Heay Traffic Router For Piratebox

Hi,

Can you suggest any Heavy duty router fro Piratebox which will handle multiple requests.

Currently i am using TP-LINK 3020.

tp link wdr4300
tp link wdr3600
buffalo wzr-600dhp

any of those are good choices

Hi,
is the MR3020 not enough? To slow or distance issues?

Thanks Damavox,
the mentioned above are a good choice, but double check openwrt compatibility wiki.openwrt.org . I had good experiences with the

Buffalo WZR-HP-AG 300h OpenWRT-Version AA 12.09 => which is very fast.

but a bit pricy.

Another good choice is:

TPLink WR1043ND OpenWRT-Version AA 12.09

It is a bit more powerful (CPU) then the MR3020, but not as expensive then the Buffalo.



Regards
Matthias

I would also like to add that in the US they replaced the Buffalo WZR-HP-AG 300h with the Buffalo WZR-600DHP. Although the motherboards are the same, it isn't easy to install openwrt on the router for the inexperienced. I had to install 2 different dd-wrt firmwares, which converted the wzr-600dhp into the wzr-hp-AG 300h (by firmware) then i was able to install the openwrt firmware for the wzr-hp-Ag-300h.

So moral of the story, if you go with this buffalo router do a little research before attempting

If you want a REAL PROFESSIONAL ROUTER
MikroTik RouterBOARD are the way to go (Unlike Home routers where the MAX Wi-fi Connections go from 2 - 16 Simultaneous Connections) The Professional ones have support for 100 Simultaneous WiFi Connections (AND a 100 More Per WIFI MiniPCI Upgrade card)
- Note this Path isn't for all (it can get quite expensive ) But it does allow for more Professional Custom Piratebox's with more custom options (Both in hardware and software)

Entry Level: (100 WiFi Users)
- can turn into a Slave Router for your MR3020 by using a Ethernet Patch cable
MikroTik RouterBoard 411U
[linitx.com]

Plus your First
MikroTik R52Hn 802.11 a/b/g/n High Power MiniPCI Card
[linitx.com]

Mid Level: (300 WiFi Users)
- At this point you may want to use a Raspberry Pi or Cubieboard2 [www.newit.co.uk]
MikroTik RouterBOARD RB433GL
[www.msdist.co.uk]
3x MikroTik R52Hn 802.11 a/b/g/n High Power MiniPCI Card
[linitx.com]

High END : (500 WiFi Users)
- At this point you might want keep the Router a Dedicated Router
and get a ITX Motherboard to Run the Server / Mesh Stuff
(You wont use Piratebox Software for this level of Hardware You can Run and serve BitTorrent and Gnutella2 Protocols and setup any server software you want) You can also make it Dual OS - Virtual OS to Repair its self

M4-ATX 250W 6V-30V Intelligent Car PSU - [linitx.com] will allow a 250Watt ITX / mATX PC to run on 6V 12V 24V DC 30V Directly from a battery or battery bank

MikroTik RouterBOARD RB435G
[www.msdist.co.uk]

5x MikroTik R52Hn 802.11 a/b/g/n High Power MiniPCI Cards
[linitx.com]

If we use a Few Ideas from SOLN1 Version 3 - [www.youtube.com] and modify it to not use a Inverter you can integrate all this tech into the back of a 80 WATT Framed Solar Panel with 1x / 2x Custom Polymer LiFePO4 Battery Packs: 12.8V 20Ah (256Wh, 16A rate) (24.0) - [www.batteryspace.com] then are Piratebox never need to come home for recharging

If you want the ITX PC You will need to UP Your panels to 4x 48V Monocrystalline 250W Solar PV Modules + With 40A MPPT and use 24V Battery bank (alls the MikroTik RouterBOARDs are WIDE Voltage input 10V ~ 30V for some of them)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/31/2013 03:17AM by hi_tech_guy_18.

mh yes, MikroTik Router are awesome...
but with the licencing of the RouterOS .. not so nice for non-comerical use.cases

Some can run openwrt, some not. So be aware of that

The ITX motherboards are an option, however according to waht i learned from the hak5 forums trying to make these into wireless routers is difficult due to compatibility problems with wireless cards

You should only try to use PCI cards, that maybe work the best way... In my opinion/imagination, they should be relative close to the embedded cards in routers.

