It may often seem like nothing more than a sleek metal box on the outside, but the internal memory components of a Cisco router represent where much of the real magic takes place.
Building A Linux Router
Building a reliable, full-featured broadband router can be very easy and cost-efficient. This article is about building one for routing a LAN to the Internet with NAT (Network Address Translation — Linux users also call it as IP Masquerading) using an old computer and a Linux micro-distribution designed to have very low hardware requirements. We’ll end up having a very simple and stable system, yet featuring e.g. iptables based stateful firewalling and remote administration.
Multitech RF550VPN SOHO VPN Router
Multitech’s new SOHO RF550VPN Router is an inexpensive ($179.00 list ) Internet access router with VPN capabilities suitable for home or small office use.
Features not found in lower end products include
Five (5) IPSEC VPN tunnels
Automatic dialup to emergency ISP if WAN connection fails
Both client and WAN side filtering
Virtual servers (inward port redirection)
Redirect RF550VPN logging to a syslog server
Flash upgradable firmware
The Network Router as Unsung Hero
Greater intelligence in routers could enable them to look inside a data packet and, for example, determine the content of a packet, according to IDC research manager Paul Strauss.