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What do I *really need* in terms of DSL router?

V

Viperoni

Lifer
Alrighty, heres the layout:

I have 4 comps in the house, 1 of which will be a web and file server, and also be a downloading box That means many concurrent connections at a time...
It won't be a high volume web server in any way, and will be simplistic with one form on it. File serving OTOH will be fairly intensive, and the machine's pretty sturdy in terms of that.

I figure I need better than the average modem and router (IE: my Dlink di-524 probably won't suffice). I dunno if I'm right on this part.


I've been looking at the SpeedTouch modem+router combo's, and I dunno if I need to step up to their "business" line, or if a higher end consumer model would be enough?
Link: SpeedTouch Modems

If I don't need a business level one, I'll probably end up with the SpeedTouch 585

Would it be better off to buy a seperate modem and a high end router?

In terms of my knowledge, setting up the webserver is something I've never done before, but I understand about forwarding ports... light router setup basically.

Would it be a better idea to have the server do the routing/NAT/firewalling?

Thanks for any help 🙂
 
If you Host and you do concurrent Downloads, Router X or Y wouls not matter.

You need two accounts.

:sun:
 
The DSL router would come from your ISP would be fine.

A very robust router that can be had for $129 free S/H after rebate is the FVS338

FSV338 Deal

Throughput is substantial and you get protection fron a DOS attacks and a hardware based SPI Firewall plus it has an 8 port switch and Dial backup Failover if your DSL goes now. The 50 VPNs is nice if you have that requirement

Up to 90 Mbps WAN-to-LAN, up to 60 Mbps for 3DES throughput
 
I figure I need better than the average modem and router (IE: my Dlink di-524 probably won't suffice). I dunno if I'm right on this part.
Click to expand...

Speed won't be an issue, pretty much any router can handle whatever connection you can afford, but you will need to find a model that won't hang when you establish a lot of connections (i.e. bittorrent), from what I've read that's a fairly common 'feature' of some of those SOHO routers. Although I don't have any specific advice as to what to get since I've never used any of those SOHO routers.

Would it be a better idea to have the server do the routing/NAT/firewalling?
Click to expand...

It'll give you more flexibility since you'll be able to add whatever software you want to the box, unlike one of those cheapo SOHO routers. But it's also more work, you'll have to configure all of the firewalling yourself and running additional services on a firewall isn't usually recommended as it increases the chance of breakin. And if you put Windows on that box that's a whole other can of worms.
 
Tazanator, cool, but too pricey for me.

JackMDS, I know that would be the ideal solution, but there won't be much traffic at all on the website, I just need very very high uptimes on the router.

tallman45, Thanks for the link, I've look into the netgears now and they seem to have a lot of features I could use... pity more aren't available in gigabit.
There's actually a Dlink DI-724GU that would do what I want pretty nicely...
I won't be running VPN connections, at least not many, so that's not an issue. It seems to have a solid backbone though!

Nothinman, Indeed, router stability is my main issue. Security would be number two.
The server's running Windows Server 2003 Enterprise, and yeah, I know that probably wouldn't be the most secure OS to use for a router/firewall box 😉

Maybe I'll just try my Dlink DI-524 and see how things go... I can always throttle the BT and other apps down if I need to.



Finally, stupid question, would a "higher end" router like the DI-724 or the Netgear FSV338 be able to setup some sort of Qos such that IP's wanting to access the webserver would have incoming/outgoing priority over other stuff such as BT or DC++?

Thanks again guys! 🙂
 
Be carefull with a gigabit network, some routers and switches down speed to the slowest device on the lan which is likely the Networked laser printer with the 10/100 nic card.

Some home specific routers (ie the WRT54GS) can only achieve throughput of around 1mb/sec which is less than a cable connection. This may not be an issue with only 1 user but start adding 3 or 4 and that router is now a bottleneck

Even the very popular FVS318 can only achieve approx 2 mb/sec throughput
 
Originally posted by: tallman45
Be carefull with a gigabit network, some routers and switches down speed to the slowest device on the lan which is likely the Networked laser printer with the 10/100 nic card.

Some home specific routers (ie the WRT54GS) can only achieve throughput of around 1mb/sec which is less than a cable connection. This may not be an issue with only 1 user but start adding 3 or 4 and that router is now a bottleneck

Even the very popular FVS318 can only achieve approx 2 mb/sec throughput
Click to expand...

I never knew that. I hope I won't have an issue in that case. I'd very likely go with the Netgear GS105 5 port gigabit switch with jumbo frames.
There's only one of 4 computers in the current network that wouldn't *need* gigabit, but to keep the network speed @ gigabit, I could easily get a gigabit NIC for it.
I guess I'd have to make sure that the gigabit switch doesn't slow down the entire network to 100mbps because it'd be connecting into a 10/100 router....

