Alpine Linux - User contributions [en]

User:AlpinePhil

2025-09-24T18:47:02Z

AlpinePhil: /* TODOs */

==TODOs==
Done. Nothing to see here.

Talk:Raspberry Pi 3 - Configuring it as wireless access point -AP Mode

2025-09-24T18:46:23Z

AlpinePhil: proposal for merge

This works. The only thing I don't like is that it seems I have to restart the Pi for it to come up stably as an AP. What I mean is if I do everything as specified on the wiki page and then restart ONLY the networking, I can see the Pi in the scan list of my peripheral device (my phone for instance) but only for about 10-20 seconds; then it disappears. If I connect to the Pi during said 10-20 second interval, it connects but then disconnects after the 10-20 seconds have passed. However, once I restart the Pi, it shows up in my peripheral device's scan list and stays. Then I can connect to it and the connection persists indefinitely. Anybody know how to get the Pi into AP mode and have it persist WITHOUT rebooting?

BTW, I have tried running a script which stops a bunch services and then starts them back up (similar to when the Pi boots), but that does not help; as described above, I have to reboot the Pi for the AP mode to persist. Here is the aforementioned script:

=AP Mode Script=

#!/bin/bash
# SETUP GREENBOX AS WIRELESS ACCESS POINT
# Stop services
service sshd stop
service crond stop
service chronyd stop
service dbus stop
service hostapd stop
service dnsmasq stop
service syslog stop
service klogd stop
service networking stop
service mdev stop
service acpid stop
#Copy over configuration files with content per https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi_3_-_Configuring_it_as_wireless_access_point_-AP_Mode
cp -f /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf.field /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
cp -f /etc/dnsmasq.conf.field /etc/dnsmasq.conf
cp -f /etc/network/interfaces.field /etc/network/interfaces
#Commit the changes
lbu ci -d
#Wipe the tmp folder
rm -rf /tmp
#Start services
service acpid start
service mdev start
service networking start
service klogd start
service syslog start
service dnsmasq start
service hostapd start
service dbus start
service chronyd start
service crond start
service sshd start

Thanks,

BB

==Proposal to merge==

I propose that this page be merged to the [[How to setup a wireless access point]] page as it is largely duplicate material, and some of this information in this page is either out-dated or could be displayed with less duplication as an optional step within that how to.

Raspberry Pi 3 - Configuring it as wireless access point -AP Mode

2025-09-24T18:44:42Z

AlpinePhil: Propose merge

{{Merge|How to setup a wireless access point}}
{{TOC right}}

{{Todo|Was the raspberrypi-libs package renamed... or is it even still required?}}

=Install the necessary firmware=

apk add {{pkg|linux-firmware-brcm|arch=a*}} {{pkg|raspberrypi-libs|arch=a*|branch=v3.17}}

=Install hostapd and dnsmasq=

apk add {{pkg|hostapd|arch=a*}} {{pkg|dnsmasq|arch=a*}}

=Configure /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf=

interface=wlan0
driver=nl80211
ssid=Pi3-AP
hw_mode=g
channel=1
macaddr_acl=0
auth_algs=1
wpa=2
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
wpa_passphrase=raspberry
rsn_pairwise=CCMP
wpa_pairwise=CCMP

=Configure your /etc/dnsmasq.conf=

interface=wlan0
dhcp-range=10.0.0.2,10.0.0.5,255.255.255.0,12h

=Configure Static ips for wlan0 in the file /etc/network/interfaces=

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet static
address 10.0.0.1
netmask 255.255.255.0

=Start the services=

service dnsmasq start
service hostapd start

=Enable the Services permanently on every bootup=

rc-update add dnsmasq
rc-update add hostapd

(to del)

rc-update del dnsmasq
rc-update del hostapd

(or)

rc-update add dnsmasq boot
rc-update add hostapd boot

(to del)

rc-update del dnsmasq boot
rc-update del hostapd boot

=Commit all changes to files=

Make sure you run the command shown below to commit all changes, otherwise they will be lost on reboot.

lbu ci

=References=
https://gist.github.com/atlury/fe0ea8b91a981c103df7

https://frillip.com/using-your-raspberry-pi-3-as-a-wifi-access-point-with-hostapd/{{dead link}}

Thanks
oneinsect@gmail.com

[[Category:Networking]]
[[Category:Embedded Systems]]
[[category: Raspberry]]

Talk:How to set up Alpine as a wireless router

2025-09-24T18:43:22Z

AlpinePhil: Created page with "I propose merging this into the How to setup a wireless access point page as it contains largely duplicate material to that page, which is cleaner in style. Other information here largely pertains to the router aspect, which is covered in multiple other specific pages. ~~~~"

I propose merging this into the How to setup a wireless access point page as it contains largely duplicate material to that page, which is cleaner in style. Other information here largely pertains to the router aspect, which is covered in multiple other specific pages.

[[User:AlpinePhil|AlpinePhil]] ([[User talk:AlpinePhil|talk]]) 18:43, 24 September 2025 (UTC)

How to set up Alpine as a wireless router

2025-09-24T18:41:44Z

AlpinePhil:

{{Style}}
{{Merge|How to setup a wireless access point}}

=== Pi Zero W Wireless Router ===

This page describes building a Wireless Access Point with two wired ethernet ports for building a home router that connects to the internet with one wired port, and an internal LAN with the second wired port and the on-board WiFi. 

The intent is to provide this: 
<pre>
|<-->eth1 <-->|
Internet <--> eth0 <-->FireWall<-->br0 Internal<--> ssh,bind,dhcp, with ssh reverse ssh connections.
|<-->wlan0<-->|
</pre>

=== Overview ===
I generally run Debian and when forced by Red Hot Irons, Red Hat. This is my first foray into Alpine. So far I am very impressed. I mirrored the 3.12 armhf repos so I had things local when I needed them. Word to the wise, it comprises 13 GB of apk files. 
One *really* nice feature of Alpine is apk, the yum/apt replacement: 
* It is simple and to the point.
* The same tool provides *repo* level dependency reporting!
* Install of single packages without repo signing (I never did get the signing correct, but I can install).

=== Prepare ===
* Obtain a microSD card (or HDD) you can wipe the data from. We will assume it is /dev/sdc.
* Make a 256M FAT16 partition (sudo mkfs.vfat -n ALPBOOT /dev/sdc1)
* The rest of the device can be ext2 (ext3/4 on HDD) (sudo mke2fs -m1 -L alext3 /dev/sdc2).
* Untar the alpine-rpi-3.12.3-armhf.tar.gz and copy all of the files to the fat16 partition which can be as large as 2G.
* Make sure you have all the packages from the package list below installed on the SD card. This will save you lots of time.
* Add this to usercfg.txt at the root of the FAT16 partition:
enable_uart=1
gpu_mem=16
dtparam=audio=off
* This is the contents of cmdline.txt:
modules=loop,squashfs,sd-mod,usb-storage console=tty1 console=ttyAMA0,115200

=== First Boot ===
* Put the SD into the pi zero
* Connect the serial port
* Run minicom with the parameters set to 115200,n,8,1, no flow control.
* Power up the Pi.

=== Copy Root ===
* mkdir /stage
* mount /dev/sda2 /stage
* for d in $(ls -1 /|grep -v 'media\|stage\|dev\|proc\|sys'); do cp -a /$d /stage; done
* modules are loop mounted to /.modloop, and lib/modules is symlinked to that, so
* rm /stage/lib/modules
* cp -a /.modloop /stage/lib/modules
* Fix cmdline.txt
mount -o remount,rw /media/mmcblk0p1
echo 'root=/dev/mmcblk0p2' >> /media/mmcblk0p1/cmdline.txt
* reboot

=== Install ===
* verify you are now operating from the ext2 filesystem where you copied the rootfs.
* install openssh, openssh-server, openssh-client, openssh-server-common,
* install dnsmasq, ethtool, hostapd*, busybox extras, iptables*, iw,net-tools, tree, wireless-tools.
* edit all the configurations supplied here.

