ARM based firewall/router/servers?

[Dale Hodge]

Lately I've playing with some small ARM based computing devices, a Raspberry Pi and a couple PogoPlugs hacked to run Debian. What I'm wondering is if anyone has had experience using small ARM computers as a firewall/router and as an low volume email server.  I'm thinking that most SOHO routers are often ARM devices running in limited ram, so my $20 700mhz 128M PogoPlug should be capable.  But I'm also open to using a dedicated SOHO router that has an open enough OS that it can be customized. (preferably able to run Debian ARM).

Suggestions?  

[Ryan]

I am running my home automation system off a CuBox i4 and its holding up very well.. 

I have a 4tb esata hdd plugged into it and my IPCameras ftp video this storage 24/7, its running debian and has its routed static ip.. handles the load just fine, but if you have a database heavy site it shows how slow the bus speeds are.. I’ve offloaded a bit of stuff to ramdisks and memcache and the data access speeds are snappy and quick.. but there is a limit.

My internet speeds are far too much for the small arm boxes you listed, I am using an Ubiquiti EdgeRouter PoE, its a MIPS router but you have full root access and it has a debian core, so I can run freeradius, openldap, etc on directly on it without issue… It routes between subnets at gigabit wire speeds without skipping a beat thanks to hardware acceleration.

Cheers,

-Ryan

On Nov 17, 2015, at 1:56 PM, Dale Hodge <kansa...@gmail.com> wrote:

Lately I've playing with some small ARM based computing devices, a Raspberry Pi and a couple PogoPlugs hacked to run Debian. What I'm wondering is if anyone has had experience using small ARM computers as a firewall/router and as an low volume email server.  I'm thinking that most SOHO routers are often ARM devices running in limited ram, so my $20 700mhz 128M PogoPlug should be capable.  But I'm also open to using a dedicated SOHO router that has an open enough OS that it can be customized. (preferably able to run Debian ARM).

Suggestions?  

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[Nate Bargmann]

When looking for a dedicated router, get something that will run
OpenWRT. I am running OpenWRT Barrier Breaker on my router at home and
it works very well. The router hardware is limited enough that I would
not consider something like an email server on it, however OpenWRT may
well support it as it has a lot of packages and its own package manager
both command line and via the Web UI.

I've installed OpenWRt on hardware from Ubiquity, Asus, and Buffalo and
all have worked well. The Buffalo WXR-600DHP had DD-WRT on it from the
factory but there didn't seem to be an easy way to make it work as a
transparent bridge. With OpenWRT I installed the relayd package and
away I went. Their Wiki is pretty good although a bit tricky to
navigate, like most Wikis.

OpenWRT is Linux based with busybox and their own UCI configuration
system. The Web UI, LUCI, rivals anything I have seen from a
manufacturer.

Have fun!

- Nate

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