Proove me being wrong, if it is bad supported to

Olá!
Just entered the forum and this is my first message, so, first of all, my gratitude for all this work around PB! Great project!!!

I'm from Rio de Janeiro/Brasil and we are working to start some mesh networks around here
We have a small number of WDR3600 to do it and I would like to install PB in one of then to test it on a bigger router.
I already installed PB in a mr3020 and is working fine! Take it everywhere : )

My doubt is which image should I use to flash the WDR3600 for piratebox?
Since it has 8mb, I was thinking about using the wr1043 image in here - stable custom image directory - because it has also 8mb, is this right?

It is not included in the list yet
[piratebox.aod-rpg.de]

Hope to test the piratebox mesh soon ; )

Thanks!

Surian
[redeslivres.org.br]

Hi Surian,
I checked the WDR3600 on the openwrt wiki.
You don't HAVE to use the custom images, you can use the normal image as well. I recomment using the latest openwrt stable image called "Attitude Adjustment". The main difference between openwrt stock and my images are:

* I removed the LUCI configuration menu
* I added needed kernel modules

OpenWRT Images
Choose: openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-wdr3600-v1-squashfs-factory.bin

Matthias

Thanks Matthias!
I realize now that I can use the normal images and customize myself ; ) learning here!
Gonna try to install it with this image
surian

Sucessfully installed piratebox on my TP-link WDR3600!!!

Works very well (A lot more fast than my other PB on a MR3020, because of the hardware, I suppose)

Tomorrow I'll put it in a festival and watch how it works with lots of people using at the same time

Trying now to install a responsive theme and connect it as a server to a mesh network with others WDR3600...

Thanks for the help!

awesome.
let us know how it worked and people liked it !

Matthias

i have a wdr3500,(very similar to wdr3600) which i have set-up to stream videos, i connected over 20 devices and played different videos without much lag in load time.
Only downside its trunk only, first install has no problems, but if you want to update, you have to do a complete fresh install.

Thank you for you feedback!
I took a notice and it will be listed soon.

So far Matthias

The piratebox worked very well in the festival! Many people using at same time.
I gave a workshop about it and mesh networks, and the project has many new fans in Rio now : )

There was a problem about the captive portal... In cellphones the redirection worked very well, but in some laptops the user was not redirected to the piratebox installation, instead, it was giving "page not found" in the browser.. This is happening to me at home too, and then i acess it by the IP directly. Do you know what could be the problem?

Damavox, very nice use! Could you explain a little bit about your setup for streaming videos? You use pirtebox for it?

I also couldnt install the responsive theme, but I'll ask about this in the right topic ; )

Thanks!!!

Surian

Hi, Surian
I really don't do anything special except for i don't run a video streaming script on the piratebox.

What i do is format all the videos to .mp4 which allows them to be viewed from just about any android phone or iphone, and the videos also play automatically in my chrome browser on my pc as well. The only downside to this is downloading the actual video takes alittle extra effort on phones and on my pc you have to right click and hit save target in order to download the video.

The main thing to my setup is i use a 500gb harddrive for all the big files stored on the box but i also have another box that i use a flash drive that i put small files and use it on the mr3020, due to the hardware difference between the set-ups.

It is really a very simple and honest use : )

I noticed that some formats dont play directly in the browser. I'll try tu upload mp4 videos to see how it goes.

Thanks for sharing!

