Hello,

For a while now I've been running my cable connection through a Linksys WRT54GS Router, but I've found its whole interface to be lacking, and many monitoring applications which i use not be be compatible with the router because of, mainly, space restraints on the router (which is a killer for logs.)

So I'm looking to set up a new router. I have had a few routers in the past, which I have cobbled together using miscellaneous parts, with *nix distributions such as NetBSD, Ubuntu (which i find to be an awesome distro) and I've even tried using IPCop, they have been good but they don't quite do what i wish for them to.

I'm looking for a setup which allows me to either use NAT or SQUID to allow the rest of the network access to the connection (7-10 computers.) I am also looking to be able to set up a QoS to limit the amount of bandwidth proportioned to certain ports / MAC addresses, and of course a good way of logging the traffic.

I have set up a modest system with 128meg of ram, 600MHz proccy, and a 160gig HD, and now i am just looking for the the applications to do which i have outlined above.

I have about 2years of Linux experience now and am in no way afraid to use the CLI.

I have pretty much chosen an Ubuntu Server install to be the OS. and am now looking for programs which would allow me to have the type of flexibility as i have outlined, above, any suggestions and tutorials would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thank you for your time.
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Peter

Hi,

FYI, as far as I know, the Linksys WRT54GS uses Linux-based firmware - which means people have made unofficial firmware with other features.

Ubuntu is based on Debian & I've had no problem doing the features with Debian Sarge and a 2.6 series kernel - Ubuntu should work just as well.

Use iptables to do NAT, logging, and maybe some of the traffic shaping. For squid just install the squid package. For QoS/Traffic shaping, use the "tc" command from the "iproute" package.

You can also use Squid as a transparent proxy - you can use iptables to automatically redirect traffic to port 80 to squid, and get the cache benefits without having the configure a proxy server for every web enabled program on your network.

Hope that helps,
Josh

Awesome, thanks for that, I will give it a try immediately. I haven't had any experience with squid but i've only ever heard good things about it.

Thanks again.
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Peter

For Bandwidth Management try Polip
For Bandwidth Monitoring try MRTG
For Bandwidth Management per IP use bandwidthd
Hope It Helps
ARPIT