How do I make a router by Linux?

In other words you want your Linux to work as a router.
Your thoughts are welcome.

you would need
2 nics
iptables (installed by default) or a gui firewall configuration like firestarter
eth0 -> internet (dhcp assigned)
eth1 -> lan (static assignment)

a dhcp server

you could also use a firewall distribution like smoothwall express or coyote (floppy based) if it's for a dedicated box

also you could do it with 3 nics in some specialized cases
eth0 ->internet
eth1 ->dmz (you would put any public accessable machines like webservers,anon ftp servers, mail servers etc... here, but then again the same can be accomplished by placing the said servers between the router and a firewall)
eth2 ->LAN

this mite help:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...6/#post3804866

Moved: This thread is more suitable in Linux-Networking and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

Thanks Xavier
You moved the thread; it is fine by me.
You are very good at Linux.
I remember you very well.
You are one of the die hard supporters of the forum, in my book.
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By the way our friend 'Schneidz' wrote the following:
this mite help
I haven't learn the word 'mite' in English.
I guess it is typo.
He misspelled and it should he ' This might help'.
The URL he mentioned is a good one and I have bookmarked it.

0 members found this post helpful.

^ you are correct gins; it should be might. this thread is unrelated but was a fun distraction:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...ml#post3910806

I wrote 'he' instead of 'be'.
It is typo and you asked me to eat humble pie.

^

Routers are amongst the most crucial components of the Internet, as each bit of information on the Internet passes through many routers. Most of the routers used on the Internet are made by Cisco. Although these have good performance, they come at a high price.

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^ cisco makes linksys and i think those use an embedded linux (same as netgear); though i am unsure what operating system their mae routers run.

edit: i looked on google and can only find evidence that some home routers run linux off-the-shelf but most have been hacked with various open source firmwares.

0 members found this post helpful.

Most routers I've worked on have effectively a *nix based operating system. Cisco is definitely one of them; IOS has it's roots in Unix.

For SOHO use Linux routers they are pretty good, but I'd be concerned about using them in another environment with heavy usage. The thing with any of the big router manufacturers they are all using dedicated hardware designed to move traffic fast, and the kernel of their code is designed to do the same. As much as I like Linux, over a certain size I'd recommend a dedicated operating system and architecture.

Good example, I've got an old piece of hardware with two NIC's acting as a firewall at home. Upon upgrading my cable service to something with a little more bandwidth, my old hardware can't actually ship that much data. I *think* it's actually the processor that is the bottleneck in this case. Sure it's an old battered machine from pre-history, but kinda illustrates the issues you'll hit.

As for schneidz comments about a "hacked" firmwares, there is a seriously beautiful piece of work out there. Before the Cisco take over of Linksys, the routers produced were... okay. A community firmware produced was DD-WRT. It's so good a firmware, Buffalo will be shipping some of their new routers with it was a factory default from June this year. If it's something you are interested in, there's a list here of distro's on wikipeda: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._distributions