Linux has some very powerful routing capabilities. It is also very performant and it uses very few resources. These, and countless other benefits make it an excellent choice for a router operating system. Choosing a distribution can be a challenge, however.
I have built routers using pfSense, DD-WRT, Ubuntu, Debian, and CentOS. Each of these has pros and cons. pfSense and DD-WRT have web applications that can be used to configure the router. Ubuntu and Debian are easy to get up and running quickly. CentOS has wide support. Fedora has much newer packages available, and also has wide support.
As a side note, Ubuntu is built on top of Debian. CentOS is built on top of Fedora. Debian and Fedora have been around for a very long time, and they have very large numbers of users.
After having created so many different routers, my current favorite is Fedora. It has been very predictable and stable - both are good qualities to have in a router operating system. This article will take you step-by-step through the process of building a router using Fedora.
Prerequisites
Here are my recommended prerequisites. I am just making these up based on past experiences:
- 16 GB Hard Disk
- 2 GB RAM
- 2 CPU Cores
- 2 Network Cards
Installation
Download and install Fedora Server from https://getfedora.org/en/server/. If you plan on booting from a USB drive, download the Fedora Media Writer from https://getfedora.org/en/workstation/download/. Note that although the page says Download Fedora 28 Workstation, the download link currently points to the Media Writer.
Post Installation Steps
Configure Static IP Address
Fedora 28 stores its network configuration scripts under /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts. For each network card that is detected, a script will be created with the prefix
ifcfg-. For example, my computer has two network cards: eth0 and eth1. eth0 is connected to the public Internet and eth1 is connected to my private network. Two files exist called ifcfg-eth0 and ifcfg-eth1.
To configure an IP address for a given interface, open the appropriate file in a text editor. By default, it is set to use DHCP to obtain an IP address. Add the following entries:
IPADDR=192.168.1.1
PREFIX=24
Install Updates
To install all available updates, type dnf upgrade at the console.
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