I'm looking for advice on buying a good OpenWRT-compatible router. I looked at the Table of Hardware and filtered a little based on what I think I'll want, but I have other more subjective/speculative questions that table can't help me with as much.

I bought my current router before I even knew about OpenWRT, but was happy to find it is supported. However, it doesn't transfer files at full speed to function as a simple NAS (at least not since the last time I tinkered with it) and it's missing modern hardware features. It doesn't have 5Ghz, VLAN, or guest SSID support. I'd like to separate house guests' traffic from my home network with a guest SSID. Possibly run OpenVPN for remote access.

So I'm curious if there are any stand out recommendations for a router that has really solid OpenWRT support for those features on its chipset and it looks like it will be supported for a while by a larger group of OpenWRT users, similar to how flagship Android smartphones receive a little more long-lasting developer support / community attention. I know there are no guarantees, but I thought this was the best place to ask for information that could help me make the best decision.

Thanks for reading

(Last edited by techgique on 29 Aug 2017, 22:05)

What is your ISP speed?

NAS of a ntfs disk requires a lot of CPU to reach high speeds because the ntfs driver is not very efficient.  If possible, formatting the disk to a different file system such as ext4 will improve performance.

ISP speed is 60Mbps/5Mbps currently. Intending to switch providers to get 100Mbps soon though. Not a deal breaker to get 100% of that speed over wireless or be gigabit ready. I don't expect I'll be paying the premium for gigabit anytime soon. More concerned about reliable speed for NAS use really.

I'm all about Linux and keeping as much as possible running on open source software, so I'll definitely be using an ext4 file system. I usually like to use full disk encryption with ext4+LUKS. Don't know if that's possible or not and to get hardware accelerated encryption (AES-NI) on top of it. I always use LVM2 nowadays too. I'm really out of the loop on what kind of power top of the line routers have these days though. If that's unreasonable, I might just set up an old tower or something like a NUC or some other lower power device with CentOS for the NAS.

You should state what your current router is and clarify that you are or not on OpenWrt (You imply you are)

I am of the opinion that if you want a NAS, buy a NAS.  My experience is that USB on these devices is a fraction of what a real device will do.  I do have USB drives set up on two of my routers, but use them sparingly for small files (Not GB video files for sure).

Do not confuse your internet speeds with what you can have for LAN speed (File transfer in house).  You should still get a GB router and switches.

You will need to go to X86 or better boxes to get AES-NI, though some higher end models may also offer this.  You do want this for OpenVPN.  Understand and use the algorithms supported in the hardware.

If you are running OpenWrt you should be able to have a guest LAN on the device. It's configurable in OpenWrt even if the original vendor firmware did not support this.

This is now shipping.

You can try OpenWrt x86 on an old desktop first, then migrate to one of the fanless network appliances later for smaller size and less power.

Sorry if it wasn't clear. I am running OpenWRT now. My current router is the Asus RT-N16, which uses the Broadcom BCM47xx SoC.

I wouldn't be using a NAS for large media file streaming either. I would just like a central storage and backup device for my documents and sharing photos etc across my home network more easily.

Thanks, I understand that LAN speed is the concern for file transfers between devices etc. I think I tried using sshfs with my current router a while ago and the speeds were unusable in my opinion. I'll probably use Samba instead in the future. I'd also like a USB 3 port in case I use the new router for these purposes.

So one can have separate LANs on the same SSID? So they'd still have the same SSID password but the networks are isolated by the router?

Those x86 appliances don't regularly have multiple gigabit ethernet ports though do they? Sounds like I might want one for the NAS, but I'd like to figure out a solid router option first.

If by x86 appliance you mean the UP² linked, that is simply a general purpose computer with a couple of NICs(albiet Realtek). Use it for whatever you want, desktop or router or... If you need a router with WIFI, stuff the M.2/PCIe/USB with a a LEDE/OpenWrt supported device. More than enough horsepower to route and perform other secondary tasks(NAS); although I prefer separating such things onto other HW.

Edit: Another option for WIFI would be to use your current router as an AP, and something like this as the router+.

(Last edited by Villeneuve on 30 Aug 2017, 20:32)

PC-Engines APU2 has some supporters on both OpenWrt and LEDE
https://pcengines.ch/apu2.htm

I think that you may be talking about MESH networking here.  Above you asked about a guest LAN, which you want a separate SSID for and basically fire walled from your LAN  The mesh is what you want so you can raom between APs.