Setting up a Home Router

This material needs expanding ... 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)

You should have done

Ensure to 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.

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