Looking for a router/NAS combo

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

I am looking for a router which main function will be distributing files off an disk drive (internal flash or external disk).
The idea is that users will connect to the network, download some files via either a web interface or an app (connecting to the local URL) and log off again. The files can vary between 1 MB .pdf or 1+ GB .mp4.
I started with a NETGEAR R6100 router, installed OpenWRT on it with lighttpd and a symlink to the USB disk so I can browse (directory browsing) the USB disk's contents and download files.

This worked.

Now I tried it with 20 users doing the same thing. This turned out to be a demanding task for the router. 100% CPU and slow transfer speeds. So I bought the Linksys WRT1900ACS. Did the same thing and the speeds were much higher. Looks like the ultimate device, however, the price tag is a bit high, considering the fact that we need multiple devices.
I want to test with its brother, the WRT1200ACS to see which speeds I can get. But I want to test some more.

I made a shortlist of devices:
TP-Link Archer C2600 (IPQ8064) - Not done because of TP-Links OSS policy
Asus SRT-AC1900 (IPQ8065) - Not sure if I can use the USB port, no information found on the net
Linksys EA8500 (IPQ8064) - Same price as the WRT1900ACS, so no option
ZyXEL Armor Z2 (IPQ8065) - Price tag too high
Netgear R7800 (IPQ8065) - Price tag too high

I was looking for devices with a > 1Ghz CPU to achieve as high as possible transfer speeds. Until I read this topic: Next router? ath10k or mwlwifi based? something else?

Now I have the D-Link DIR-860L on the shortlist, because it seems that this one has high transfer speeds too.

To summarize, I am looking for a device to test with that complies with the following demands:

  • High USB FAT32 read speeds
  • Serving files to 5-20 people at the same time (mostly 2.4Ghz I think, so that will be the bottleneck)
  • Great availability worldwide (if we need more after some months it may not be discontinued)
  • LEDE / OpenWRT support to finetune the web portal serving the files / remote update the router

A dedicated NAS with a dedicated AP can be an option too, but I want to try it with a router first to have an all-in-one box.

2

If you are in the U.S., I have a new/unused Turris Omnia with the NAS case option I would sell you.

3

i-m using this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Fujitsu-Futro-S900-Thin-Client-AMD-1-2GHz-CPU-2GB-RAM-2GB-mSATA-SSD-eLux-RL-/142248633132?hash=item211eade32c:g:mFcAAOSw241Yfd0x
it has msata and sata port, average speed in lan is ~50MB/s for sharing, ~800Mb/s on NAT and wifi by usb (ralink ~9MB/s), VPN wireguard speed limited by point-to-point ISP (~250Mb/s), but you would need a switch
bought mine with ~30eur without msata, ~16w power usage

Regards

4

Thanks, have looked at this device too but the price tag is a problem for me :cry:

Looks like a nice thin client option, that's a cheap one. But I can't go for second hand machines. For testing, it's no problem, but I need to be able to ship pre-configured machines over some months and therefore this doesn't seem as a reliable solution...

Same for the PC Engines APU2, it's a nice machine if I need one, but when I need hundred I have to assemble a lot of machines :wink: Therfore my first priority is to find a ready-to-flash device, good available device.

5

What's your budget? (I'm not using it....so motivated)

6

Last I've checked, not making advertising, they had like hundreds of them, there is futro s550-s2 too with similar performance, I use them too for various locations it had passed 2 years since I started using this kind of client, and I always found them available, the motherboard is designed for industrial usage. You can make an offer to the seller and ask for availability..

Regards

7

I am aiming for a maximum of $125 per device, but I saw the WRT1200ACS being sold for $88 and the D-Link for around $60 so I think a can go lower with my budget.

8

option

9

If you're purchasing in the US it will be difficult to find the D-Link DIR-860L B1 as the DIR-860L A1 is more common and many sellers don't differentiate the two. The DIR-860L A1 is useless as the Broadcom wifi is not one of the supported ones.

10

That is indeed a problem, I agree with you. My backup solution (if we're further exploring the MediaTek devices when the D-Link has good speeds) is the ZBT WG2626 (same chipset) https://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/zbt/wg2626.

Will look at the espressobin solution too, thanks for that option!

11

I'd say something similar, grab a DIR860L (or any other MT7621 device) and the Espressobin board (wait for the 2GB version).

12

Another option might be the MikroTik RB750Gr3 which can be found for around $60. It has USB 2.0 and microSD that you could use to serve files. Only disadvantage is the small 16MB flash.

13

FWIW newer Linksys EA8500 come with locked firmware and without serial connectors, so it's PITA to flash LEDE on those.

1 Like
14

That's good to know. If that's the fact then this one is off the list.

15

Yeah, I'm trying to confirm the serial number of the newer models with the user who reported that. There's a similar (same platform) Netgear model tho.

16

APU2C4 as mine + 2xQCA9880 + msata SSD as boot and 4Tb 2.5 SATA HDD for store

17

If you want NAS in router till date only Netgear WNDR4720 is there with support for upto 3TB hdd. It has read speed of 90Mbps max and write is lower upto 33MB/s

It has usb 3.0 2 ports and sd card reader with support upto 32gb.

https://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/netgear/wndr4700

18

@fleskalebas .... from reading your post, it seems that the problem you'll encounter is more on the side of the 2.4Ghz band saturation and bandwidth than in the Router CPU or USB/NAS transfer ...

19

I have the dir-860l and the wrt1200. The wrt is much more stable and quick, it is worth all the money.

20

Do you happen to have any direct comparisons between the two? In terms of 2.4ghz speed, 5ghz speed, NAT performance and NAS performance? I am currently using the DIR-860L, but the SQM issues are driving me crazy. I was contemplating to buy the wrt1200. Would love to have a direct comparison of both devices with both of them running LEDE :slight_smile: