Best router software? Openwrt? (HTTP/FTP/BitTorrent/remote access)

warnec · 2010-09-02 02:36:51

Hi guys. I'm planning to create a sort of "entertainment center" in my own house, and plan to buy a NAS, 2 Boxee Boxes (as soon as they are available) and connect them to a home LAN.

The thing is, in the country I live in (Poland) something like Netflix, movie/TV Show rentals etc. should be rather considered "impalpable dream" of some sort
That's why I need a hardware which would be able to download files from HTTP servers (FTP and BitTorrent are also very welcome)

I first thought about a router with OpenWrt and rsget.pl installed and connecting to it via telnet or ssh, but I am afraid it might be a little bit too hard for me to set up (I'm a noob)

Is OpenWrt that hard to set up (for a noob, remember)?

AFAIK, with stock Openwrt there is no GUI interface like the one which appears when connecting to a router with regular stock firmware using a web browser.
I read there are some GUI additions for OpenWrt, are they easier to use . You know, X-Openwrt or something like that. Do they offer an experience similar to what stock firmware offers? I'd like to be able to easily and painfully set up a local network with my NAS, Boxees and create an encrypted wireless network.

Or maybe You know some better alternatives to OpenWrt and rsget.pl? Sure, I could use some simple bash script with curl/wget/whatever, but rsget.pl impressed me with it HTTP interface:
http://rsget.pl/screenshots/if1.png

The thing is, I wonder how one sets it up. There is very little info on rsget.pl site regarding HTTP interface:

How to make best use of the http interface.
# Patch http intherface through apache web server.

ProxyPass /rsget/ http://localhost:7666/ retry=2
ProxyPass /rsget/done !

<Location /rsget>
    AuthType basic
    AuthName "rsget.pl downloader"
    AuthBasicProvider file
    AuthUserFile /srv/http/root/rsget/.htpasswd
    Require valid-user
    Options +FollowSymLinks
</Location>

And that's it What does it mean? A noob like me still stays completely clueless. How is this supposed to give me any info about HTTP interface setup?

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And besides - what is required to be able to have such http interface working? Does it all work on the router side (so requirements are the same like the ones for ssh/telnet), or it requires a separate dedicated web server?

Thank You in advance for all help! I do not know any other forum to which I could turn to to receive a professional answer. (I know it sounds hilarious, but that's just how it is)

Last edited by warnec (2010-09-02 02:43:54)

jasonwryan · 2010-09-02 02:43:25

Moved to networking: you are more likely to get the sort of assistance you need here...

FWIW: I use tomato on my routers.

Sin.citadel · 2010-09-02 09:47:33

for your entire setup, do you want to create a machine which is a gateway for the internet and also downloads from the internet, or do you want to use openwrt on an old router.

In situations where you need to do more things, such as download from bittorrent, create a small server, etc. i recommend that you use an old pc and set it up with a linux distribution, this will allow you far more customization than openwrt (openwrt replaces firmware of routers). This may be more difficult to set up, but there are lots of distributions out there which allow you to manage linux directly from the web interface.

Also, rtorrent is great for downloading from bittorrent using the command line and also has pretty good web interfaces which can be used to manage it.

warnec · 2010-09-02 14:32:34

Sin.citadel wrote:

do you want to create a machine which is a gateway for the internet and also downloads from the internet, or do you want to use openwrt on an old router.

To be honest, I don't know why you distinguished these two things I thought a router with OpenWrt could be a Internet gateway and downloader, TBH. It doesn't need to be old, really.

And yes, I have thought about a separate PC, but I am pretty sure it would be too hard for me to setup. I already thought about hiring somebody to configure and set it up all for me, but I want to do it myself! (this Arch soul, y'know )

Do You think a rouer is not powerful enough to handle a web server/downloading/Internet gateway (LAN/WAN) ?

I might even abandon this whole web server and http access idea, in case a regular router won't handle such stuff.

Simple telnet/ssh/putty/whatever (I suppose they are different, but excuse my ignorance, I don't know much about it, still need to learn about that) could even be enough if this is the only option.

Last edited by warnec (2010-09-02 14:35:53)

.:B:. · 2010-09-02 15:02:17

Do you have a device in mind already? I know Asus has a model that allows you to build in a HD, for example (I think it's 802.11g though, the WL-700GE, and I don't know if they still sell it).

OpenWrt can run on x86 as well, but it requires a bit more tinkering. A good router is certainly powerful enough to handle all that when it comes to processing power, just make sure you have enough RAM (especially for the downloading part.

How about getting a NAS that runs Linux (Qnap has quite a few of them) and using that? Those usually have more RAM than your average router. Debian supports some of the Qnaps with their latest stable version afaik.

zenlord · 2010-09-02 16:00:26

I'm also interested in this subject. I'm busy building a home (still in the designing stage) and I want to make it as multimedia as possible. Things I have in mind are:
* a router / gateway / firewall (dhcp-server, bind9, nscd, iptables etc.)
* a mediaserver (ps3mediaserver for uPnP/dlna, NFS, samba for filesharing, rtorrent for downloading) -> this is working at my current place
* a communications/productivity server (dovecot/postfix for email, asterisk or freeswitch for telephony/doorbell, davical for calendars, Jabber for chat) -> this is working at my current office, but installed by a professional, so I'm not sure if I can get it to work myself

These three services can be combined in 1 box, but with security in mind, I was thinking to just get me dedicated firewall-router like the Soekris (http://www.soekris.com/) with NetBSD and then a standalone-box to supply the whole house by ethernet.

