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Setting up an Ubuntu Wired/Wirless Router

TableOfContents

Preface

This article exists due a lack of concise information and easily followed instructions on the subject of setting up an wired and/or wireless Ubuntu router. It is intended for advanced users who have or would like to set up a dedicated Ubuntu installation acting as a router at home or in their office. The end result is a powerful router that can provide functionality similar to popular products (like, for example, the Linksys WRT54G).

Prerequisites

Broadband Connection

A broadband connection like a cable or DSL modem is required. Your broadband service provider must either provide the necessary information to configure your IP address statically or provide a dynamically assigned address via DHCP. If your connection requires PPPoE (as can often be the case with DSL service), you'll find the existing the article ["ADSLPPPoE"] may be of value.

Router Hardware

You'll need a dedicated computer to act as the router. The computer can use old hardware and having the minimum requirements to install Ubuntu should suffice. The author of this article runs his router on a P3 600mhz processor with 256MB of RAM. You are encouraged use this as a server for other applications perhaps by installing postfix, apache, mysql, and/or samba. This guide covers both the desktop and server installations.

The following needs to be physically installed and recognized by the kernel on your server:

• A network adapter

• For wired access,

  • Another network adapter attached to a hub or switcher

• For wireless access,

  • A wireless network adapter (which must be able to be set in "master" mode)

    • It may be possible that your wireless network adapter uses one of the Atheros chipsets (such as the D-Link DWL-G520). The drivers for this card are included with the Ubuntu desktop distribution but not the with server. Issue the following command: {{{sudo lspci | grep Atheros

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• If any output is returned (such as that below), it is import that you visit ["UbuntuRouter/Madwifi"] before proceeding. {{{00:0e.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)

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• For both wired and wireless access,

  • All of the above