Set up your Arch B3 as a WiFi Access Point / Server

[sakaki]

Hi,

I've just set up an open wiki for the Arch Linux live-USB project, here.

The first article on there shows how to set up your Arch B3 in 'router+firewall+server' mode (i.e., similar to the most common Excito configuration), per the following:

(You can easily modify this to fit your own requirements.)

I adapted it from the (very useful) original guide here.

I've also added a guide to installing ownCloud 8 on your Arch B3 (adapted from this thread).

Please feel free to modify, or add your own pages if you like (you can do so without asking permission, you just need to have a GitHub login, which is free).

Best

sakaki

[Ubi]

why let the B3 be a DHCP when the adsl router is quite capable of doing this (and it probably has a nicer management interface anyway)? In this scenario, when the conenction on your laptop fails, you need to validat *both* the B3 and the router. By connecting the laptop straight to the adsl router you eliminate a point of failure.

You need to trust the vendor of your router if you're too scared of the NSA though...

[sakaki]

It's what the vanilla Excito/Debian setup allows (when running in 'router+firewall+server' mode). A couple of people who started using the Arch live-USB emailed me to ask how to configure the B3 this way, hence the guide.

Of course, you can easily relax various elements if desired (or simply run the B3 as a 'leaf' server), depending on your requirements.

It is useful to have your B3 run like this though, if you subsequently want to e.g. force all the LAN-side traffic (including DNS) down a VPN tunnel, provide other filtering or caching services for the LAN on the B3, etc.

True, it does create an extra point of failure, although I must say we have a B3 running this way at home (both in Debian originally, and now Gentoo) and very rarely had any trouble with it.

best

sakaki

[Gordon]

In the situation shown I would probably suggest to run the B3 as a leaf server. In fact there would be no reason to use a wifi version in this case, because the router already has wifi.

But I agree there may be trust issues if your ISP did not hand you a stock router but a preconfigured one with a backdoor and limits on what you can change yourself. And thus I myself did in fact run my B3 in a similar setup until about a year ago when I finally figured out how to eliminate the ISP router. And it's still a crazy setup because of the ipsec router I have for work and that runs in a different IP segment because I don't want complete interaction between my home and work environment (in either direction - kids and stuff, you know).

[Ubi]

if the b3 acts as a leaf server it still can work as a wifi router though. It surprising but the dhcp doesnt crash.

[stasheck]

I, for one, am grateful for the guide. I am using a cable modem, and B3 as my gateway/5GHz wifi AP (I have other APs working on 2.4).

Going Arch is one step closer now

[ConnerN]

Thanks for the guide Sakaki!

Hey Ubi, I found that it does crash sometimes. Is there anything that can be done about that?