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by auslander 2844 days ago
> ... do a lot of work yourself

What work? Install is super easy ... I use OPNsense on small, fanless, cheap 'mini PC' with 2 LAN ports, you buy from aliexpress. Full x86-64, Intel with AES-NI support, for like $200 with 4GB RAM and 40GB ssd
1 comments
Fnoord 2844 days ago
4 GB RAM and a 40 GB SSD on a router??? I don't need that.

What work? Work to maintain it, test it, etc. Essentially, every time a software update is rolled out you do not know for sure if it is going to work flawless on your platform. For a random home network that might be sufficient; for a corporate network not so much.

I know about Aliexpress (and the like), but I don't find comparing Chinaware with non-Chinaware fair without taking that into account as a minus. Not that I wouldn't go that route if I would go for DIY though.

Router7 uses coreboot and a heartbeat to restart the machine if it fails.

x86-64 still uses more kWh than this MIPS machine. The ER-L has 3 ports, allowing physically separated networks. Depending on your setup you can even use both. The ER-X is less powerful and is MIPS32, though does support more hardware offloading (and WireGuard has optimalisations written in C for MIPS32).

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auslander 2844 days ago
Routers must run open source software, no exceptions, they are keys to the kingdom, corporate or home, no difference. FreeBSD/OpenBSD is de facto standard. Good projects like OPNsense test their production releases extensively.

Hardware is your choice, but x86 gives you the best compatibility, and kWh is good, x86 CPU power management, mine uses less than 1W, max TDP is 6W.

Cisco, Juniper, and other closed source ones have a history of backdoors [0]. Consumer grade routers are joke.

[0] https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/cisco-removes...

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Fnoord 2844 days ago
You were dependant on Cisco and Juniper routers whilst you posted this very message.

I've used the mess called Quagga back in '00s. No, thank you. I did like OpenBGPd, but it isn't a necessity to have BGP support on every router. Linux can be suffice on a router. Even though I do prefer PF, nftables seems promising.

I don't want to use x86-32 for a myriad of reasons. I don't need the software compatibility x86-32 offers.

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auslander 2844 days ago
> You were dependant on Cisco and Juniper routers

I don't think so, i have my own fortress :)

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Fnoord 2844 days ago
You don't have control over every hop between news.ycombinator.com and whatever it is you are located. Lets stop this game.
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Fnoord 2844 days ago
Yeah, and? There's HTTPS between my browser and news.ycombinator.com as well. So what does that have to do with my ER-L?

There's no need to link to Wikipedia's HTTPS either. We both know what that is.

FYI: The malware you linked was for older or badly configured versions of those routers. If you don't upgrade OPNSense or Linux/BSD in general you're also in trouble.

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auslander 2844 days ago
There is a HTTPS, between HN and me. "HTTPS creates a secure channel over an insecure network. This ensures reasonable protection from eavesdroppers and man-in-the-middle attacks ..."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTPS

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