===== ssh config =====
The allowed users are not normal names since I want the names to be a little obfuscated. Not that it really matters, since this is a key driven setup 
AddressFamily inet 
ListenAddress 0.0.0.0 
HostKey /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key 
LogLevel INFO 
LoginGraceTime 30 
PermitRootLogin no 
StrictModes yes 
AllowUsers Som123X Extern4524User 
PubkeyAuthentication yes 
AuthorizedKeysFile /etc/ssh/authorized_keys 
HostbasedAuthentication yes 
IgnoreUserKnownHosts yes 
IgnoreRhosts yes 
PasswordAuthentication no 
ChallengeResponseAuthentication no 
AllowTcpForwarding yes 
GatewayPorts yes 
X11Forwarding no 

===== dnsmasq.conf =====
/etc/dnsmasq.conf 
This has two subnets. One for normal dhcp, the other for pseudo static - dhcp provided by MAC. One example here. 
<pre>
interface=br0
except-interface=eth0
dhcp-range=subnet0,192.168.0.10,192.168.0.100,255.255.255.0,24h
dhcp-range=subnet1,192.168.0.4,192.168.0.6,255.255.255.0,24h
bind-interfaces
#log-queries
#log-dhcp
dhcp-host=70:85:66:c4:48:55,192.168.0.4,nas
</pre>

===== /etc/hosts =====
dnsmasq provides DNS answers from the hosts file. Nice. 
<pre>
127.0.0.1 localhost localhost.localdomain
::1 localhost localhost.localdomain
192.168.0.3 wireless
192.168.0.4 nas
192.168.0.5 mpd
</pre>

===== hostapd.conf =====
/etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf 
<pre>
interface=wlan0
bridge=br0
hw_mode=g
channel=7
wmm_enabled=0
macaddr_acl=0
auth_algs=1
ignore_broadcast_ssid=0
wpa=2
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
wpa_pairwise=TKIP
rsn_pairwise=CCMP
ssid=Whatever
wpa_passphrase=YouMakeItUp
</pre>

===== interfaces =====
/etc/network/interfaces 
<pre>
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
hostname ANYNAME
hwaddress ether FE:ED:BE:EF:33:DD

iface eth1 inet manual
iface wlan0 inet manual

auto br0
iface br0 inet static
pre-up ifconfig eth1 up
bridge-ports eth1 wlan0
bridge-stp off
address 192.168.0.3
broadcaset 192.168.1.255
netmask 255.255.255.0
</pre>

===== Permissive iptables =====
Do NOT use this connected to the internet! There is NO protection. 
This is my stopopen in my replacement iptables 
iptables -P INPUT ACCEPT 
iptables -F INPUT 
iptables -P OUTPUT ACCEPT 
iptables -F OUTPUT 
iptables -P FORWARD ACCEPT 
iptables -F FORWARD 
iptables -F -t nat 
iptables -F 

=== References ===
apk notes:

* Create, index and check dependencies on a list of apk files: apk index -o APKINDEX.unsigned.tar.gz *.apk
* Install a package: apk add iw OR apk add /path/to/iw-5.4-r0.apk
* remove a package: apk del iw
* repository lists are in: /etc/apk/repositories
* Local URL: /media/mmcblk0p1/apks
* Remote URL: http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.12/main

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Allocation_Table FAT16/32 limits] 
[https://udhcp.busybox.net/README.udhcpc udhcpc] 
[https://linux.die.net/man/8/ez-ipupdate ez-ipupdate] 
[[Alpine_Linux:FAQ#Dynamic_DNS|Dynamic_DNS]] 
[[Bridge|Alpine Linux Bridge]] 
[[Connecting_to_a_wireless_access_point|Connect to wireless AP]] 
[https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/222264/how-do-i-limit-dnsmasq-listening-to-only-one-interface dnsmasq listen restrictions] 
[https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/IPv6#Disable_IPv6 Disable IPV6] 
[https://github.com/imp/dnsmasq/blob/master/dnsmasq.conf.example dnsmasq Docs] 
[https://man.openbsd.org/hostapd.conf.5 HostApd Docs] 
[rsync://rsync.alpinelinux.org/alpine Alpine Repos] 
[https://stevessmarthomeguide.com/home-network-dns-dnsmasq Set Static DNS names] 
[https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/504100/how-to-create-ssh-reverse-tunnel-with-iptables-forwarding Reverse SSH tunnel] 
===== Pi Related =====
[https://github.com/rickyrockrat/nanopi-alpine NanoPi NEO build script] 
===== Pi Specific =====
[https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/89803/access-point-as-wifi-router-repeater-optional-with-bridge/89804 Pi Wifi Repeater] 
[https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/81486/raspberry-pi-wifi-to-ethernet-bridge-for-a-server/81518 WiFi Bridge] 
[[Raspberry_Pi|Alpine Install]] 
[[Classic_install_or_sys_mode_on_Raspberry_Pi|Classic Sys Install on Pi]] 

==== Not Related, but Interesting ====
[https://blog.thewalr.us/2017/09/26/raspberry-pi-zero-w-simultaneous-ap-and-managed-mode-wifi AP and Managed Mode] 
[https://www.instructables.com/Using-a-Raspberry-PI-Zero-W-As-an-Access-Point-and AP and MQTT] 

==== Package List ====
Put these in the apks/armhf directory on the 256M Fat partition: 

