[GTALUG] little PCs for internet gateways

[Lennart Sorensen]

On Tue, Oct 25, 2016 at 05:47:02PM -0400, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:
> By gateway, I mean router/firewall/whatever box that sits between your 
> LAN and the internet.
> 
> Reasonable choices:
> 
> - ISP-provided / sanctioned device (combo wireless router and modem)
> 
> - ISP modem + user provided wireless router
> 
>   + possibly running custom firmware like CeroWRT or OpenWRT

I currently use a WRT1900ACv2 running LEDE.  Plenty powerful for the job.

> - ISP modem + PC acting as router
> 
>   + lots of possible software (pfsense, debian, whatever)
> 
> For a variety of reasons I've always used PCs.  But which PCs are best
> for this?

I stopped using a PC for routing at home years ago.  Probably around
the time I wanted wifi and it made sense to have that be the box doing it.

> Here's an interesting pair of articles on using little PCs as
> gateways:
> <http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/04/the-ars-guide-to-building-a-linux-router-from-scratch/>
> <http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2016/09/the-router-rumble-ars-diy-build-faces-better-tests-tougher-competition/>
> 
> My previous gateways were SFF business PCs from a previous millenium.
> Built like tanks.  Reliable.  Running full Red Hat Linux, so quite
> familiar, versatile, and powerful.  But they eat more electricity than
> they should.  And they are not silent.
> 
> My next generation, years in the making, is here.
> 
> I've chosen to use two different Zotac Zbox tiny PCs.
> 
> - the CI321 is a fanless box with two ethernet ports (two is the
>   minimum for a pleasant router).

I see it uses intel wifi.  From what I have seen, running as as an AP
only works in 2.4GHz mode, they don't allow AP operation in 5GHz bands.
That's pretty inconvinient.

> - the RI323 has a fan and two ethernet ports.  It is more
>   fully-featured and I got it cheap.  It even has two 2.5" drive bays.
> 
> Both these us low power Haswell processors: The Celeron 2961Y.  This
> means no AES-NI instructions :-(
> 
> Both use Realtek chips for the ethernet ports.  I understand that they 
> have a mediocre record.

Yeah they do.

> There are a lot of nice-looking candidate PCs that you can order from
> China.  Some with 4 ethernet ports.  Unfortunately, the affordable one
> all use Baytrail or newer Atom cores (eg. J1900).  This is what the
> newer Ars article recommends.  But I would not use that processor
> because Intel has left a bug in the power management / clocking code
> of the Linux kernel for a couple of years.  Who wants an unreliable
> gateway?
> 
> <https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=109051>
> 
> I'm prompted to write this by a current sale and rebate on the Zboxes 
> (rebate offer ends with this month).
> 
> <http://www.ncix.com/detail/zotac-zbox-ri323-barebone-mini-38-130690.htm>
> <http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=26671130690&vpn=ZBOX-RI323-U&manufacture=Zotac>
> 
> <http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=DH8888119815>
> 
> <http://www.mirhelp.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Oct-Mail-In-Rebate-Form-F-MIR1016-NCIX.pdf>
> 
> Summary:
> 
> - about $170 - $20 rebate for the RI323
> 
> - about $185 - $15 rebate for the CI321
> 
> Each needs a disk and RAM added.

Hmm, for that price I think I will stick with my WRT (although it was
only down in that price range because I got it on sale I suppose).

-- 
Len Sorensen