Np, the biggest trouble I had was with iphone 3gs. I had to download a 3rd party broswer / Video downloader in order to watch movies but this could be because the d3vice was jailbroken

hi_tech_guy_18 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you want a REAL PROFESSIONAL ROUTER
> MikroTik RouterBOARD are the way to go (Unlike
> Home routers where the MAX Wi-fi Connections go
> from 2 - 16 Simultaneous Connections) The
> Professional ones have support for 100
> Simultaneous WiFi Connections (AND a 100 More Per
> WIFI MiniPCI Upgrade card)
> - Note this Path isn't for all (it can get quite
> expensive ) But it does allow for more
> Professional Custom Piratebox's with more custom
> options (Both in hardware and software)
>
> Entry Level: (100 WiFi Users)
> - can turn into a Slave Router for your MR3020 by
> using a Ethernet Patch cable
> MikroTik RouterBoard 411U
> [linitx.com]
> u-with-routeros-level-4/12552
>
> Plus your First
> MikroTik R52Hn 802.11 a/b/g/n High Power MiniPCI
> Card
> [linitx.com]
> n-high-power-minipci-card/12801
>
> Mid Level: (300 WiFi Users)
> - At this point you may want to use a Raspberry Pi
> or Cubieboard2
> [www.newit.co.uk]
> MikroTik RouterBOARD RB433GL
> [www.msdist.co.uk]
> RD_RB433GL.php
> 3x MikroTik R52Hn 802.11 a/b/g/n High Power
> MiniPCI Card
> [linitx.com]
> n-high-power-minipci-card/12801
>
> High END : (500 WiFi Users)
> - At this point you might want keep the Router a
> Dedicated Router
> and get a ITX Motherboard to Run the Server / Mesh
> Stuff
> (You wont use Piratebox Software for this level of
> Hardware You can Run and serve BitTorrent and
> Gnutella2 Protocols and setup any server software
> you want) You can also make it Dual OS - Virtual
> OS to Repair its self
>
> M4-ATX 250W 6V-30V Intelligent Car PSU -
> [linitx.com] will allow a
> 250Watt ITX / mATX PC to run on 6V 12V 24V DC 30V
> Directly from a battery or battery bank
>
> MikroTik RouterBOARD RB435G
> [www.msdist.co.uk]
> RD_RB435G.php
>
> 5x MikroTik R52Hn 802.11 a/b/g/n High Power
> MiniPCI Cards
> [linitx.com]
> n-high-power-minipci-card/12801
>
> If we use a Few Ideas from SOLN1 Version 3 -
> [www.youtube.com] and
> modify it to not use a Inverter you can integrate
> all this tech into the back of a 80 WATT Framed
> solar kits with 1x / 2x Custom Polymer LiFePO4
> Battery Packs: 12.8V 20Ah (256Wh, 16A rate) (24.0)
> -
> [www.batteryspace.com]
> -battery-pack-12-8v-20ah-256wh-16a-rate-24-0.aspx
> then are Piratebox never need to come home for
> recharging
>
> If you want the ITX PC You will need to UP Your
> panels to 4x 48V Monocrystalline 250W Solar PV
> Modules + With 40A MPPT and use 24V Battery bank
> (alls the MikroTik RouterBOARDs are WIDE Voltage
> input 10V ~ 30V for some of them)

Just awesome thanks for sharing out all the details of the professional router.. Well I do need one so I will surely follow the post details.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2014 06:38AM by PaulBerardirs.

can you please elaborate how you did that !! how you customized it ?

Greetings! The PB project is still fun, though I think I bricked a mr3220 last night trying to revert it back to original firmware. I never did get PB to work from it as the openwrt for it wasn't for PB, apparently. I didn't know until it was flashed and then wouldn't install PB. Reflashing back said it 'couldn't erase block' and then I did something wrong and then all lightsflash like a traffic light late at night. Oh, well.

I do have a 3020 working great! Mellted a 1TB I was using for PB the other day but I have another coming back up. Daughter had it playing direct from her computer when it happened. Oh, well.

