[CentOS] Router for SOHO network - hardware considerations

[Lorenzo Quatrini]

Niki Kovacs ha scritto:
> Hi,
> 
> Last week I finished installing a small network in a private school : 
> one server (an old IBM X225), seventeen desktops (Fujitsu Siemens PIV 
> 2.4 GHZ, 512 MB RAM, 40 GB HD), all running CentOS 5.5.
> 
> One extra machine is acting as a router, in that it is installed between 
> the DSL modem and the network, with two Ethernet cards, and it's taking 
> care of DHCP, DNS, NTP and also acts like a proxy (with Squid). It seems 
> quite big and noisy and electricity-consuming to me, so I wonder if 
> there is any small device that could possibly do the job as good, but 
> which would me more adapted : small, solid and cheap (if possible). I 
> imagine some tiny box just with a CPU and a small harddisk, a little RAM 
> and two network interfaces (one out, one in), where I could install a 
> very stripped-down CentOS, and then just forget about it.
> 
> So far, I've googled a bit, and I've found two things: 1) Pyramid 
> Soekris boards, where I can put something like Pyramid Linux on it. And 
> 2) The Linksys WRT54GL, for which there are Linux firmwares like OpenWRT 
> and DD-WRT.
> 
> Is there anything you could especially recommend for this job? (I'm not 
> afraid of getting my hands dirty, BTW :oD)
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Niki
> _______________________________________________

Hi Niki,
I would like to suggest the Tp-Link TL-WR1043ND; it could be a little more
expensive than the Linksys, but it has a more powerful cpu, more ram and an usb
port (and more or less same power consumption) for around 50 Euros.

I'm using it with the original firmware, and I tested OpenWRT on it; next I
will try endian, but I have to say that I'm very satisfied with it and I would
recomend it: the system is fast and responsive, and the usb port adds really a
lot of flexibility (eg. file sharing, usb dongle backup, squid with cache and
so on...).

HTH
Regards
Lorenzo