Roo-ter (How to setup a SFF Router + Redundant NAS)

LukeD

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Jun 29, 2016
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Overview

As a frequent traveler I needed a portable router + NAS solution. Something small, with minimal amount of cables, no dongles etc … Something that I could take with me on the road and something I could store my data on securely. In addition to that I wanted it to be fast. Fast to boot, fast to perform and provide me with all the functionality / services I run in my home / lab setup.

Requirements:
1. Small self-contained portable footprint
2. Router functionality (WiFi for WAN and WiFI + Ethernet for LAN)
3. Firewall functionality
4. VPN functionality
5. NAS functionality
6. All functions need to be modular (so for example if I wanted to later replace the router functionality with some better, the NAS would remain untouched)
7. Must be able to withstand hardware failure and be fairly hardware agnostic so that data can be easily migrated to another device
8. Data-loss from the NAS functionality is not acceptable
9. Environment must be secure
10. Have a WAN facing interface that is separated from the LAN functions using a firewall
11. Be hotel friendly, allow the device to authenticate against captive redirect pages and allow connectivity of devices that cannot authenticate against a hotel Access Point (e.g. Apple TV without Jailbreak)
12. WiFi to have a/b/g/n/ac 2.4 + 5 GHz functionality and connect to Hotel WiFi’s WAN as well as provide a secure WiFi LAN in your room for you to connect your devices.

Design choices (addressing requirements):
1 : Gigabyte Brix - Provides a very small footprint with various CPU configurations at different price points. Anywhere from 2 core / 4 thread to 4 core / 8 thread configurations are possible
2 , 3 , 4 : OpenWRT - Free, small footprint software with routing abilities between various WiFi and LAN technologies. Firewall built in. Modular and updatable, has plugins for VPN functionality and the ability to support a lot of desktop grade hardware.
5 : XPenology - Free, hacked up version of Synology’s DSM. Great modular functionality with lots of plugins as well as extended community support.
6 : Proxmox - To keep things modular it is best to isolate them. To do this I needed a free hypervisor with built in management interface.
7 , 8 : Proxmox + StarTech Dual M.2 Raid Adapter - Keeping things as VM’s (qcow images) I can translate the VM’s to another hypervisor in the future. The StarTech M.2 RAID adapter provides data redundancy
9 : OpenWRT - Has very versatile configuration options for WAN and LAN connectivity. Ability to create separate firewall zones for WAN and LAN.
10 : ArchBang - A small VM running ArchBang that has a FireFox browser built in. This allows the device to authenticate against a hotel AP. Any device that connects to this router then doesn’t have to authenticate. This VM is not necessary on most AP's as the first device you connect to the Rooter will authenticate the Rooter against the hotel WiFi. This VM is just in case.
11 : Atheros QCNFA344A - This WiFi adapter is very versatile and replaces the standard Intel 3168NGW adapter that comes with the Brix. Has a variety of bands allowing for best 2 x 2 MU-MIMO connectivity / throughput options and works well in AP / Client mode simultaneously. (so you can connect to a hotel’s WiFi.
Model: QCNFA344AH
(NGFF M.2 2230 Key A/E)
802.11abgn/ac 2T2R (867Mbps) MU-MIMO



Solution - Hardware:
1 x Gigabyte Brix - GB-BRI7H-8550 - i7 8550U (4 core / 8 thread)
1 x Corsair 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 SO-DIMM memory
1 x StarTech Dual M.2 Raid Adapter 25S22M2NGFFR
1 x Intel 6000p 1TB NVMe M.2 drive
2 x Samsung EVO 860 2TB SATA M.2 drives
1 x Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174A (Dell DW1820)



Solution - Software:
Hypervisor: Proxmox VE 5.3
Router OS: OpenWRT 18.06.2
NAS OS: XPenology 6.2.1 (using Jun's Synoboot v1.04b boot loader)
Guest OS: ArchBang Linux (just for random things)


Setup Guide:
LINK to PDF (9MB)


Solution - Diagram:
 
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Phuncz

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Epic, I love this already ! Makes me want to start fiddling with my passive NUC case which has room for two NUCs :D
 
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LukeD

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Epic, I love this already ! Makes me want to start fiddling with my passive NUC case which has room for two NUCs :D

What kind of case are you referring to ? Now I'm curious too ;)
 

BaK

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May 17, 2016
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Wow, thanx for the very well made post, full of relevant infos leading to a very clever and tiny solution! :thumb:

As mention in the @BikingViking11's thread, this Startech dual M.2 adapter looks very promising, now I am tempted to get one.
First time I hear of XPenology, looks interesting too.