iptables-1.8.4-r2.apk openssh-8.3_p1-r1.apk
iptables-openrc-1.8.4-r2.apk openssh-client-8.3_p1-r1.apk
abuild-3.6.0-r1.apk iw-5.4-r0.apk openssh-keygen-8.3_p1-r1.apk
alpine-base-3.12.3-r0.apk kbd-bkeymaps-2.2.0-r2.apk openssh-server-8.3_p1-r1.apk
alpine-baselayout-3.2.0-r7.apk libacl-2.2.53-r0.apk openssh-server-common-8.3_p1-r1.apk
alpine-conf-3.9.0-r1.apk libattr-2.4.48-r0.apk openssh-sftp-server-8.3_p1-r1.apk
alpine-keys-2.2-r0.apk libblkid-2.35.2-r0.apk openssl-1.1.1i-r0.apk
alpine-mirrors-3.5.10-r0.apk libc-utils-0.7.2-r3.apk patch-2.7.6-r6.apk
apk-tools-2.10.5-r1.apk libcap-2.27-r0.apk pcsc-lite-libs-1.8.26-r0.apk
attr-2.4.48-r0.apk libcom_err-1.45.6-r0.apk pkgconf-1.7.2-r0.apk
bash-5.0.17-r0.apk libcrypto1.1-1.1.1i-r0.apk ppp-atm-2.4.8-r2.apk
bash-completion-2.10-r0.apk libcurl-7.69.1-r3.apk ppp-chat-2.4.8-r2.apk
bonding-2.6-r4.apk libedit-20191231.3.1-r0.apk ppp-daemon-2.4.8-r2.apk
bridge-1.5-r4.apk libev-4.33-r0.apk ppp-l2tp-2.4.8-r2.apk
bridge-utils-1.6-r0.apk libgcc-9.3.0-r2.apk ppp-minconn-2.4.8-r2.apk
busybox-1.31.1-r19.apk libmnl-1.0.4-r0.apk ppp-passprompt-2.4.8-r2.apk
busybox-extras-1.31.1-r19.apk libnftnl-1.1.6-r0.apk ppp-passwordfd-2.4.8-r2.apk
busybox-initscripts-3.2-r2.apk libnftnl-libs-1.1.6-r0.apk ppp-pppoe-2.4.8-r2.apk
busybox-suid-1.31.1-r19.apk libnl3-3.5.0-r0.apk ppp-radius-2.4.8-r2.apk
c-ares-1.16.1-r0.apk libpcap-1.9.1-r2.apk ppp-winbind-2.4.8-r2.apk
ca-certificates-20191127-r4.apk libssl1.1-1.1.1i-r0.apk readline-8.0.4-r0.apk
ca-certificates-bundle-20191127-r4.apk libstdc++-9.3.0-r2.apk scanelf-1.2.6-r0.apk
chrony-3.5.1-r0.apk libtls-standalone-2.9.1-r1.apk signature.tar.gz
chrony-openrc-3.5.1-r0.apk libusb-1.0.23-r0.apk ssl_client-1.31.1-r19.apk
curl-7.69.1-r3.apk libuuid-2.35.2-r0.apk tar-1.32-r1.apk
dbus-libs-1.12.18-r0.apk lzip-1.21-r0.apk tcpdump-4.9.3-r2.apk
dnsmasq-2.81-r0.apk mii-tool-1.60_git20140218-r2.apk tree-1.8.0-r0.apk
e2fsprogs-1.45.6-r0.apk musl-1.1.24-r10.apk tzdata-2020c-r1.apk
e2fsprogs-libs-1.45.6-r0.apk musl-utils-1.1.24-r10.apk usb-modeswitch-2.6.0-r1.apk
ethtool-5.6-r0.apk ncurses-libs-6.2_p20200523-r0.apk vlan-2.2-r0.apk
ez-ipupdate-3.0.10-r9.apk ncurses-terminfo-base-6.2_p20200523-r0.apk wireless-tools-30_pre9-r1.apk
fakeroot-1.24-r0.apk net-tools-1.60_git20140218-r2.apk wpa_supplicant-2.9-r5.apk
haveged-1.9.8-r1.apk network-extras-1.2-r0.apk wpa_supplicant-openrc-2.9-r5.apk
haveged-openrc-1.9.8-r1.apk nghttp2-1.41.0-r0.apk zlib-1.2.11-r3.apk
hostapd-2.9-r2.apk nghttp2-libs-1.41.0-r0.apk
hostapd-openrc-2.9-r2.apk openrc-0.42.1-r11.apk

Talk:Wireless AP with udhcpd and NAT

2025-09-24T18:40:39Z

AlpinePhil: Created page with "I propose that this should be merged to the Setting up a Home Router page because it contains content which largely replicates other AP articles within this wiki, but contains some options like udhcpd which should be added to the home router page. Having multiple pages with slight variations on a theme rather than referring out to explanations of individual components seems like a maintenance/desynchronisation risk. ~~~~"

I propose that this should be merged to the Setting up a Home Router page because it contains content which largely replicates other AP articles within this wiki, but contains some options like udhcpd which should be added to the home router page. Having multiple pages with slight variations on a theme rather than referring out to explanations of individual components seems like a maintenance/desynchronisation risk.

[[User:AlpinePhil|AlpinePhil]] ([[User talk:AlpinePhil|talk]]) 18:40, 24 September 2025 (UTC)

Wireless AP with udhcpd and NAT

2025-09-24T18:38:38Z

AlpinePhil: Proposal for merging.

[[Category:Networking]]
{{Merge|Setting up a Home Router}}
Setting up a wireless AP with udhcpd and NAT

(based largely on the [https://elinux.org/RPI-Wireless-Hotspot raspberry pi wireless router howto])

= Dependencies =

Install the hostapd access point software, busybox-extras (for the udhcpd DHCP server),
and the iptables firewall manager.

{{Cmd|apk add hostapd busybox-extras iptables}}

If you want to connect clients to the internet, you need to provide some way
of redirecting traffic from the AP to the internet.
There are two main possibilities:
*A bridge
*Network Address Translation

If you use a bridge and get your IP via DHCP, you may have a hard time
configuring it such that the bridge gets an IP address without screwing up your
local internet connection.

This guide only covers NAT. See [[Bridge]] for more info.

= Configure hostapd =
You need to write a configuration file. Alpine ships with a sample file in
/etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf, but it didn't work for me (possibly because I
used a pre-wireless-N card, supported by ath5k?).

Here's a sample based on something that did work for me
(I've changed ssid & wpa_passphrase):
ctrl_interface=/var/run/hostapd
ctrl_interface_group=0
interface=wlan0
driver=nl80211
logger_syslog=-1
logger_syslog_level=2
logger_stdout=-1
logger_stdout_level=2
ssid=alpine-test
hw_mode=g
channel=6
max_num_sta=32
rts_threshold=2347
fragm_threshold=2346
macaddr_acl=0
auth_algs=3
ignore_broadcast_ssid=0
wpa=2
wpa_passphrase=supertopsecret
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK WPA-PSK-SHA256
wpa_pairwise=TKIP CCMP

Change "interface" to match your wireless interface.
Change "ssid" and "wpa_passphrase" as necessary.
Set "wpa" to 3 if you want plain wpa and wpa2. or 1 for plain WPA1 only.

The example in the package uses wpa_psk_file (needed for WPS) instead of a
static passphrase. That does not enable WPS.

You may want to change the channel to avoid collisions with other local APs.
Unfortunately, the automatic channnel selection (channel=0) is *not*
currently enabled at compile time, so we can't use it. Scan for channels
in use with {{Cmd|iwlist wlan0 scanning}} or equivalent, before setup.

max_num_sta sets a limit on the number of clients that can connect to your AP.
Set it higher than you think you might have, but not much higher.

If you don't put this in /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf, you will need to change
the CONFIGS line in /etc/conf.d/hostapd to point at it.
I prefer doing that, so that the default is available for reference.

= Configure udhcpd =

Edit /etc/udhcpd.conf.
The default is very well-commented, but not really ready to use.
Here's a skeleton, loosely based on mine:
start 192.168.2.2
end 192.168.2.254
max_leases 64
interface wlan0
static_lease 00:1b:de:ad:be:ef 192.168.2.100
opt dns 192.168.0.1 8.8.8.8
opt subnet 255.255.255.0
opt router 192.168.2.1
opt lease 864000

Note the following:
*max_leases should be set to at least as many clients as you might have in the lifetime of a lease. If you have any clients connecting via bridges, note that the bridge itself gets a DHCP address.
*interface is the interface clients will be connecting to (wlan0 or your wireless interface in this example)
*router should be the static IP address you assign to your wireless interface.
*start and end should be within the same subnet as the IP address you configure wlan0 with, but the address for wlan0 should be outside the range.
(e.g. 192.168.2.1 and 192.168.2.255 are both suitable for the router address)
*set the DNS option to point to any nameservers you want. You can repeat it, but the limit is 3 nameservers.
*static_lease takes two arguments: a MAC address designating a specific network adaptor, and the IP address that should be assigned to it.
It can be repeated multiple times, to assign different addresses to different users.
This comes in handy for printers, if you can trust network users to not do MAC spoofing.

= Configure iptables =

I used raw iptables, configuring it thus:
{{Cmd|iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE
iptables -A FORWARD -i eth0 -o wlan0 -m state --state RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A FORWARD -i wlan0 -o eth0 -j ACCEPT}}
# this saves the state in a location the service can restore it from
<code>
service iptables save
</code>

= Test =
<code>
rc-service hostapd start

rc-service udhcpd start

sysctl net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
</code>
and try connecting from another computer.

