Wireless router setup: planning
 

Hi,

I have decided to setup a wireless router with one of my unused workstation.


What I need from the machine is to be a internet gateway(pppoe and mlppp), hosting 6 workstations/server each with there own static public ip(my dsl package included a /29 subnet to me). I would also need it to act as a wireless ap, with dhcp and firewall up. QoS/bandwidth shaping will also be a bonus.


I think I will be using Centos, I have most of the hardware ready except the wireless card, which I am having great deal of trouble deciding. After doing some research I think I would stay away from ndiswrapper. which leaves me to aetheros based card. However I do not know what to really look for(I know I need the card to be able to run in master mode). I am also looking for a .11n card to be future proof

Is there anything that I may have missed? Any suggestions will be greatly apprecieated.

I don't know much about Atheros specifically, what I do know, however, is the rule of thumb: the more you go fishing for state-of-the-art, bleeding-edge stuff, such as 802.11n, the harder it'll be to get GNU/Linux drivers for it. But then again, Atheros may be publishing open-sourced drivers for every equipment they put on the market, I wouldn't know. If they do that, they're highly commendable. What you need, is basically a simple Access Point. Any 802.11 card should do OK (it may be in the shape of an external USB unit, or a PCI card or even a PCMCIA card with a PCI interface, such as the ones sold by Belkin). The routing/firewalling functions will be performed by your box anyway, so you should basically look for a card with a good wireless section (meaning fast and long-range), GNU/Linux driver support and preferably 802.11n, as you said. Given the relatively low prices, I'd go for a top brand, shelling a few bucks more for added reliability, portability and compatibility.

Look at the Free Software Foundations wireless page for Card suggestions that fit in your specs..
http://www.fsf.org/resources/hw/net/wireless/cards.html

Personally rather than use all that electricity running a full PC, juist to act as an access point, I would get a Wireless router and load some of the free firmware on it. I'm using the Linksys WRTG54L Router with the dd-wrt firmware.


Some various linux based firmwares available for home routers..
http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv3/index.php
http://openwrt.org/
http://www.freewrt.org/trac/
http://packetprotector.org/
http://www.polarcloud.com/tomato
http://www.gargoyle-router.com/