Ok, to get to the point. I would like to supply for a small community with many users- maybe 50-60 at a time. Above it was mentioned:

"- Note this Path isn't for all (it can get quite expensive ) But it does allow for more Professional Custom Piratebox's with more custom options (Both in hardware and software)

Entry Level: (100 WiFi Users)
- can turn into a Slave Router for your MR3020 by using a Ethernet Patch cable
MikroTik RouterBoard 411U
[linitx.com] "

-So, I can put a 3020 onto this routerboard and then be able to have that many people copying down large files simutainiously? Possible? That seems awfully easy. Too easy? I would have thought that the 3020 would be limited by it's own hardware.
I hooked up the 3020 to a netgear n600 for improved coverage the other day and it worked with no trouble, and it even gave me ip access control. I don't if it would have given me processing power. I don't have much experience in these things.
Hook up some yagi antennae to get super distance....
If anyone can answer the 3020 hooked to the MikrTik routerboard question, please let me know. Thank you all very much.
Derek

Sorry, I have the 3040, not the 3020.

Hi,
what the post ment, was the thing you already did:

* Take a router with at least 2 or 3 wifi antennas, it doesn't need to have USB
* Connect your computer to the new router
* Disable DHCP-Server in this router.
* Change its IP to 192.168.1.2 , so you can access its admin panel while it is connected to the PirateBox
* Connect this router via ethernet cable to the PirateBox

Maybe you want to disable the AP on the PirateBox itself, too.


In this scenario, the PirateBox takes over control of the IP distribution of the network. The ethernet connection is fast enough to serve the data in a speed, that might exceed the limits of the MR3020/USB combination. I guess, that wifi is still the limiting factor.

The PirateBox could also be a RaspberryPi without a wifi card. That might be a faster then the MR3020 - with a higher energy footprint.

Does that help?

Matthias

---

This is only my signature.

Yes, Thank you. I will have to think about what you said.
When I had the piratebox on the n600 router network I saw it was still transmitting but didn't know how to turn it off. I don't know if it could be accessed as I was playing with the access control of the one it was connected to. I seem to remember it couldn't...
In the other thread I asked about installing Piratebox onto a radiolabs router. Would it be easier to hook up one of the smaller portables to that router and not have to really do anything? Use the Piratebox as a portable brain to plug in where you want and rule the world?! Muahahaha!!
Are you saying that the ethernet communication between the PB and the new router will be faster than the usb port between the PB its data starage? The usb data line will be my slow link in the system?
If it would work, how many users downloading do you think the 3040 could handle with that combination? Maybe I could then take your advice and work with a Pi as the PB brain if I feel other hardware would be too slow.
I made my Piratebox on a 4gb usb and a mr3040, then copied the piratebox usb files onto a 1TB hard drive. Works great. If the project turns good, I'd have to get more hardrives or something with 5 TB if possible. All those old shows. The PB cuts out a lot of work. I sometimes refurbish off-lease computers and copying install programs from Piratebox saves so much time and others users also come, copy,and go.
Thanks again.
Derek

If anyone can answer this, please do. I feel bad for Matthias having to do answer everyones small questions all the time.



In this scenario, the PirateBox takes over control
of the IP distribution of the network. The
ethernet connection is fast enough to serve the
data in a speed, that might exceed the limits of
the MR3020/USB combination. I guess, that wifi is
still the limiting factor.

Are you saying a more powerful router will still be limited to the max wifi output of the 3040?

Thank you,
Derek

> Are you saying a more powerful router will still be limited to the max wifi output of the 3040?

no, because you should connect them via wired ethernet

---

This is only my signature.

Great! Ok, that was my concern. So theoreticlly I should be able to put my 3040 Piratebox on the o2air-ac (or any other stonger router) to increase the amount of users being able download at faster speed... If that is not correct, please let me know.
Out of curiosity, how many people do you think could download at about 2-3 mbps with a 3040 and a 1000 megabyte router?
Thank you and hope the day is good,
Derek

[www.ebay.com]

I think this would be excellent for an easy to obtain, high traffic, tons of power, PB.

hi, a few years later, but i can't find information :

how did you install piratebox on this WRD3600 ?

many thanks