= Make the changes permanent =

{{Cmd|rc-update add hostapd
rc-update add udhcpd
rc-update add sysctl}}

== Configuring ifup ==
Now, the odd parts:
iptables tries to set net.ipv4.ip_forward to 1 when it's started, but in
my experience, this is not reliable.
You do *not* want to enable the "iptables" service. It starts before
networking, and may result in your wireless interface not getting configured.
(Apparently, ifup thinks that wlan0 is up and skips it. This was not something I expected, but it's the only explanation I have for how things worked...)

Rather, modify /etc/network/interfaces, commenting out any configuration for
your wireless interface. Then add:

<pre>
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet static
address 192.168.2.1
netmask 255.255.255.0
up rc-service iptables start
up sysctl net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
down rc-service iptables stop
</pre>

(It's possible to set up everything so that hostapd and udhcpd get
started and stopped from the wlan0 stanza. I didn't bother doing that.)

= Finishing touches =

(See [[Setting up a SSH server]] for alternatives and more information)
Add dropbear SSH server, configure it to run on only the wireless interface:
{{Cmd|setup-sshd -c dropbear}}
edit /etc/conf.d/dropbear to add

DROPBEAR_OPTS="-p 192.168.2.1:22"

(assuming the wireless interface has the IP address 192.168.2.1 and you
want SSH on port 22).
This is optional, but if you're using a wireless router it helps to be able
to administer it, and listening on all addresses is rather risky.

= Things this doesn't cover but it would be nice to =
*Some way to get more entropy (see [[Entropy_and_randomness]])
*DNS server, publishing device names ([[TinyDNS_Format]] looks most useful)
*use awall instead of raw iptables (and/or switch to nftables)
*[[Setup-acf]] to manage the router
This would require:
**acf-core, acf-alpine-conf, acf-apk-tools
**acf-iptables, or acf-awall + rewrite
**acf-ssh + switch to openssh, or new acf-dropbear
**acf-dhcp + switch to dhcp, or new acf-udhcpd
**new acf-hostapd (probably hardest part!)
**acf-tinydns after adding tinydns

How to setup a wireless access point

2025-09-24T18:24:08Z

AlpinePhil: Cleaned up some redundant bits, cleared up some formatting and brought this to a production ready state.

== Install needed packages ==

* hostapd
* bridge (optional)

== Check that the card is detected ==

Run cat /proc/net/dev to see which cards are detected.

If no cards are available, check what driver the card uses and modprobe it.

Check that the card is in master mode.

== Setup Bridge ==

If your wireless access point is NOT also intended to be a router, you may wish to bridge an ethernet interface to the wireless interface.

This can be particularly advantageous where you are setting up multiple access points with a shared SSID, as this allows the APs to share an address space, and avoids wireless clients having to change DHCP lease when they move from access point to access point.

Setup the bridge by editing <samp>/etc/network/interfaces</samp>. Assuming you wish to bridge the access point to the ethernet device <samp>eth0</samp>, you can add something like this:

<pre>
auto br0
iface br0 inet dhcp
hostname alpine
bridge-ports eth0
</pre>

Comment out any existing lines configuring <samp>eth0</samp> as this should now be handled via the bridge configuration. It is not necessary to mention <samp>wlan0</samp> here, as <samp>hostapd</samp> will take care of adding the device to the bridge later.

Please see [[Bridge]] for more information on network bridges.

== Setup hostapd ==

[http://w1.fi/hostapd/ hostapd] is the daemon that hosts the access point. What follows are example configurations, but further configuration options are available, and you should read the documentation for details.

Edit /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf and make the necessary changes such as interface, bridge, driver, ssid, etc.

For example:
interface=wlan0
bridge=br0
driver=hostap
logger_syslog=-1
logger_syslog_level=2
logger_stdout=-1
logger_stdout_level=2
debug=0
dump_file=/tmp/hostapd.dump
ctrl_interface=/var/run/hostapd
ctrl_interface_group=0
ssid=SecureSSID
#macaddr_acl=1
#accept_mac_file=/etc/hostapd/accept
auth_algs=3
eapol_key_index_workaround=0
eap_server=0
wpa=3
wpa_psk_file=/etc/hostapd/hostapd.wpa_psk
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
wpa_pairwise=CCMP

If you wish to use MAC address filtering, uncomment the lines starting with macaddr_acl and accept_mac_file, create /etc/hostapd/accept (with permissions set to 600) and add the allowed clients' MAC address to the file. 

=== Authentication ===

Edit /etc/hostapd/hostapd.wpa_psk and insert the following, replacing PASSPHRASE with the WPA_PSK key you would like to use (remove keys that you don't want to use):
00:00:00:00:00:00 PASSPHRASE

== Start the Service ==
Start hostapd.

{{Cmd|rc-service hostapd start}}

== Associate clients ==
Associate a few clients to test.

[[Category:Networking]]

User:AlpinePhil

2025-09-23T20:08:12Z

AlpinePhil: /* TODOs */

==TODOs==

#How to set up a wireless access point needs tweaks
#* Other pages will need to be pointed/merged to this, there seems to be a plethora of pages ultimately doing the same thing.

Tutorials and Howtos

2025-09-23T20:07:51Z

AlpinePhil: /* Networking */ - adding a how to for setting up a home router

[[Image:package_edutainment.svg|right|link=]]
{{TOC left}}

'''Welcome to Tutorials and Howtos, a place of basic and advanced configuration tasks for your Alpine Linux.'''

'''Howtos are smaller articles''' explaining how to perform a particular task with Alpine Linux, that expects a minimal knowledge from reader to perform actions. Howto's have been organized in the below page based on the topics.

'''The [[#Tutorials|tutorials]] are hands-on''' and the reader is expected to try and achieve the goals described in each step, possibly with the help of a good example. The output in one step is the starting point for the following step.

{{Note|
* Contributors are requested to refer to [[Help:Editing]] first and make use of resources like [[How to write a HOWTO]].
* Contributions must be complete articles.
* Don't override already made contributions, unless there is a mistake.
* If you want to request a topic, please add your request in this page's [[Talk:Tutorials_and_Howtos|Discussion]].}}

== Desktop ==

* {{:Daily driver guide}}

=== Networking ===

* [[Bluetooth]] - Instructions for installing and configuring Bluetooth
* [[Bonding]] - Bond (or aggregate) multiple ethernet interfaces
* [[Bridge]] - Configuring a network bridge
** [[Bridge wlan0 to eth0]]
* [[Configure Networking]]
* [[How to configure static routes]]
* Modem
** [[Using HSDPA modem]]
** [[Using serial modem]]
* [[mDNS]] - Howto implement multicast DNS resolution in Alpine.
* [[Multi ISP]] ''(Dual-ISP setup with load-balancing and automatic failover)''
* [[PXE boot]]
* Wi-Fi
** [[Wi-Fi|Connecting to a wireless access point]]
** [[How to setup a wireless access point]] ''(Setting up Secure Wireless AP w/ WPA encryption with bridge to wired network)''
* Use [https://github.com/ifupdown-ng/ifupdown-ng/blob/main/doc/interfaces-vxlan.scd vxlan], if using [[Ifupdown-ng]] instead of [[VLAN]]
* [[Setting up a Home Router]]

=== Backup and data migration ===

* [[Migrating data]]
* [[Rsnapshot]] - setting up periodic backups

=== Other topics ===

* [[Gaming on Alpine]]
* [[Remote Desktop Server]]
* [[Default applications|How to change default application]]
* [[CPU frequency scaling]]
* [[Mimalloc]]
* [[Enable Serial Console on Boot]]
* [[How to build the Alpine Linux kernel]]
* [[Nextcloud]] ''(Self hostable cloud suite - Dropbox Alternative)''
* [[Setting up lm_sensors]]
* [[Fingerprint Authentication with swaylock]]
* [[Desktop environments and Window managers|List of supported Desktop environments and Window managers]]

