[mdlug] Setting up a home network

[Michael S. Mikowski]

Hi Michael:

The best solution, IMO, is as follows:

Modem -> Wireless Router -> mnewman-desktop + Rest of network

That way, you let the router act as your firewall, name server (DNS), DHCP 
server, etc, and not have to worry about anything else -- it will just work.  
And you won't need to keep a machine on all the time, just the router.

The way to do this is to use DHCP to configure all networking from your router.  
For your desktop and other machines, you can have it "pin" static addresses to 
a specific MAC address.  E.g. it would recognize your desktop's ethernet card, 
and always assign 192.168.1.2 and add an entry DNS for mnewman-desktop for 
local routing.

Now the bad news: your router does can't do this - even with the latest 
firmware.  More expensive (and other, newer) routers provide this capability 
out of the box. So how do you get it?

1. Use firmware from <http://www.dd-wrt.com>.  This is free, but could "brick" 
your router.
2. Use firmware from sveasoft.  Same warning as (1) applies.
3. Buy a more capable router.
4. Ignore this post 

Options discussed below in more detail:

1. Use firmware from <http://www.dd-wrt.com>

This is firmware that /probably/ do precisely what you want (from my research).  
Here is the compatibility list:
<http://www.dd-
wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices#Linksys_.28all_the_rest_that_is_not_re-
engineered_til_today.29>

And here is how you tell what firmware to load:
<http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/What_is_DD-
WRT%3F#Which_V24_build_do_I_flash_onto_my_Broadcom_router>

From the looks of it, the firmware desired for your router is the micro build 
<http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/downloads/v24/Broadcom/Linksys/WRT54GS_v5/dd-
wrt.v24_micro_generic.bin>.  Unfortunately, your v5 was the version that 
halved the flash ram, and so only the micro build is available. 

If you decide to go this route, BE CAREFUL - THIS UP COULD BRICK YOUR ROUTER.   
DO NOT TAKE MY WORD FOR IT.  Make /sure/ you have the right firmware and follow 
all instructions!  

2. Use firmware from sveasoft.

The commercial variant is at sveasoft <www.sveasoft.com>, however, due to the 
flash ram limitation, they don't appear to support WRT54Gv5.   You might want 
to do a little digging there though.

3. Buy a more capable router

I am doing research on this.  Here is a hit from google using "wireless router 
linux recommendation dhcp MAC address DNS"

<http://reviews.cnet.com/routers/belkin-n1-wireless-
router/4540-3319_7-31864345.html?rid=30993672>

The key features you are looking for is probably "Dynamic IP address 
assignment", "DHCP Support", "Dynamic DNS server".

Here are some possible others:

<http://reviews.cnet.com/networking-wifi-hardware/?filter=500563_5117169_>

4. Ignore this post

You could continue with Modem -> Wireless Router -> mnewman-desktop -> Rest of 
network and keep your desktop on at all times;  or use static IP's, or ...

Parting Thoughts:

I have done a lot of research and expect to try dd-wrt on my WRT54Gv2 router 
soon.  I am lucky, however, in that I have a v2 router, so I will be trying 
the full build instead of micro.  If I "brick" it, I plan to buy a more 
capable router, e.g. the Belkin N+ Wireless Router.  I will share my 
experiences.

Sorry for the long post.  Hope that is useful.


Sincerely, Mike


On Saturday 24 January 2009 09:27:10 Michael wrote:
> This should be something really simple and I can't even figure out where to
> start. I am hoping someone might point me in the right direction.
> The core hardware:
> 1) Motorola surfboard cable modem connected to Comcast internet
> 2) Linksys wrt54g v5 wireless router
> 3) Ubuntu Desktop machine with multiple Ethernet connections
> (mnewman-desktop)
> 4) Various laptops, iphones and peripherals that go from the home network
> to work to coffee shops, etc.
>
> What I want:
>
> A.) A simple home network where each computer has its own name and can be
> accessed via that name. I can bring my Apple Laptop home from work and ssh
> into mnewman-desktop/access media files on it
> B.) Access to my home network (specifically mnewman-desktop) via port 22
> and 80 from outside the network
>
> Originally I thought I would set up something like
>
> Modem --> mnewman-desktop --> wireless router
>
> And I had shorewall working, and then I realized I mess around on
> mnewman-desktop too much and taking down the entire network because I
> installed a bad piece of software. So ideally the set up would be Modem -->
> wireless router --> network (including mnewman-desktop)
>
> I don't think this set up should be that difficult, but I can't figure out
> even where to start.
>
> Anybody have any experience/care to help?
>
> Thanks, Michael
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