Just a question about the guest OS, it looks like you are going to boot Archbang from the ISO every time, just like a live CD right?
If so, why that instead of installing it into the VM3 once and for all?

EDIT: just noticed the PDF setup guide, outstanding!
 
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Phuncz

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What kind of case are you referring to ? Now I'm curious too ;)
Akasa Tesla H case
Officially it isn't compatible with a second NUC, but there is plenty of room with the extra HDD support.
The front and back plates are removable and flat, so can potentially be water-jetted for port access for the second one.
 
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LukeD

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Just a question about the guest OS, it looks like you are going to boot Archbang from the ISO every time, just like a live CD right?
If so, why that instead of installing it into the VM3 once and for all?
EDIT: just noticed the PDF setup guide, outstanding!

Heheh no worries, I moved the PDF setup guide above the diagram so its more visible :) Good point.

As to the guest OS, you can literally change it to anything, you can make it a permanent install or run off an ISO every time ... any flavour of Linux or Windows, whatever you want.

You can also do something like this (which I might actually end up doing)..... create a Kodi VM, pass through the Intel GPU and 2 USB ports to it so that every time you connect a Keyboard + Mouse + TV/Monitor , the Brix starts up you get a fully fledged Kodi Media Player. This way you get all the Router + NAS functionality and a functional Media Player all in one. The only challenge with that is, if the hypervisor breaks, the internal virtual network goes down and you need command line interface to Proxmox you're out of luck ;) But the option is there ;). Maybe you can make the Kodi VM NOT auto-start, instead connect to the WiFi LAN broadcast by the Brix and start the Kodi VM by hand. A small inconvenience, but still ;)
 
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LukeD

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Akasa Tesla H case
Officially it isn't compatible with a second NUC, but there is plenty of room with the extra HDD support.
The front and back plates are removable and flat, so can potentially be water-jetted for port access for the second one.

That's awesome ! I wonder if I could use that with this setup. Reason is I was doing a little bit more digging last night thinking to myself ....
What if I forewent the M.2 NVME cache drive and instead put something like this: Amazon Link



I could use an M.2 -> PCIe adapter to connect it.
I think this is small enough it could fit inside the current Brix case but it would be too small. With the i7 CPU in there its quite warm to the touch ... perhaps the i3 Brix would have been a better choice ? ;) But a passively cooled case like that would be perfect when extended with this board.
I also wonder if this board would need extra power or would the M.2 slot on the Brix be enough to power this RAID controller.
 

Phuncz

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May 9, 2015
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The total speed will be limited a bit though:
  • PCI Express 2X Specification Rev. 2.0
  • 2-Lane (x2) PCI-Express with transfer rate 5Gb/s Full Duplex channel
  • Compliant with Serial ATA 3.0 Specification,Data transfer rate up to 6.0Gb/s
So it has ~1GB/s throughput. For SFF stacking the sockets instead of having them flat would probably allow more placement options but in this arrangement you could potentially cool them passively by attaching them to the outside of the case with some thermal pads.

About the power, the card expects 12V power through the main PCIe power connector (the short one of the two fingers) if I'm looking at it correctly. M.2 sockets only provides 3.3V power, not 12V which this card seems to expect. You can see it on the 3rd image on the Amazon link and compare it with the pinout at Wikipedia.
 

LukeD

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There goes that idea ;) The power brick for the Brix is 19v so without a step-down to 12v I couldn't piggy back this adapter from the power brick. So this wouldn't work :/ Unfortunate.
 

The6A

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Mar 20, 2017
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Ya know what would be totally awesome to use with this? A portable case with a dual gpu setup, man I really wanted one of those
 
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LukeD

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Hahahah. I feel ya :)
It's being worked on .... believe me ... I couldn't want for this case to be released soon enough. There were a number of reasons for the delay, some legal, some related to the creator's health and personal circumstances ... but last I heard ... and I have some good sources ;) ... its being worked on :)