== Diskless ==

* [[Alpine local backup|Alpine local backup (lbu)]] ''(Permanently store your modifications in case your box needs reboot)''
** [[Back Up a Flash Memory Installation]]
** [[Manually editing a existing apkovl]]

== Other Architectures ==

=== ARM ===

* [[Alpine on ARM]]

==== Raspberry Pi ====

* [[Raspberry Pi|Raspberry Pi main page]]
* [[Raspberry Pi Bluetooth Speaker|Raspberry Pi - Bluetooth Speaker]]
* [[Linux Router with VPN on a Raspberry Pi|Raspberry Pi - Router with VPN]]
* [[Linux Router with VPN on a Raspberry Pi (IPv6)|Raspberry Pi - Router with VPN (IPv6)]]
* [[Classic install or sys mode on Raspberry Pi|Raspberry Pi - Sys mode install]]
* [[Raspberry Pi LVM on LUKS|Raspberry Pi - Sys mode install - LVM on LUKS]]
* [[RPI Video Receiver|Raspberry Pi - Video Receiver]] ''(network video decoder using Rasperry Pi and omxplayer)''
* [[Raspberry Pi 3 - Browser Client]] - kiosk or digital sign
* [[Raspberry Pi 3 - Configuring it as wireless access point -AP Mode]]
* [[Raspberry Pi 3 - Setting Up Bluetooth]]
* [[Raspberry Pi 4 - Persistent system acting as a NAS and Time Machine]]
* [[How to set up Alpine as a wireless router|Raspberry Pi Zero W - Wireless router]] ''(Setting up a firewalled, Wireless AP with wired network on a Pi Zero W)''
* [[RPI Video Receiver]]

=== IBM Z (IBM z Systems) ===

* [[s390x|s390x - Installation]]

=== PowerPC ===

* [[Ppc64le|Powerpc64le - Installation]]

== Security ==

* [[#Desktop security|Desktop security]] lists steps for securing Alpine Linux desktops
* [[Setting up a laptop]] page has detailed guidelines to configure a secured laptop
* [[Securing Alpine Linux|Secure Alpine Linux]] using Security Technical Implementation Guides (STIGs)

== Services ==

{{Note| Services are arranged in alphabetical order.}}

=== Content management systems ===

* [[DokuWiki]] ''(Simple and easy to use wiki, no database required)''
* [[Drupal]] ''(Content Management System (CMS) written in PHP)''
* [[Kopano]] ''(Microsoft Outlook compatible Groupware)''
* [[Mahara]] ''(E-portfolio and social networking system)''
* [[MediaWiki]] ''(Free web-based wiki software application)''
* [[Pastebin]] ''(Pastebin software application)''
* [[WordPress]] ''(Web software to create website or blog)''
* [[Moodle]] ''(Online Learning Management system)''

=== Database ===

* [[MariaDB]] or [[MySQL|MySQL]]

=== DNS ===

* [[DNSCrypt-Proxy]] ''Encrypt and authenticate DNS calls from your system''
* [[Setting up nsd DNS server]]
* [[Small-Time DNS with BIND9]] ''(A simple configuration with ad blocking for your home network)''
* Unbound
** [[Setting up unbound DNS server]]
** [[Using Unbound as an Ad-blocker]] ''(Setup ad blocking for your network)''
* [[TinyDNS Format]]

=== File server ===

* [[Setting up an NFS server|nfs-server]]
* [[Setting up a Samba server|samba-server]] ''(standard file sharing)''
* [[Setting up a samba-ad-dc|samba-ad-dc]] ''(Active Directory compatible domain controller)''

=== Firewall ===

* [https://git.alpinelinux.org/awall/about/ Alpine Wall User's Guide]
** [[Zero-To-Awall]] -''AWall for dummies''
** [[How-To Alpine Wall]] - ''AWall for Shorewall users''
** [[Alpine Wall]] - ''AWall - Firewall management framework - Design Document''
* [[Iptables]]
* [[nftables]]
* [[Uncomplicated Firewall|Uncomplicated Firewall or UFW]]

=== HTTP and web services ===

* [[Althttpd]]
* [[Apache]]
** [[Apache with php-fpm]]
** [[Setting Up Apache with PHP]]
** [[Apache authentication: NTLM Single Signon]]
* [[Darkhttpd]]
* [[Lighttpd]]
** [[Lighttpd Advanced security]]
** [[Setting Up Lighttpd With FastCGI]]
** [[Production Web server: Lighttpd|Production web server: Lighttpd‎‎]]
* [[Nginx]]
** [[Nginx as reverse proxy with acme (letsencrypt)]]
** [[Nginx with PHP]]
* Squid Proxy
** [[Obtaining user information via SNMP]] ''(Using squark-auth-snmp as a Squid authentication helper)'' 
** [[Setting up Explicit Squid Proxy]]
** [[Setting up Transparent Squid Proxy]] ''(Covers Squid proxy and URL Filtering system)''
** [[SqStat]] ''(Script to look at active squid users connections)''
* [[Tomcat]]
** [[Production LAMP system: Lighttpd + PHP + MySQL‎‎|Production LAMP system: Lighttpd + PHP + MariaDB/MySQL‎‎]]

=== IRC ===

* [[NgIRCd]] ''(Server for Internet Relay Chat/IRC)''

=== Mail ===

* [[Hosting services on Alpine]] ''(Hosting mail, webservices and other services)''
* [[Hosting Web/Email services on Alpine]]
* Exim/Dovecot
** [[Small-Time Email with Exim and Dovecot]] ''(A simple configuration for your home network.)
** [[Setting up dovecot with imap and tls]]
* [[relay email to gmail (msmtp, mailx, sendmail]]
* [[relay email (nullmailer)]]
* [[Roundcube]] ''(Webmail system)''
* [[Setting up postfix with virtual domains]]
* Server protection
** [[Setting up clamsmtp]]

=== Monitoring ===

* [[Awstats]] ''(Free log file analyzer)''
* [[Cacti: traffic analysis and monitoring network]] ''(Front-end for rrdtool networking monitor)''
* [[Cvechecker]] ''(Compare installed packages for Common Vulnerabilities Exposure)'' 
* [[Linfo]]
* [[Obtaining user information via SNMP]] ''(Using squark-auth-snmp as a Squid authentication helper)'' 
* [[PhpSysInfo]] ''(A simple application that displays information about the host it's running on)''
* [[Logcheck]] ''(log file monitoring tool)''
* [[Matomo]] ''(A real time web analytics software program)''
* [[Rasdaemon]] ''(Platform Reliability, Availability and Serviceability monitoring tool)''
* [[Setting up A Network Monitoring and Inventory System]] ''(Nagios + OpenAudit and related components)'' 
** [[Setting up NRPE daemon]] ''(Performs remote Nagios checks)'' 
* [[Setting Up Fprobe And Ntop|Ntop]] ''(NetFlow collection and analysis using a remote fprobe instance; for alpine 3.10-3.12 only)'' 
* [[SqStat]] ''(Script to look at active squid users connections)''
* [[Traffic monitoring]] 
** [[Setting up monitoring using rrdtool (and rrdcollect)]]
** [[Setting up traffic monitoring using rrdtool (and snmp)]] 
* [[Zabbix|Zabbix - the professional complete manager]] ''(Monitor and track the status of network services and hardware)''
* [[ZoneMinder video camera security and surveillance]]

