On Dec 12, 2007 3:21 PM, Leo Mauler webgiant@yahoo.com wrote:
I'm getting conflicting answers off Google so I thought I'd see if anyone here has done anything like this with Ubuntu Server.
Basically I'd like to add a kind of "load balancing" router to the home network. The ice storm over the last two days knocked out the cable internet, but left the telephone lines intact. This has been true of my home in every major ice storm in the past ten years. It would be nice to have a router which had the option of sharing a dial-up connection when the cable internet went out. I have a Linux-friendly prepaid Internet service provider for when I travel ("Budget Dialup" in case anyone is looking for Linux-friendly prepaid Internet), so there's a dialup option available for home use.
What I'd like to do is stick a Linux router between the cable modem and the existing wireless router. The new Linux router would take Internet access from the cable modem, have a regular dialup modem setup for emergency Dial-On-Demand, and then share out the Internet (from whatever source) to the home network. The modem wouldn't have a phone line plugged into it unless there was an actual cable outage, so there would be no risk of accidentally using up the prepaid minutes.
I want to have web and DNS caching to minimize bandwidth usage during dialup periods, though they wouldn't be a bad idea even with the cable Internet. I haven't done anything like this in awhile, so if you know what I should be looking for, it would be much appreciated.
I would like to use Ubuntu but I have read in various forums that the Dial-On-Demand function I need may not be possible using Ubuntu's versions of pppd and other software. If you know of a better solution then I'm interested. I have looked at Smoothwall but it doesn't seem to have the D-O-D function.
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I second what Brian has said
I am running IPCop on an old pentium with 128MB RAM. It works well on Time Warner, and has settings for a "fall-over" to another internet connection (modem in your case).
IPCop has a lot of drivers and command sets for common modems. I used IPCop for several months on dial-up with a linux neutral ISP. It worked great.
The great thing is that IPCop is "set and forget." Most config items can be set through it's GUI. This is a great thing if you're an idiot like me. ;) I keep telling myself that I'll learn about IP chains, etc. Until I get to this, IPCop will keep me online. All I have to do is download the updates every once in a while. Most of the update features are used through the GUI as well.
I didn't see anything specific in your mail about why you want to use Ubuntu. If it's because Ubuntu is "easy to use", I think that you will not have an issue with IPCop. I also think that IPCop uses all "free" packages and licenses. I'm not sure though. There are also plenty of community add-ons that allow for traffic monitoring, user limiting, host black/white listing, etc. I hate to sound like a marketer, but the only thing I can think of that is bad about IPCop is that it doesn't _force_ you to learn about the underlying tech.
I don't get on IRC as much as I'd like. But mail me if you have any Q's.
Tim AKA Bewkard