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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