[GLLUG] Low-power Home Server

Wed Jul 25 13:41:41 EDT 2012

I had thought you might be slightly overextending the capabilities of that
device.

OpenWRT is optimized for the situation and as such, it's limitations are by
design and aren't necessarily a flaw. (It's just a matter of using the
right tool for the job.)

I'm glad you got it working though!

On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 10:31 AM, Tom Schouten <tom at zwizwa.be> wrote:

>  It works and I'm happy with the setup.
>
> The main plus point is that Debian's asterisk works without trouble after
> some tuning.  I can now switch off the PC without worrying about the desk
> phone.  Next to pbx and normal router functions it has a USB backup drive
> attached to receive remote backups.
>
> It takes about 5W, so that goal is more than met.  Also it's cheap.  I
> used this to purchase a 2nd one for experimentation. Total price was $20
> for the router, $12 for the 16GB mini USB flash drive and about $100 for
> the external USB backup disk.  Prices where amazon/newegg deals so might be
> a bit higher now.
>
> Currently it starts standard OpenWRT config that serves as a backup
> configuration.  From there it detects if the USB flash drive is present,
> and will proceed booting into Debian, killing the OpenWRT deamons and start
> the Debian ones.  I do keep the OpenWRT dropbear daemon running to be able
> to log into the real root.  Debian ssh daemon logs into the Debian chroot.
>
> The downsides:
>
> - Needs A LOT of work to tune for memory use and make robust.  My approach
> just starts a couple of daemons from the Debian chroot to keep the memory
> usage low, so the rest of the Debian boot is done manually, i.e. I'm not
> running the main Debian init script.
>
> - I'd advice to install a hardware serial console from the start.  The
> board already has the 4-prong header soldered on it.  I broke it once after
> I switched it to be my main router, cutting myself out due to some network
> configuration error and a non-working (non-tested) failsafe.  Of course
> this is just me not being careful.
>
> - Device is not supported in standard OpenWRT (yet).  I'm not sure if this
> is just an organizational problem or if there are licencing issues.
> Compiling it is a pita.
>
> - The main disappointment is that ssh/rsync is very slow.  I don't get
> over 2MB/sec and the limit here seems to be CPU, but for my purpose this is
> OK (receiving rate-limited incremental backups over the internet).
>
> - It seems to need swap to run some of the more resource-intensive Debian
> apps.  Especially during "apt-get install" things can get out of hand.  I
> have this swap on a USB flash drive which is not ideal.
>
> It was a nice learning experience, but I did not expect it to take so long
> to get going.  In retrospect, what I have running as daemons can probably
> be done in pure OpenWRT, but it sure is handy to have the convenience of a
> Debian system even if somewhat slow and memory-constrained.  OpenWRT is
> great for its intended purpose, but has its limitations.
>
>
>
> On 07/05/2012 05:42 PM, Bryan Laur wrote:
>
> So, how is this working out?
> Did this end up being a viable solution?
>
>
> On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 1:57 PM, Tom Schouten <tom at zwizwa.be> wrote:
>
>> To run debian I had to recompile the image on this page
>> http://manojpi.blogspot.com/2012/05/openwrt-on-belkin-share-max-n300.html
>> and enable FPU emulation.  Compilation didn't go without problems so if
>> anyone is interested in the .trx or the *.ipk, drop me an email (strip the
>> [GLLUG] tag in the subject line).
>>
>>
>>
>> On 06/21/2012 07:02 PM, Tom Schouten wrote:
>>
>>> I bought the N300.  Let's see if I can scale down requirements a bit..
>>>
>>> Next is "debootstrap --foreign --arch mipsel squeeze squeeze" on a USB
>>> 2.5"
>>> Looking for more info I ran into this page:
>>> http://wiki.debian.org/DebianWRT
>>>
>>> I used OpenWRT + chrooted Debian system a couple of years ago on an old
>>> SimpleTech SimpleShare NAS.  Worked well only for very basic stuff since
>>> the disk was very slow and the machine was a bit low on memory (32M).  The
>>> Belkin has 64M so should be a little better, but still seems quite tight.
>>>  I'm curious if it will run asterisk.
>>>
>>>
>>> On 06/19/2012 12:38 AM, Charles Ulrich wrote:
>>>
>>>> Not a bad price for a hackable router, even if the stock firmware is a
>>>> bit crap. I might grab one to be a wifi bridge.
>>>>
>>>> Also, what OpenWRT class? :)
>>>>
>>>> Charles
>>>>
>>>> On 06/18/2012 11:56 PM, Tom Schouten wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Thanks a bunch for all the answers.
>>>>>
>>>>> In the OpenWRT class I ran into this one today, currently $19.97 on
>>>>> amazon
>>>>> Belkin Share Max N300
>>>>> http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-Share-N300-Wireless-Router/dp/B004B1Z6EE
>>>>> There are patches for OpenWRT
>>>>>
>>>>> http://manojpi.blogspot.com/2012/05/openwrt-on-belkin-share-max-n300.html
>>>>>
>>>>> Cheers
>>>>> Tom
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 06/18/2012 08:23 AM, Tom Schouten wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi List,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Recently I've been doing some math and found out that running a 100W
>>>>>> machine 24/7 at my parent's back home cost me about 150 Euros/year
>>>>>> (Belgian electricity is quite expensive, about 20 Eurocents/kWh more
>>>>>> than double of what it is here). The 100W was measured with power
>>>>>> meter over period of 24h so is probably quite accurate. Includes PC,
>>>>>> GB ethernet switch + wireless router.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Anyone have an idea of how to replace this with something more
>>>>>> power-efficient?
>>>>>> I recently ran into [1] which seems like a nice solution. Not sure
>>>>>> about the power though.
>>>>>> It probably can go lower still. This[2] might be nice too.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The main purpose for the server is backup, VPN, asterisk, email with
>>>>>> spamassassin+clamav, apache and to serve as print server and gateway
>>>>>> for the home network, maybe also PLEX but that can also run on a
>>>>>> "real" PC if necessary.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> [1]
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://mocko.org.uk/b/2012/06/17/how-i-store-my-1s-and-0s-zfs-bargain-hp-microserver-joy/
>>>>>>
>>>>>> [2]
>>>>>> http://www.androidauthority.com/via-android-pc-arm-49-dollars-88209/
>>>>>>
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>>>>>>
>>>>>>
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