=== Remote Administration ===

* ACF
** [[Changing passwords for ACF|ACF - changing passwords]]
** [[Generating SSL certs with ACF]] 
** [[setup-acf| ACF - setup]] ''(Configures ACF (webconfiguration/webmin) so you can manage your box through https)''
* [[Setting up a SSH server]] ''(Using ssh is a good way to administer your box remotely)''
** [[HOWTO OpenSSH 2FA with password and Google Authenticator |OpenSSH 2FA]] ''(A simple two factor setup for OpenSSH)''
* [[OpenVCP]] ''(VServer Control Panel)''
* [[PhpMyAdmin]] ''(Web-based administration tool for MYSQL)''
* [[PhpPgAdmin]] ''(Web-based administration tool for PostgreSQL)''
* [[Webmin]] ''(A web-based interface for Linux system)''

=== Telephony ===

* [[FreePBX|FreePBX on Alpine Linux]]
* [[Setting up Zaptel/Asterisk on Alpine]]
* [[Kamailio]] ''(SIP Server, formerly OpenSER)''

=== VPN ===
* [[Freeradius Active Directory Integration]]
* [[GNUnet]]
* [[IGMPproxy]]
* [[Setting up a OpenVPN server|OpenVPN server]] ''(Allowing single users or devices to remotely connect to your network)''
* [[OpenVSwitch]]
* [[Tor]]
* [[Using Alpine on Windows domain with IPSEC isolation]]
* [[Configure a Wireguard interface (wg)|Wireguard]]

=== Other Servers ===

* [[apcupsd]] ''(UPS Monitoring with apcupsd)''
* [[Chrony and GPSD | Chrony, gpsd, and a garmin LVC 18 as a Stratum 1 NTP source ]]
* [[Glpi]] ''(Manage inventory of technical resources)''
* [[How to setup a Alpine Linux mirror]]
* [[nut-ups|NUT UPS]] ''(UPS Monitoring with Network UPS Tools)''
* [[Odoo]]
* [[Configure OpenLDAP | OpenLDAP]] ''(Installing and configuring the Alpine package for OpenLDAP)''
* [[Setting up a LLDAP server|lldap-server]] ''(Directory Server)''
* [[Setting up Transmission (bittorrent) with Clutch WebUI]]

== Software development ==

* [[Cgit]]
* [[OsTicket]] ''(Ticket system)''
* [[Patchwork]] ''(Patch review management system)''
* [[Redmine]] ''(Project management system) [Deprecated]''
* [[Request Tracker]] ''(Ticket system)''
* [[Setting up trac wiki|Trac]] ''(Enhanced wiki and issue tracking system for software development projects)''
* [[Ansible]] ''(Configuration management)''
* [[Installing Oracle Java|Oracle Java (installation)]]

== Storage ==

* [[Setting up disks manually|Manual partitioning]]
* [[Disk Replication with DRBD|DRBD: Disk Replication]]
* [[Filesystems]]
** [[Burning ISOs]]
* [[Setting up iSCSI|iSCSI Setup]]
** [[iSCSI Raid and Clustered File Systems]]
** [[Linux iSCSI Target (TCM)|iSCSI Target (TCM)/LinuxIO (LIO)]]
** [[Linux iSCSI Target (tgt)|User space iSCSI Target (tgt)]]
* [[Setting up Logical Volumes with LVM|LVM Setup]]
** [[Setting up LVM on GPT-labeled disks|LVM on GPT-labeled disks]]
** [[Installing on GPT LVM|LVM on GPT-labeled disks (updated)]]
** [[LVM on LUKS]]
* RAID
** [[Raid Administration]]
** [[Setting up a software RAID array]]
* [[ZFS]]
** [[Root on ZFS with native encryption]]
** [[Setting up ZFS on LUKS]]
* [[CEPH|CEPH]]

== Virtualization ==

* [[Docker]]
* [[Installing Alpine in a virtual machine]]
** [[Install Alpine on VMware ESXi]]
* [[KVM]] ''(Setting up Alpine as a KVM hypervisor)''
* [[LXC]] ''(Setting up a Linux container in Alpine Linux)''
* [[QEMU]]
* Xen
** [[Xen Dom0]] ''(Setting up Alpine as a dom0 for Xen hypervisor)''
** [[Xen Dom0 on USB or SD]]
** [[Create Alpine Linux PV DomU|Xen DomU (paravirtualized)]]
** [[Xen LiveCD]]
** [[Xen PCI Passthrough]]
** [[K8s]] Building a K8s Kubernetes Cluster on Alpine Linux
* [[Runc]]

== [[Simple_Walkthrough]] ==

* [[LXC_Alpinelinux_Simple]]
* [[Qemu-simple]]

== Tutorials ==

* [[TTY_Autologin|TTY Autologin]]
* [[Kexec|Faster rebooting with kexec]]
* [[Dynamic Multipoint VPN (DMVPN)]] combined with [[Small Office Services]]
* [[DIY Fully working Alpine Linux for Allwinner and Other ARM SOCs]]
* [[Fault Tolerant Routing with Alpine Linux]]
* [[High Availability High Performance Web Cache]] ''(uCarp + HAProxy for High Availability Services such as Squid web proxy)''
* [[Linux iSCSI Target (TCM)]]
* [[ISP Mail Server 3.x HowTo]] ''(Postfix+PostfixAdmin+DoveCot+Roundcube+ClamAV+Spamd - A full-service ISP mail server)''
* [[Grommunio Mail Server]] ''(Mariadb+Postfix+Rspamd+Grommunio - Full-service mail server as MS exchange replacement)''
* [[Replacing non-Alpine Linux with Alpine remotely]]
* [[Setting up A Network Monitoring and Inventory System]] ''(Nagios + OpenAudit and related components)'' 
* [[Streaming Security Camera Video with VLC]]
* [[Install Alpine on a btrfs filesystem with refind as boot manager]]
* [[Compile software from source|How to Compile a software from source in Alpine Linux]]
* [https://ww2.coastal.edu/mmurphy2/oer/alpine/ Alpine Linux tutorials - Dr Murphy, Computing Science Associate Professor]
* [[Michael's base installation procedure|Michael's base installation procedure]]
* [[Michael's sway desktop (minimal)|Michael's sway desktop (minimal)]]
* [[Michael's cwm desktop (minimal)|Michael's cwm desktop (minimal)]]
* [[Using Distrobox For VR Gaming|Using Distrobox For VR Gaming]]

User:AlpinePhil/Router

2025-09-23T20:06:48Z

AlpinePhil: AlpinePhil moved page User:AlpinePhil/Router to Setting up a Home Router: Moving a draft howto out into the real world

#REDIRECT [[Setting up a Home Router]]

Setting up a Home Router

2025-09-23T20:06:48Z

AlpinePhil: AlpinePhil moved page User:AlpinePhil/Router to Setting up a Home Router: Moving a draft howto out into the real world

{{Expand|To include information on ipv6}}

This HowTo is written to indicate the basics necessary to get a simple router set up for a network. Unlike most HowTos, this will not form an exhaustive list of instructions, as a home router is not one piece of software, and not every piece of software listed here will be relevant to your specific requirements. Moreover, the individual pieces of software themselves, in particular firewalls, require configuration which requires documentation in their own right.

As such this HowTo will indicate the relevant pieces of software, and link to the corresponding documentation. It will also contain some more general guidance.

== Before You Start ==

=== You should know ===

This article presumes that you are familiar with the fundamentals of IP networks. In particular you should have a good understanding of the terms:

* IP Address
* Address Mask
* Subnet
* CIDR (Notation of the form 192.168.1.0/24)

==Enable Routing and Set Up Routes==

The clue is in the name that routing is at the heart of what a router does.

To enable routing, you will need to add a line
<code>net.ipv4.ip_forward=1</code> to the file /etc/sysctl.conf and then run
<code>sysctl -p</code> with administrative privileges.

If you have subnets managed by their own routers in your network, you may need to add [[How to configure static routes|static routing]].

Dynamic routing is an advanced topic which goes beyond the range of this HowTo.

