How to go about building your own router?

[Alir]

So as I understand, two ways to build your own router are:

1) Use standard PC components (easy). Easier if you know how to build one, as I do. But the electricity bill will be much higher!

2) Use custom router parts (I think these are mostly used in commercial environments but can be used for personal use). Smaller run-time costs and a smaller case. But it would require me to use custom router parts, which I don't know where to purchase from.

 

What options do I have? Where can I start? Router building isn't much of a thing like building PCs is. There isn't a big community. Anyone able to give me some advice on this?

 

My reasons for building my own router:

 - better customisation

 - better for future proofing

 - cheaper in the long term (no need to constantly buy a new router every several years)

 - MUCH better performance

[Alir]

I think it's cheaper in the long term. Self-built routers, like computers can be easily managed and have components replaced unlike in-store routers.

 

But once I know where to look, I can see the costs.

[manikyath]

You know, with the whole self bult routers thing, at some point it's just cheaper, easier, and more reliable to go buisiness grade.

 

I considered custom at some point because all the stuff for the home is terrible, but after going buisiness grade i never looked back.

- plug&play at its best.

- no BS, just straight forward configuration

- surprisingly cheap, compared to custom

- very reliable, compared to both custom and for-the-home solutions

- insanely powerful in terms of features, each lan port on my router is a fully independant NIC (those on your home router arent, it's basicly a built in switch)

- lifespan is no different from custom, if anything your custom device will have issues faster. (And at some point it's just cheaper to chuck out the device than to upgrade a custom box)

- my buisiness router can reboot without dropping connections

[Alir]

2 minutes ago, manikyath said:

You know, with the whole self bult routers thing, at some point it's just cheaper, easier, and more reliable to go buisiness grade.

 

I considered custom at some point because all the stuff for the home is terrible, but after going buisiness grade i never looked back.

- plug&play at its best.

- no BS, just straight forward configuration

- surprisingly cheap, compared to custom

- very reliable, compared to both custom and for-the-home solutions

- insanely powerful in terms of features, each lan port on my router is a fully independant NIC (those on your home router arent, it's basicly a built in switch)

- lifespan is no different from custom, if anything your custom device will have issues faster. (And at some point it's just cheaper to chuck out the device than to upgrade a custom box)

- my buisiness router can reboot without dropping connections

 

That sounds awesome! Where did you buy the parts from and how much does it cost?

[Sir Asvald]

I use a Dell 790 SSF as my Router, I run Sophos UTM. I manage all my network and I can add other networks if I want to. It's more easier than the enterprise routers which cost in the thousands, if not tens of the thousands.

 

 

[manikyath]

1 hour ago, Alir said:

 

That sounds awesome! Where did you buy the parts from and how much does it cost?

I didnt buy parts, i just got a buisiness grade box of magic from linksys.

And it was just over €200.

 

There *is* however very much a case of "you need to have a degree for this" at times, because they expect these devices to get in the hands of a sysadmin, not billie and his grandma

[Alir]

1 hour ago, manikyath said:

I didnt buy parts, i just got a buisiness grade box of magic from linksys.

And it was just over €200.

 

There *is* however very much a case of "you need to have a degree for this" at times, because they expect these devices to get in the hands of a sysadmin, not billie and his grandma

 

Can you not install your own OS? I want to use pfSense, a user-friendly and easy to set up Unix-based, open source OS?

[manikyath]

10 minutes ago, Alir said:

 

Can you not install your own OS? I want to use pfSense, a user-friendly and easy to set up Unix-based, open source OS?

Which is unfortunately also horrendously outdated. The reason people use stuff like openwrt is because 'pleb' devices do not have most options a prosumer might want, in comparison the buisiness grade devices usually ship with all features they can handle, and offcourse things like pfsense are aimed at places that actually need that kind of horsepower in their router (as in, x86)

 

That said, pfsense is primarily firewall software that can also do routing, rather than router software that can also offer fitewall options.

[Huntsman]

If you just got out from the kiddie pool and wants a taste of the adult pool, go pfsense or something similar. Wait until you actually know what you're doing networking wise, then you go for olympic pools, the enterprise stuff.

 

If you don't know enough to even handle something like pfsense or monowall etc, you'll just end up messing up the enterprise stuff. Or wasting its potential.

[Alir]

9 hours ago, Huntsman said:

If you just got out from the kiddie pool and wants a taste of the adult pool, go pfsense or something similar. Wait until you actually know what you're doing networking wise, then you go for olympic pools, the enterprise stuff.

 

If you don't know enough to even handle something like pfsense or monowall etc, you'll just end up messing up the enterprise stuff. Or wasting its potential.

 

This is actually going to be my first router.

I need it powerful enough to go through at least 3-4 walls. All the standard ones the ISPs provide are crap.

 

Since I'm a newbie, would it be safer to get an Off The Shelf one and then mess around with pfsense by creating a firewall/router within a LAN?

[Huntsman]

4 hours ago, Alir said:

 

This is actually going to be my first router.

I need it powerful enough to go through at least 3-4 walls. All the standard ones the ISPs provide are crap.

 

Since I'm a newbie, would it be safer to get an Off The Shelf one and then mess around with pfsense by creating a firewall/router within a LAN?

Judging by your reply, I think you meant Access Point. Routers are not the same as APs. Also, you're not ready for anything beyond off the shelf consumer grade products.

 

Yes, it would be safer to go with reputable brands like Asus, Ubiquity or Linksys units. Try them out and see if they already fulfill your needs. Until you have learned more about networking and start to do more than just minecraft and facebook, they will be more than enough.