school in your area.

[bedouin]

DD-WRT is Linux firmware for the WRT-54G series of routers that can run Linux (not all can).  Since they're running Linux, you get all of the features you would get with a Linux distribution, like Samba support, SSH, VPNs, and then other cool stuff like turning your router into a hotspot -- all while consuming maybe 7 inches of space and not hearing whirling fans 24-7.  Plus there's a whole series of hacks and mods for it to do stuff like add external storage, overclocking, and of course what the hacked firmware was designed for in the first place: increasing your signal strength (even beyond legal limits, though you'll want to add some cooling since things will be getting hot in there.)

If you want some kind of l33tness factor hack your WRT54G to death.  Putting a bootdisk in a 486 has been done a million times over, and it's just clumsy by today's standards.

[Pathos]

just make sure you buy the right one and not a handicapped one.

[Refalm]

I have experience with building routers out of computers.
Many people do it, especially at all the schools I was working or interning for.

It's great for web content filtering and blocking out spyware, trojans for the entire network using the hosts file list, and mare more usages.

It's mostly ClarkConnect or IPCop, but if you'd want to also use the web or possibly play some games on your NAT box, I'd recommend trying Debian with Shorewall. It's pretty easy to set up.

[Master of Reality]

I had a box with a 266MHz cpu running slackware, with two ethernet cards. One card was hooked up a cable modem, and the other was connected to a good ol' hub.

I made a custom firewall with IP Tables and ran a webserver on it. There wasnt any fancy software on it, I set up the routes and IP Tables rules to make it route the traffic for me. I can't recall exactly what I had to do to set it up (did it a few years ago and never touched it again except updates)

Using Squid as a proxy with adzap was a nice addition to remove ads from websites for me.

I'm not sure why you want a video card in it and such... and why it needs to be so powerful unless your doing some crazy amount of traffic through it.