==Configuring Network Interfaces==

Generally speaking, routers are in charge of their own IP addresses, as such you will need to understand how to [[Configure Networking#Static address configuration|configure static IP addresses on the interfaces]].

==Connecting to the Internet - pppd==

{{Warning|If you are planning on connecting your router directly to the internet, you should have a firewall in place. See next section.}}

If you are looking to connect your router directly to the internet without using the router from your ISP, then you will need to configure pppd. The documentation for pppd can be found [https://linux.die.net/man/8/pppd here].

On a practical note, it is helpful to download pppd and your firewall of choice using your ISPs provided router and configure them prior to connecting your home-made router to the internet directly.

==Firewalls==

Firewalls At the time of writing, there are three main firewall options available of which the author is aware:

* [[Uncomplicated Firewall|ufw - the uncomplicated firewall]]
* [https://wiki.nftables.org/wiki-nftables/index.php/Main_Page nftables]
* IPTables is also an option - but be advised that it is an older piece of software with a somewhat arcane syntax. It has been superseded by nftables.

==DHCP Server==

A DHCP server is responsible for assigning dynamic IP addresses to computers attached to your network.

If your network is small enough, and the constituent computers do not change regularly, you might consider sticking with static (manually) assigned IP addresses. However, beyond a certain size and/or if you have changing members of your network (for example, house guests using your wi-fi), then DHCP becomes quite important.

The only DHCP server that the author was able to install and operate from the default repositories at the time of writing was [https://dnsmasq.org/docs/dnsmasq-man.html dnsmasq.]

==Hosting Wi-Fi==

See [[How to setup a wireless access point]].

[[Category: Networking]]

Setting up a Home Router

2025-09-23T20:05:47Z

AlpinePhil: Added category

Setting up a Home Router

2025-09-23T20:04:55Z

AlpinePhil: /* Wi-Fi */

User:AlpinePhil

2025-09-23T20:00:05Z

AlpinePhil: /* TODOs */

==TODOs==

#Page on setting up a router
#How to set up a wireless access point needs tweaks
#* Other pages will need to be pointed/merged to this, there seems to be a plethora of pages ultimately doing the same thing.

Setting up a Home Router

2025-09-23T19:56:14Z

AlpinePhil:

Setting up a Home Router

2025-09-23T19:54:09Z

AlpinePhil: /* DHCP Server */

{{Expand|To include information on ipv6}}

This HowTo is written to indicate the basics necessary to get a simple router set up for a network. Unlike most HowTos, this will not form an exhaustive list of instructions, as a home router is not one piece of software, and not every piece of software listed here will be relevant to your specific requirements. Moreover, the individual pieces of software themselves, in particular firewalls, require configuration which requires documentation in their own right.

As such this HowTo will indicate the relevant pieces of software, and link to the corresponding documentation. It will also contain some more general guidance.

{{Note|Throughout this HowTo, it is presumed that you have a router provided by your ISP via which you can get an internet connection}}

== Before You Start ==

=== You should know ===

This article presumes that you are familiar with the fundamentals of IP networks. In particular you should have a good understanding of the terms:

* IP Address
* Address Mask
* Subnet
* CIDR (Notation of the form 192.168.1.0/24)

==Enable Routing and Set Up Routes==

The clue is in the name that routing is at the heart of what a router does.

To enable routing, you will need to add a line
<code>net.ipv4.ip_forward=1</code> to the file /etc/sysctl.conf and then run
<code>sysctl -p</code> with administrative privileges.

If you have subnets managed by their own routers in your network, you may need to add [[How to configure static routes|static routing]].

Dynamic routing is an advanced topic which goes beyond the range of this HowTo.

==Configuring Network Interfaces==

Generally speaking, routers are in charge of their own IP addresses, as such you will need to understand how to [[Configure Networking#Static address configuration|configure static IP addresses on the interfaces]].

==Connecting to the Internet - pppd==

{{Warning|If you are planning on connecting your router directly to the internet, you should have a firewall in place. See next section.}}

If you are looking to connect your router directly to the internet without using the router from your ISP, then you will need to configure pppd. The documentation for pppd can be found [https://linux.die.net/man/8/pppd here].

On a practical note, it is helpful to download pppd and your firewall of choice using your ISPs provided router and configure them prior to connecting your home-made router to the internet directly.

==Firewalls==

Firewalls At the time of writing, there are three main firewall options available of which the author is aware:

* [[Uncomplicated Firewall|ufw - the uncomplicated firewall]]
* [https://wiki.nftables.org/wiki-nftables/index.php/Main_Page nftables]
* IPTables is also an option - but be advised that it is an older piece of software with a somewhat arcane syntax. It has been superseded by nftables.

==DHCP Server==

A DHCP server is responsible for assigning dynamic IP addresses to computers attached to your network.

If your network is small enough, and the constituent computers do not change regularly, you might consider sticking with static (manually) assigned IP addresses. However, beyond a certain size and/or if you have changing members of your network (for example, house guests using your wi-fi), then DHCP becomes quite important.

The only DHCP server that the author was able to install and operate from the default repositories at the time of writing was [https://dnsmasq.org/docs/dnsmasq-man.html dnsmasq.]

==Wi-Fi==

Setting up a Home Router

2025-09-23T19:43:53Z

AlpinePhil: Added information about routing.

{{Expand|To include information on ipv6}}

This HowTo is written to indicate the basics necessary to get a simple router set up for a network. Unlike most HowTos, this will not form an exhaustive list of instructions, as a home router is not one piece of software, and not every piece of software listed here will be relevant to your specific requirements. Moreover, the individual pieces of software themselves, in particular firewalls, require configuration which requires documentation in their own right.

As such this HowTo will indicate the relevant pieces of software, and link to the corresponding documentation. It will also contain some more general guidance.

{{Note|Throughout this HowTo, it is presumed that you have a router provided by your ISP via which you can get an internet connection}}

== Before You Start ==

=== You should know ===

This article presumes that you are familiar with the fundamentals of IP networks. In particular you should have a good understanding of the terms:

* IP Address
* Address Mask
* Subnet
* CIDR (Notation of the form 192.168.1.0/24)

==Enable Routing and Set Up Routes==

The clue is in the name that routing is at the heart of what a router does.

To enable routing, you will need to add a line
<code>net.ipv4.ip_forward=1</code> to the file /etc/sysctl.conf and then run
<code>sysctl -p</code> with administrative privileges.

If you have subnets managed by their own routers in your network, you may need to add [[How to configure static routes|static routing]].

Dynamic routing is an advanced topic which goes beyond the range of this HowTo.

==Configuring Network Interfaces==

Generally speaking, routers are in charge of their own IP addresses, as such you will need to understand how to [[Configure Networking#Static address configuration|configure static IP addresses on the interfaces]].

==Connecting to the Internet - pppd==

{{Warning|If you are planning on connecting your router directly to the internet, you should have a firewall in place. See next section.}}

If you are looking to connect your router directly to the internet without using the router from your ISP, then you will need to configure pppd. The documentation for pppd can be found [https://linux.die.net/man/8/pppd here].

On a practical note, it is helpful to download pppd and your firewall of choice using your ISPs provided router and configure them prior to connecting your home-made router to the internet directly.

==Firewalls==

Firewalls At the time of writing, there are three main firewall options available of which the author is aware:

* [[Uncomplicated Firewall|ufw - the uncomplicated firewall]]
* [https://wiki.nftables.org/wiki-nftables/index.php/Main_Page nftables]
* IPTables is also an option - but be advised that it is an older piece of software with a somewhat arcane syntax. It has been superseded by nftables.

