Nise3120 as a Router

In May 2008 my old router decided to go to computer heaven. So i needed a new router which is located between DSL and LAN at my home.

I have a DSL connection with 2000 KBit downstream. Experience indicated that a VIA C3 CPU is more than enough for such a bandwidth.  My old router (Via C3/ 500 MHz) was always minimum 95 % idle, even if a debian dist-upgrade was running in the LAN. Another lesson learned was that a 2.5'' drive is not a good idea for a router. Therefore the new router should run with a CF card. For the new router hardware the following search profile was created:

• Hardware should run under Linux, especially Debian.
• Hardware should be designed for 24x7 usage.
• No moving parts, thus no fans and instead a hard drive a CF card.
• Low power consumption (~10 W), hence a Via C3 or a AMD Geode as a CPU.
• The computer should be complete or at least a barebone.

To buy a normal PC is trivial. But to find a computer with such a search profile was not easy. After several hours googling i had several candidates. On top of the list was the ALIX1D. For this barebone several Linux installation how-tos exist. Unfortunately the ALIX was out of stock. For this reason my new router hardware was a Nise 3120 by Nexcom with a 500 MHz AMD Geode.

In the Nise the CPU is connected with the case by a pad. The case is hence used as a CPU cooler.

Assembly was easy. After removal of upper and lower cover the 2 GB CF card and a 512 MB RAM module were inserted. Finished!

In the BIOS automatic boot was selected, so that after e.g. a power failure the router would boot by itself. In addition as boot medium external USB was chosen in BIOS.

A external USB DVD drive with an own power supply was connected. The Debian Etch installation DVD was not always recognised on boot. But when it was recognised, installation was always successful. A minimal Debian Etch installtaion was done, which had no driver problems.

The lifespan of a CF card is limited by write cycles. On that account frequently changing file system parts, e.g. /var/log, should be moved to a RAM disc (Tmpfs) to extend the lifespan. After a reboot the data on a RAM disc is of course lost. To move a folder to a Tmpfs file system, only /etc/fstab must be edited. The following lines were added in the fstab:

tmpfs           /dev/shm            tmpfs      defaults,noatime       0 0
tmpfs           /tmp                tmpfs      defaults,noatime       0 0
tmpfs           /var/lock           tmpfs      defaults,noatime       0 0
tmpfs           /var/log            tmpfs      defaults,noatime       0 0
tmpfs           /var/run            tmpfs      defaults,noatime       0 0
tmpfs           /var/tmp            tmpfs      defaults,noatime       0 0
tmpfs           /etc/network/run    tmpfs      defaults,noatime       0 0

The new router is now running for a year 24x7 without problems.