CentOS - Nov 2016 - Off-Topic: Travel Router and Firewall

On 11/23/2016 09:56 PM, Mauricio Tavares wrote:
> Go to the openwrt site and see what replaced the TP-Link TL_WRN702N.
> The new one has 2 ether ports and can be USB powered.
>
> Of course, there are those who will say you should use a raspberry pi
> for that...
>
> On Wed, Nov 23, 2016 at 3:18 PM, H <agents at meddatainc.com> wrote:
>> This is off-topic and the only connection with CentOS is that the
laptop
>> will be running CentOS...
>>
>> I am looking for a travel router/firewall for a number of reasons:
>>
>> - Protect against outside attacks when outside the office/home not
relying
>> on whatever protection the laptop/tablet/phone offers.
>>
>> - Allow for fast transfer for data between devices without being
limited by
>> the bandwidth of the hotel etc., even without being connected to the
>> internet.
>>
>> - Allow for multiple devices even when the hotel etc. only allows one
device
>> to be registered.
>>
>> The ideal device should:
>>
>> - Be small, ideally be able to be charged via a USB port.
>>
>> - Use open-source software that the user can update.
>>
>> - Allow the user to log on the device and set up the connection with
the
>> hotel etc. which often requires a userid and password to be entered on
a
>> browser page.
>>
>> - Allow using either a RJ-45 wired or wireless connection to the
outside
>> net.
>>
>> - Have at least two RJ-45 ports to connect a laptop avoiding WiFi.
>>
>> - Allow for VPN tunneling.
>>
>> If anyone has suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated!
>> _______________________________________________
>> CentOS mailing list
>> CentOS at centos.org
>> https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
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I did visit both the OpenWRT lists and the TP-Link website. On the latter, I
found four travel routers: WR810N 300 Mbps, powered from an outlet and 2 RJ-45
ports, its predecessor WR710N 150 Mbps, WR802N 300 Mbps and powered via
micro-USB port and 1 RJ-45 port, and finally WR702N 150 Mbps. If I read
correctly, only the 8xx models have at least 8 Mb of flash memory required for
OpenWRT so it's down to either WR810N or WR802N. Of note is that all routers
are apparently sold in a US version where the firmware is locked and a European
version where it is not, the latter easier to flash.

OpenWRT seems like a good solution. However, I am not an expert on this and two
questions remain:

- Will OpenWRT allow me to using a computer, tablet or phone configure the
access when the hotel (or similar) uses a web page where one has to enter userid
and password?

- When the router is connected to the WAN using an Ethernet cable, am I correct
that it is used in AP (Access Point) mode? And when the router is connected to
the WAN using WiFi and the user devices access the router it is used in Bridge
mode?

Thank you for all the suggestions and comments so far!

On Thu, Nov 24, 2016 at 11:57 AM, H <agents at meddatainc.com>
wrote:
>
> I did visit both the OpenWRT lists and the TP-Link website. On the latter,
I
> found four travel routers: WR810N 300 Mbps, powered from an outlet and 2
> RJ-45 ports, its predecessor WR710N 150 Mbps, WR802N 300 Mbps and powered
> via micro-USB port and 1 RJ-45 port, and finally WR702N 150 Mbps. If I read
> correctly, only the 8xx models have at least 8 Mb of flash memory required
> for OpenWRT so it's down to either WR810N or WR802N. Of note is that
all
> routers are apparently sold in a US version where the firmware is locked
and
> a European version where it is not, the latter easier to flash.
I have prototyped a similar setup with RasPi.  With a 4GB (or higher)
SD card, flash storage is not a limiting factor compared routers like
TP-Link.

I did try openWRT on Raspi but the driver (Realtek 8192 IIRC) for my
USB LAN was not stable.

Settled on Raspbian (all config files hand edited).    There is Pidora
(Fedora spin) also.
>
> OpenWRT seems like a good solution. However, I am not an expert on this and
> two questions remain:
>
> - Will OpenWRT allow me to using a computer, tablet or phone configure the
> access when the hotel (or similar) uses a web page where one has to enter
> userid and password?
>
I suggest NAT on the openWRT device's "WAN" interface and within
it do
the "captive portal" auth  with the "host" network.
Your devices connected on the "LAN" (wired + WiFi) should route
through the openWRT device.
> - When the router is connected to the WAN using an Ethernet cable, am I
> correct that it is used in AP (Access Point) mode? And when the router is
> connected to the WAN using WiFi and the user devices access the router it
is
> used in Bridge mode?
>
> Thank you for all the suggestions and comments so far!
>
Yes, you can make the WiFi interface act as an AP when the LAN
interface is the "WAN"  IIRC, in openWRT bridge mode of the
"WAN"
interface is possible.  But then all devices on the "LAN" side will be
visible to the "host" network.

openWRT does have good documentation with practical use case setups.

HTH,
-- Arun Khan

On Thu, Nov 24, 2016 at 06:43:35PM -0800, Arun Khan
wrote:
> I have prototyped a similar setup with RasPi.  With a 4GB (or higher)
> SD card, flash storage is not a limiting factor compared routers like
> TP-Link.
> 
> I did try openWRT on Raspi but the driver (Realtek 8192 IIRC) for my
> USB LAN was not stable.
> 
> Settled on Raspbian (all config files hand edited).    There is Pidora
> (Fedora spin) also.
For what its worth, Fedora 25 has native support for the Pi 3 now, and
the CentOS AltArch SIG is getting pretty close to supporting the Pi3
too. 

https://wiki.centos.org/SpecialInterestGroup/AltArch/Arm32/RaspberryPi3

-- 
Jonathan Billings <billings at negate.org>