I only have 2 printers in the house, both of which are connected directly to computers. As far as I can see, there will only be computers with 100mbps and gigabit NIC cards on the network... it's possible that I might get a WAP, but I kinda doubt it. It'd be more likely that I'd use my current Dlink DI-524 as a WAP.
Again as above, same potential issue.

Thanks for the tip, I'll have to read into it!
 
if your concern is uptime, then you can't beat something like a smoorthwall box. I have 60 days uptime on one hosting a small wireless ISP with ~60 subs, including multiple VPN connections, remote access, and VOIP. That is running on some solid, older hardware (P2 400 256MB ram, solid Intel Mobo)
 
Have you made sure port 80 is open on your ISP account? Just something I see overlooked a lot.

I would recomend a decent firewall box like nweaver said. I never been a big fan of gigabit switch/router combos as I think they should be kept seperate.
 
nweaver, Smoothwall looks interesting... and I have an old p2 333 box that I don't use anymore that would probably fit the bill nicely... but I don't trust the machine enough, and I can't afford to build a box just for a firewall, when I have a server sitting right there too.
If only I knew how to use linux lol.


bluestrobe, All my ISP's ports will be completely open, I'm actaully switching away from rogers for that very reason (heavy heavy throttling).
 
just ebay an older box with a reliable chipset, like the old Intel's with the 440BX chipset. We just got rid of a bunch of these boxes, for ~20 each (only had 128MB ram though)
 
True.... I'll have to look into it.

In that case though, I'd need a straight forward DSL modem.
Any recommendations for ones that don't have a firewall built in?
 
Originally posted by: Viperoni
True.... I'll have to look into it.

In that case though, I'd need a straight forward DSL modem.
Any recommendations for ones that don't have a firewall built in?
Click to expand...

You are better off getting this from your carrier, if there are line problems, they will tell you to replace your modem, then what ? They will always be handing off the problem to you, do you really want that ?
 
Originally posted by: tallman45
Originally posted by: Viperoni
True.... I'll have to look into it.

In that case though, I'd need a straight forward DSL modem.
Any recommendations for ones that don't have a firewall built in?
Click to expand...

You are better off getting this from your carrier, if there are line problems, they will tell you to replace your modem, then what ? They will always be handing off the problem to you, do you really want that ?
Click to expand...

Both modems they offer have integrated firewalls: http://www.teksavvy.com/res_unldsl.htm

 
I've ordered a Dlink DSL-300T.... picking it up tommorrow or Friday.
My DSL get's activated on Thursday, so we'll see then 🙂

Just gotta grab some DSL filters.... there isn't any difference between brands is there?
I'll very likely grab some Dlink ones @ $8/piece, they seem to be the only name brand ones I can find.
 
Picked up my DSL-300T last nite, and it appears I have a poor downstream connection rate due to very bad line attenuation, but the upstream is fine, and I'm getting my proper 800kbps.

For reference, DSL-300T has successfully handled over 700 connections, and so far, everything is good. I'm happy with the modem so far.

As for a router, we'll see what my needs are, but it'll likely be the Netgear FVS338.
 
So I telnetted into the modem, and it's running BusyBox 0.61.pre!
Th

Turns out it has a MIPS 4KEc V4.8 processor, that's capable of either:

175 MHz1 in .18µm G TSMC process
233 MHz1 in .13µm G TSMC process
(pulled from the MIPS website: http://www.mips.com/content/Products/Co...alog/P_MIPS324KEHardCore/productBrief)

When I cat the cpuinfo file in /proc, it claims the CPU is capable of capable of 149.91 BogoMIPS.... which puts it on par with a 75mhz Pentium MMX or P4 or AMD k5-k6 and XP-64, or a 150mhz P1 Pro or P2/3 or AMD Athlon K7.....
http://tldp.org/HOWTO/BogoMips/bogo-faq.html#AEN149

EDIT: Looks like it has 8mb of memory too... here's a look inside the modem:
http://www.adslguide.org.uk/hardware/reviews/2004/q4/dlink-dsl300t.asp

Now to get ahold of the source.... 😀
 
Originally posted by: Viperoni
So I telnetted into the modem, and it's running BusyBox 0.61.pre!
Click to expand...
I got the surprise of my life when I updated the firmware in a Qwest-provided Actiontec modem. The firmware update KEPT the account settings and such. So I assumed it'd kept the security settings....

Then I telneted to the modem from outside and got a "BusyBox Linux" prompt. "Administrator" and an empty password got me into the modem with full admin rights. This wasn't good!
 
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