[NNagain] upgrading old routers to modern, secure FOSS

[Frantisek Borsik]

Such a great thing to read! Another LibreQoS man aboard.

Btw, Ignacio might be here, but cc'ing him anyway.

All the best,

Frank

Frantisek (Frank) Borsik



https://www.linkedin.com/in/frantisekborsik

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On Mon, Oct 23, 2023 at 7:44 PM le berger des photons via Nnagain <
nnagain at lists.bufferbloat.net> wrote:

> you've convinced me to go see libre qos.  thanks.
>
> On Mon, Oct 23, 2023 at 7:04 PM Dave Taht via Nnagain <
> nnagain at lists.bufferbloat.net> wrote:
>
>> I loved that this guy and his ISP burned a couple weeks learning how
>> to build openwrt, built something exactly to the need, *had it work
>> the first time* and are in progress to update in place 200+ routers to
>> better router software, that just works, with videoconferencing, IPv6
>> support, and OTA functionality. No need for a truck roll, and while
>> the available bandwidth deep in these mountains in Mexico is meager,
>> it is now enough for most purposes.
>>
>>
>> https://blog.nafiux.com/posts/cnpilot_r190w_openwrt_bufferbloat_fqcodel_cake/
>>
>> I have no idea how many of this model routers were sold or are still
>> deployed (?), but the modest up front cost of this sort of development
>> dwarves that of deployment. Ongoing maintenance is a problem, but at
>> least they are in a position now to rapidly respond to CVEs and other
>> problems when they happen, having "seized control of the methods of
>> computation" again.
>>
>> OpenWrt is known to run on 1700 different models, already, (with easy
>> ports to obscure ones like this box) - going back over a decade in
>> some cases.
>>
>> Another favorite story of mine was the ISP in New Zealand that
>> deployed LibreQos and had all their support calls (from gamers and
>> videoconferencers) cease overnight. The support tech, formerly drowned
>> in angst from the users, set to work automating an reflashing 600 old
>> agw routers they had "retired" on the shelf, and then distributing
>> them to customers as extenders because the wifi finally worked right
>> with the fq_codel stuff now in that release.
>>
>> I feel like I am tooting my own horn here a bit too much, but solving
>> the right problems like MTTR, MTBF, bufferbloat, and taking back
>> control of your software infrastructure while being able to customize
>> it for purpose, and turning what otherwise would be ewaste into
>> something that will last a decade more, is my inner "green", my inner
>> stewart brand.
>>
>> Compare that to so many others being marketed to, to death, that buy
>> the latest (and often inferior) thing, every few months, perpetually
>> fooled by promises that do not pay off in the field, and often, really
>> lousy MTBF. Good embedded software takes many years to develop, say,
>> oh, 7, while the hardware cycle is closer to 2, nowadays, and requires
>> many eyeballs to fully debug and get to lots of 9s of reliability.
>>
>> Back when I was even more radical about good, open, embedded, software
>> than now, I used to say: "Friends don't let friends run factory
>> firmware.". I do wish somehow the long term maintence costs of
>> hardware with a decade plus service lifetime would be adaquately
>> covered. Insurance? by law? a formal setaside from the purchase price?
>> Otherwise we run the risk of turning the world's internet into a giant
>> toxic waste dump that will require Superfund levels of cleanup, one
>> day, and ever more contributions to trillions of dollars of fraud, and
>> persistent actors having first broken down the front door, perpetually
>> on the inside, wreaking more havoc. Somehow preventing that mess, up
>> front, seems cheaper.
>>
>> Take this string of vulns:
>> https://www.google.com/search?q=cisco+router+vulnerability
>>
>> (try that search string with *any* manufacturer - juniper, netgear,
>> tplink,
>>
>> There is a new vuln going around about some very old software in a
>> cisco mx series which is ancient and yet 100k+ are vulnerable -  (I
>> worked on this while at montavista in the early 00s!)  - abandonware,
>> toxic waste...
>>
>> Anyway, in Mexico at least, 200+ routers are going to be a lot better,
>> through the actions of all that contribute to linux, openwrt, and one
>> smart and caring engineer.
>>
>> --
>> Oct 30:
>> https://netdevconf.info/0x17/news/the-maestro-and-the-music-bof.html
>> Dave Täht CSO, LibreQos
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>> Nnagain at lists.bufferbloat.net
>> https://lists.bufferbloat.net/listinfo/nnagain
>>
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