OpenWRT/dd-wrt: what do you use it for? [closed]

Question

I know the power of OpenWRT/dd-wrt, but I wonder how people use it daily. I plan to use one of them to change my currently default firmware simply because I heard a lot of positive comments from people using those firmware.

From my personal perspective, the only good reasons I can find to use those firmwares are to shape my network(QoS) and to block some ads.

Maybe you can share how you use the firmware in your network?

Answer 1

I use DD-WRT and Tomato on a few Linksys WRT54GL routers to convert them into wireless bridges. This way I can hook up devices (Slingboxes, XBox, Desktop PCs without wireless adapters) to these routers so they can be part of the network. I could then, for example, stream video, from my Slingboxes to various PCs around the house).

For my man gateway router, I use DD-WRT as it adds features not found in the stock firmware such as increasing the radio strength, better QoS options to limit bandwidth/priority for peer to peer applications, and so on.

Answer 2

There are a few reasons I switched to dd-wrt.

SNMP - dd-wrt provides an SNMP server so I can use something like cactai or mrtg to pull detailed traffic information (and things like cpu load/temps) from the device. Being able to see how much bandwidth I'm using is useful.

netflow - dd-wrt provides rflowd a service that can send cisco style netflow information to a host running netflow analysis software like ntop. This gives me a great deal of visibility as to what is happening on my network. Knowing what hosts are talking to the outside world (and what services they use) can be helpful when ensuring that everything is secure.

vpn - if you get the vpn build of dd-wrt you can use openvpn clients to connect to your network remotely via vpn. I prefer this to stuff like port forwarding.

static dhcp assignments - last time I used the stock linksys firmware I was unable to use DHCP to assign static addresses. dd-wrt allows this.

local dns - dd-wrt uses a service called dnsmasq that allows your router to serve dns for locally attached devices. I don't need to remember IPs (or distribute host files) to the devices on my network.

I've been running dd-wrt for a few years and it works great for me.

Answer 3

Actually, I just installed DD-WRT on a WRT160N Saturday night. In no particular order, my main reasons for switching were:

1. To run virtual wireless networks. I like having a secure network and an open network. The secure network is for what I do and when I have visitors they can just connect to the open network. Plus, with the open network I can control what is done on it so people aren't leaching my generosity for torrents, mp3s, Youtube, etc.
2. Set static IP / DHCP reservations.
3. Perform more thorough QoS for my network devices. For instance, I set my PS3 to have the highest priority in terms of network traffic. I have problems when playing online and when my wife is uploading pictures. It murdered my performance.
4. Reliably stream media from my computer to the PS3 via PS3 Media Server. On the stock firmware, the stream would crash every few minutes and I'd have to reboot the router. I haven't had a chance to test yet but am hoping this will resolve that problem.

A place where it just happened to come in handy is when I bought a Belkin Wireless G USB Print Server. It would only support WEP encryption (my network is WPA2) and through the use of the virtual networks I was able to connect it to my network and set up the printers as straight TCP/IP printers.

And that's just off the top of my head...

Answer 4

I'm using dd-wrt with two WRT54GL routers to create a shared network between two houses (family). I use WDS to bridge the two wireless networks and directional antennas to link the two houses.

I had tried to use the new "repeater bridge" mode, but the routers would stop talking as soon as I created a VLAN. At least in my case, WDS does all I need it to do.

Answer 5

I use my OpenWRT install as a standard router, really--it's kept up to date (relatively, I'm still on a 2.4 kernel) whereas the default firmware on my WRT54G is not.

The web interface is a lot newer, even if the only way I've gotten port forwarding to work is by using ssh to remote into the box and edit the configuration there. :)

I haven't upgraded the box to add serial ports or an mmc card, but now I have them as an option. My WRT never crashed so I can't ever comment on the stability.

A lot of my reasoning on using OpenWRT are control and future capability. I have a stable base and it can grow if my needs change.

Answer 6

I installed it because the signal wouldn't reach where I needed it (thirty feet away, but through metal book cases), and the factory firmware didn't have an option to turn up the signal high enough.

It ran hot and died early, but it was cheap and the custom firmware made it possible to be used.

Answer 7

I use my openwrt router it as a standart router/access point + I've got mpd (music player deamon) set up on it, also i've got usb hard drive connected to is so i've got samba set up so i can share files easily across my network, and off course lighttpd web server is running on it. Sometimes i use transmission torrent client with web interface on it, so i can download torrents remotely. Oh, and a printer is connected to it, so I can print from any computer on my network.