I need a router with Dial-On-Demand, can Ubuntu Server do it?

[Tim reid]

On Dec 12, 2007 3:21 PM, Leo Mauler <webgiant at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I'm getting conflicting answers off Google so I
> thought I'd see if anyone here has done anything like
> this with Ubuntu Server.
>
> Basically I'd like to add a kind of "load balancing"
> router to the home network.  The ice storm over the
> last two days knocked out the cable internet, but left
> the telephone lines intact.  This has been true of my
> home in every major ice storm in the past ten years.
> It would be nice to have a router which had the option
> of sharing a dial-up connection when the cable
> internet went out.  I have a Linux-friendly prepaid
> Internet service provider for when I travel ("Budget
> Dialup" in case anyone is looking for Linux-friendly
> prepaid Internet), so there's a dialup option
> available for home use.
>
> What I'd like to do is stick a Linux router between
> the cable modem and the existing wireless router.  The
> new Linux router would take Internet access from the
> cable modem, have a regular dialup modem setup for
> emergency Dial-On-Demand, and then share out the
> Internet (from whatever source) to the home network.
> The modem wouldn't have a phone line plugged into it
> unless there was an actual cable outage, so there
> would be no risk of accidentally using up the prepaid
> minutes.
>
> I want to have web and DNS caching to minimize
> bandwidth usage during dialup periods, though they
> wouldn't be a bad idea even with the cable Internet.
> I haven't done anything like this in awhile, so if you
> know what I should be looking for, it would be much
> appreciated.
>
> I would like to use Ubuntu but I have read in various
> forums that the Dial-On-Demand function I need may not
> be possible using Ubuntu's versions of pppd and other
> software.  If you know of a better solution then I'm
> interested.  I have looked at Smoothwall but it
> doesn't seem to have the D-O-D function.
>
>
>
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I second what Brian has said

I am running IPCop on an old pentium with 128MB RAM.   It works well on Time
Warner, and has settings for a "fall-over" to another internet connection
(modem in your case).

IPCop has a lot of drivers and command sets for common modems.  I used IPCop
for several months on dial-up with a linux neutral ISP.  It worked great.

The great thing is that IPCop is "set and forget."  Most config items can be
set through it's GUI.  This is a great thing if you're an idiot like me.
;)    I keep telling myself that I'll learn about IP chains, etc.    Until I
get to this, IPCop will keep me online.  All I have to do is download the
updates every once in a while.  Most of the update features are used through
the GUI as well.

I didn't see anything specific in your mail about why you want to use
Ubuntu.  If it's because Ubuntu is "easy to use", I think that you will not
have an issue with IPCop.  I also think that IPCop uses all "free" packages
and licenses.  I'm not sure though.  There are also plenty of community
add-ons that allow for traffic monitoring, user limiting, host black/white
listing, etc.  I hate to sound like a marketer, but the only thing I can
think of that is bad about IPCop is that it doesn't _force_ you to learn
about the underlying tech.

I don't get on IRC as much as I'd like.  But mail me if you have any Q's.

Tim AKA Bewkard
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