==DHCP Server==

==Wi-Fi==

Setting up a Home Router

2025-09-23T19:36:35Z

AlpinePhil: Added information about practical considerations of installing pppd

Setting up a Home Router

2025-09-23T19:34:18Z

AlpinePhil: Checkpoint - pppd and firewalls

Setting up a Home Router

2025-09-23T05:42:19Z

AlpinePhil: Adjusted intro to reflect intended change in direction.

Setting up a Home Router

2025-09-18T19:44:25Z

AlpinePhil:

{{Expand|To include information on ipv6}}

This HowTo is written to indicate the basics necessary to get a simple router set up for a network.

{{Tip|If your router is going to be a gateway to the internet, ensure you look at the next steps part of this tutorial to ensure that you look at items related to security, in particular setting up a firewall, which goes beyond the scope of this HowTo.}}

{{Tip|Throughout this HowTo, it is presumed that you have a router provided by your ISP via which you can get an internet connection}}

{{Todo|Include a link to an article on connecting to an ISP directly using something like pppd.}}

== Before You Start ==

=== You should know ===
This article presumes that you are familiar with the fundamentals of IP networks. In particular you should have a good understanding of the terms:

* IP Address
* Address Mask
* CIDR (Notation of the form 192.168.1.0/24)

=== You should have done ===

Ensure to [[Configure Networking|Connect your router to your ISP router]]. This howto will presume throughout that this connection is set up on the interface eth0.

=== You should ===

Design your network address layout

== Setting up your router ==
There are two options for your router, depending on whether you wish to use statically or dynamically assigned addresses for your network.

Statically assigned addresses are generally only suitable for networks where there are a very limited number of computers connecting to the router. Moreover, they are unsuitable for situations in which computers which you do not control will need access to your network, for example if you are setting up a router including a wireless interface.

=== Setting up a network with statically assigned addresses ===

=== Setting up a network with dynamically assigned addresses ===

== Extension: Adding routes to subnets ==

== Optional Next Steps ==

* Set up a firewall on your router
* Set up pppd on your router to manage an ISP connection directly
* Set up hostapd to set up a wireless network

Setting up a Home Router

2025-09-18T19:43:36Z

AlpinePhil: /* Options */

{{Expand|To include information on ipv6}}

This HowTo is written to indicate the basics necessary to get a simple router set up for a network.

{{Tip|If your router is going to be a gateway to the internet, ensure you look at the next steps part of this tutorial to ensure that you look at items related to security, in particular setting up a firewall, which goes beyond the scope of this HowTo.}}

{{Tip|Throughout this HowTo, it is presumed that you have a router provided by your ISP via which you can get an internet connection}}

{{Todo|Include a link to an article on connecting to an ISP directly using something like pppd.}}

== Before You Start ==

=== You should know ===
This article presumes that you are familiar with the fundamentals of IP networks. In particular you should have a good understanding of the terms:

* IP Address
* Address Mask
* CIDR (Notation of the form 192.168.1.0/24)

=== You should have done ===

Ensure to [[Configure Networking|Connect your router to your ISP router]]. This howto will presume throughout that this connection is set up on the interface eth0.

== Setting up your router ==
There are two options for your router, depending on whether you wish to use statically or dynamically assigned addresses for your network.

Statically assigned addresses are generally only suitable for networks where there are a very limited number of computers connecting to the router. Moreover, they are unsuitable for situations in which computers which you do not control will need access to your network, for example if you are setting up a router including a wireless interface.

== Setting up a network with statically assigned addresses ==

== Setting up a network with dynamically assigned addresses ==

== Adding routes to subnets ==

== Optional Next Steps ==

* Set up a firewall on your router
* Set up pppd on your router to manage an ISP connection directly
* Set up hostapd to set up a wireless network

Setting up a Home Router

2025-09-18T19:43:12Z

AlpinePhil: /* Before You Start */

{{Expand|To include information on ipv6}}

This HowTo is written to indicate the basics necessary to get a simple router set up for a network.

{{Tip|If your router is going to be a gateway to the internet, ensure you look at the next steps part of this tutorial to ensure that you look at items related to security, in particular setting up a firewall, which goes beyond the scope of this HowTo.}}

{{Tip|Throughout this HowTo, it is presumed that you have a router provided by your ISP via which you can get an internet connection}}

{{Todo|Include a link to an article on connecting to an ISP directly using something like pppd.}}

== Before You Start ==

=== You should know ===
This article presumes that you are familiar with the fundamentals of IP networks. In particular you should have a good understanding of the terms:

* IP Address
* Address Mask
* CIDR (Notation of the form 192.168.1.0/24)

=== You should have done ===

Ensure to [[Configure Networking|Connect your router to your ISP router]]. This howto will presume throughout that this connection is set up on the interface eth0.

== Options ==
There are two options for your router, depending on whether you wish to use statically or dynamically assigned addresses for your network.

Statically assigned addresses are generally only suitable for networks where there are a very limited number of computers connecting to the router. Moreover, they are unsuitable for situations in which computers which you do not control will need access to your network, for example if you are setting up a router including a wireless interface.

== Setting up a network with statically assigned addresses ==

== Setting up a network with dynamically assigned addresses ==

== Adding routes to subnets ==

== Optional Next Steps ==

* Set up a firewall on your router
* Set up pppd on your router to manage an ISP connection directly
* Set up hostapd to set up a wireless network

Setting up a Home Router

2025-09-18T19:32:50Z

AlpinePhil: Created page with " {{Expand|To include information on ipv6}} This HowTo is written to indicate the basics necessary to get a simple router set up for a network. {{Tip|If your router is going to be a gateway to the internet, ensure you look at the next steps part of this tutorial to ensure that you look at items related to security, in particular setting up a firewall, which goes beyond the scope of this HowTo.}} {{Tip|Throughout this HowTo, it is presumed that you have a router provide..."

{{Expand|To include information on ipv6}}

This HowTo is written to indicate the basics necessary to get a simple router set up for a network.

{{Tip|If your router is going to be a gateway to the internet, ensure you look at the next steps part of this tutorial to ensure that you look at items related to security, in particular setting up a firewall, which goes beyond the scope of this HowTo.}}

{{Tip|Throughout this HowTo, it is presumed that you have a router provided by your ISP via which you can get an internet connection}}

{{Todo|Include a link to an article on connecting to an ISP directly using something like pppd.}}

== Before You Start ==

This article presumes that you are familiar with the fundamentals of IP networks. In particular you should have a good understanding of the terms:

* IP Address
* Address Mask
* CIDR (Notation of the form 192.168.1.0/24)

Ensure to [[Configure Networking|Connect your router to your ISP router]]. This howto will presume throughout that this connection is set up on the interface eth0.

There are two options for your router, depending on whether you wish to use statically or dynamically assigned addresses for your network.

Statically assigned addresses are generally only suitable for networks where there are a very limited number of computers connecting to the router. Moreover, they are unsuitable for situations in which computers which you do not control will need access to your network, for example if you are setting up a router including a wireless interface.

== Setting up a network with statically assigned addresses ==

== Setting up a network with dynamically assigned addresses ==

== Adding routes to subnets ==

== Optional Next Steps ==

* Set up a firewall on your router
* Set up pppd on your router to manage an ISP connection directly
* Set up hostapd to set up a wireless network

User:AlpinePhil

2025-09-18T18:21:33Z

AlpinePhil: Created page with " ==TODOs== #Page on setting up a router #*Request merges #Page on setting up a connection to an ISP using pppd #* This might be a bit short given that it's basically pppd, but might still be a useful pointer? #Page on setting up a wifi network with hostapd #* Other pages will need to be pointed/merged to this"

==TODOs==

#Page on setting up a router
#*Request merges
#Page on setting up a connection to an ISP using pppd
#* This might be a bit short given that it's basically pppd, but might still be a useful pointer?
#Page on setting up a wifi network with hostapd
#* Other pages will need to be pointed/merged to this