Over the past few days we've been experiencing a lot of Internet down-time. At first I thought it was Virgin playing up with their broadband, or that they were starting the upgrade in our area - 4MB users will be upgraded to 10MB before summer!
However, although there has been down-time in the past, it has never been for more than a few hours.
The next point of call was the cable modem itself, but it appears that they're as rare as rocking-horse shit to purchase. Plus I didn't feel like phoning Virgin in case it ended up being my hardware that was at fault.
So the last option (as it was affecting all networked devices) is the router - an ageing Linksys wired router. It has proved to be very capable for the past 5+ years, even handling DynDNS duties over the past few months.
Luckily, Simon had a spare Buffalo cable router lying around (as he's in-between an upgrade) which I've borrowed for the next day or so to confirm if the Linksys router is at fault. If we don't experience any down-time, then the Linksys will have to go.
In its place I need a router solution that is compatible with the original NTL cable modem and that will also work with DynDNS' Custom DNS service - as I'm planning on hosting a few websites in the coming months, from slickhouse itself. Unfortunately the Buffalo router (on loan) doesn't meet the latter criteria, due to its fairly limited options. The one thing that the Linksys router does have over the newer Buffalo, is that it has far more administration features, even though it is some 6 years old.
So, I've decided to replace the Linksys - if it's faulty - with my own solution. Utilising the Mini-itx EPIA 5000 (550Mhz Via; 512MB RAM) should prove to be successful, with Smoothwall as the OS of choice. Whilst browsing the Internet for a suitable operating system for a router, I found several Windows Server options, along with a multitude of Linux apps and even full blown distros, dedicated to router duties. Smoothwall appears to be the best on offer, or at least the most straight-forward to setup and use for us non-Linux users.
I'll let you know how the Buffalo router testing goes. If we experience any more downtime, then I'll be phoning Virgin - otherwise I'll be whipping out the Dremel once again and fitting another PCI network card to the Mini-itx enclosure. Stay tuned...