Security on the LAN is perfect with Kerberos and LDAP, but this adds another layer of complexity...

In a nutshell: this is a rather complex setup, but it is something that you can learn a lot out of and you won't get the same experience with a pre-configured router or firmware-update... And don't forget to check the wiki, because there are some good documents there (there is a miniseries in italian about setting up a soho-server with arch)

kittykatt · 2010-09-02 17:30:18

I personally use DD-WRT on all of my routers.

http://www.dd-wrt.com

.:B:. · 2010-09-02 17:38:16

Dd-wrt is not really fit for customisation. It's marketed as a complete solution but hacking it is not really easy (hacking it is ugly, rather). OpenWrt on the other hand is as bare-bones as you can get without compromising on functionality. If the OP wants to hack something together based on router firmware then OpenWrt is his best shot.

As for the bigger picture, I am using an x86 box as fileserver (currently an AMD 5050e, planning on a 240e or an Atom, not sure yet), my router is a WNDR3700 running OpenWrt (separate 802.11g and 802.11n APs), and the media center finally is an AppleTV running Arch and Xbmc on it.

Personally, I'm not a fan of all-in-one solutions. Either they consume too much power for what they tend to do most of the time (the router part, mostly) or the hardware isn't powerful or expandable enough to allow for future upgrades or changes without having to replace the whole thing. My router is up 24/7 (as is my server, really, but my server is only accessible on the LAN, although it also doubles as my torrent box), and the AppleTV only goes on when i need it.

warnec · 2010-09-03 02:18:54

Alright, so I believe my best shot would be a x86 box with Debian for downloading, and a LAN router with DD-WRT or something (more network-management centric open firmware, similar to the stock one) for WAN and LAN.

But if it is going to be a full PC box, I'd prefer it to be a more powerful solution, with rsget.pl and http interface in place of some simple bash scripts/CLI solutions. Is it possible?

What does it mean?:

How to make best use of the http interface.
# Patch http intherface through apache web server.

ProxyPass /rsget/ http://localhost:7666/ retry=2
ProxyPass /rsget/done !

<Location /rsget>
    AuthType basic
    AuthName "rsget.pl downloader"
    AuthBasicProvider file
    AuthUserFile /srv/http/root/rsget/.htpasswd
    Require valid-user
    Options +FollowSymLinks
</Location>

(taken from here: http://rsget.pl/#/about/interface/)

Does it mean I'd have to set up an Apache web server on that x86 box and this is some sort of code snippet that should be attached to Apache's config file?

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Is such http interface even possible? I mean, I have completely no experience in web server, Apache, etc. So don't blame me for stupid questions/ideas.

After setting up on my box (and provided I have a public IP or dyndns account) would it be as simple as typing 123.456.789.123 (my public IP, for ex.) or warnec.dyndns.org in the internet browser from my friend's home and boom, I'm connected to my x86 box and ready to add links to download queue?

Last edited by warnec (2010-09-03 02:21:56)

.:B:. · 2010-09-03 14:53:04

I use rtorrent with the rutorrent web interface myself.

warnec · 2010-09-03 18:02:45

Rtorrent would be OK, but it only downloads torrents, right? I'd need something to download from HTTP server and with http interface.

As I said, rsget.pl seems perfect, but I don't know how the http interface works(how one sets it up). That's where I need Your help.

Or maybe You know some better alternatives to rsget.pl ? As I said, there are lots of bash scripts with curl or wget floating around which can use a linklist from a text file, but I'd prefer something with a web interface.

Last edited by warnec (2010-09-03 18:05:03)

Arch Linux

#1 2010-09-02 02:36:51

Best router software? Openwrt? (HTTP/FTP/BitTorrent/remote access)

#2 2010-09-02 02:43:25

Re: Best router software? Openwrt? (HTTP/FTP/BitTorrent/remote access)

#3 2010-09-02 09:47:33

Re: Best router software? Openwrt? (HTTP/FTP/BitTorrent/remote access)

#4 2010-09-02 14:32:34

Re: Best router software? Openwrt? (HTTP/FTP/BitTorrent/remote access)

#5 2010-09-02 15:02:17

Re: Best router software? Openwrt? (HTTP/FTP/BitTorrent/remote access)

#6 2010-09-02 16:00:26

Re: Best router software? Openwrt? (HTTP/FTP/BitTorrent/remote access)

#7 2010-09-02 17:30:18

Re: Best router software? Openwrt? (HTTP/FTP/BitTorrent/remote access)

#8 2010-09-02 17:38:16

Re: Best router software? Openwrt? (HTTP/FTP/BitTorrent/remote access)

#9 2010-09-03 02:18:54

Re: Best router software? Openwrt? (HTTP/FTP/BitTorrent/remote access)

#10 2010-09-03 14:53:04

Re: Best router software? Openwrt? (HTTP/FTP/BitTorrent/remote access)

#11 2010-09-03 18:02:45

Re: Best router software? Openwrt? (HTTP/FTP/BitTorrent/remote access)

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