DIY Router With Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

I have been using Ubuntu as my base machine for the past some years. Things have been learning from day to day since then. Recently, my thoughts have crossed the internals of routers and which turned out to be the idea of Ubuntu as a router.

You would be wondering why do we need Ubuntu as a router when we have ready-made one? Assume that, we are living in a town like Mumbai where ISP provide DSL connections to the whole apartment through a switch installed on the top of it. In that case, we don’t have to pay for router or something when we get connected like plugged in directly to the PC or laptop. This scenario makes to think “Linux as a router” if you love and explore the possibilities of Linux.

All we have to need is two LAN card or in my case, second one is WLAN as a Wireless Access Point. Wireless Access Point provide internet as well as IP address from the configured DHCP server which I have installed in my machine. Following are the needful.

DHCP ServerHostapdIPtable ConfigurationSwitch Linux as RouterConfigure Network

DHCP Server

sudo apt-get install dnsmasq

sudo vim /etc/dnsmasq.conf

interface=wlan0
dhcp-range=10.0.0.2,10.0.0.14,12h

Hostapd

sudo apt-get install hostapd

sudo vim /etc/default/hostapd.conf

DAEMON_CONF="/etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf"

sudo nano /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf

auth_algs=1
beacon_int=50
channel=3
country_code=US
disassoc_low_ack=1
driver=nl80211
hw_mode=g
ht_capab=[HT40+][HT40-][SHORT-GI-40][RX-STBC1]
ieee80211d=1
ieee80211n=1
interface=wlan0
require_ht=0
rsn_pairwise=CCMP
ssid=YOURSSID
wmm_enabled=1
wpa=2
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
wpa_passphrase=YOURPASSPHASE

IPtables

sudo nano /etc/rc.local

iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING \
-o wlan1 -j MASQUERADE
iptables -A FORWARD -m conntrack \
--ctstate RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A FORWARD \
-i wlan0 -o wlan1 -j ACCEPT
exit 0

Switch Linux as router

sudo nano /etc/sysctl.conf

net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
net.ipv6.conf.all.forwarding=1

Configure Network

sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

auto lo wlan0
iface lo inet loopback
#access point
iface wlan0 inet static
address 10.0.0.1
netmask 255.255.255.240
gateway 10.0.0.1
dns-nameservers 192.168.1.1
wireless-mode Master

sudo nano /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf

[keyfile]
unmanaged-devices=mac:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX