Best Compatible Router

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jacobpressures
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:56 pm

Best Compatible Router

Post by jacobpressures »

Hi guys,

I'm new here. I don't see a sticky note on what the best router for Gargoyle is in 2021. I did see a similar thread but it was from 2017. When I did a search, it said that the results were too many to display.

Here are some questions I have:

1) Will Gargoyle work on both ethernet and wireless devices? (I want to monitor devices connected via ethernet.)

2) How difficult is it to set up on my router, whichever one I get?

3) Do I need to be network savvy to use this? I'm an IT guy but I have no network experience. I really want to set it and forget it unless i need to quickly make a change.

4) Gorgoyle was recommended on DD-WRT website, but they said that Gorgoyle was not as secure and it should be placed behind DD-WRT. I don't know anything about either of these products. I usually just set a strong 10 character password on my router. It is usually a router/modem combo. I know some people use a VPN and alot of other stuff. I just want a simple secure setup.

Thanks guys!

Lantis
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Posts: 6721
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:33 am
Location: Australia

Re: Best Compatible Router

Post by Lantis »

jacobpressures wrote:
Thu Jul 22, 2021 3:37 pm
Hi guys,

I'm new here. I don't see a sticky note on what the best router for Gargoyle is in 2021. I did see a similar thread but it was from 2017. When I did a search, it said that the results were too many to display.
This depends on what you want to achieve, and in particular your connection speed from your ISP. You may need to target a more powerful device, or a generic device may be fine.
jacobpressures wrote:
Thu Jul 22, 2021 3:37 pm
Here are some questions I have:

1) Will Gargoyle work on both ethernet and wireless devices? (I want to monitor devices connected via ethernet.)
Yes
jacobpressures wrote:
Thu Jul 22, 2021 3:37 pm
2) How difficult is it to set up on my router, whichever one I get?
This is very device dependent. For most devices, simply "upgrading" the stock firmware to Gargoyle is sufficient. Some devices require you to enter a special recovery mode first. Others require you to TFTP flash the file over the network (again in a special mode). The least "friendly" devices require a serial connection to flash.
For each device, the OpenWrt wiki contains instructions for how to flash.

Importantly, while in theory all OpenWrt devices are supportable by Gargoyle, not all of them are built today. If you want to custom build Gargoyle, you can pick whatever device you want. Otherwise the list of devices is a bit shorter.
The latest "beta" is here:
https://lantisproject.com/gargoyle_custom/1.13.x/
jacobpressures wrote:
Thu Jul 22, 2021 3:37 pm
3) Do I need to be network savvy to use this? I'm an IT guy but I have no network experience. I really want to set it and forget it unless i need to quickly make a change.
Basic understanding of subnets (mostly the fact that you can't clash with existing subnets on your ISP side) is fine. The more you know the easier some things become.
jacobpressures wrote:
Thu Jul 22, 2021 3:37 pm
4) Gorgoyle was recommended on DD-WRT website, but they said that Gorgoyle was not as secure and it should be placed behind DD-WRT. I don't know anything about either of these products. I usually just set a strong 10 character password on my router. It is usually a router/modem combo. I know some people use a VPN and alot of other stuff. I just want a simple secure setup.

Thanks guys!
Rubbish lol. Whoever said that is trying to sell you something.
The default firewall rules are secure.
A strong password for the router + the wifi network is generally all you need to mitigate most threats.

Note however that Gargoyle (and OpenWrt) in general does not support modem/router combo devices.
http://lantisproject.com/downloads/gargoyle_ispyisail.php for the latest releases
Please be respectful when posting. I do this in my free time on a volunteer basis.

jacobpressures
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:56 pm

Re: Best Compatible Router

Post by jacobpressures »

Hi Lantis,

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions.
Importantly, while in theory all OpenWrt devices are supportable by Gargoyle, not all of them are built today. If you want to custom build Gargoyle, you can pick whatever device you want. Otherwise the list of devices is a bit shorter.
The latest "beta" is here:
So you are saying my options are very limited. What are the chances I'll end up dated and less than optimal equipment because of little support?

Also i thought the link was sending me a list of routers. (Link removed because i could not post otherwise.) But it sent me to a list of directories wihtin directories. What was the idea here? What did i miss?

Thanks!

jacobpressures
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2021 1:56 pm

Re: Best Compatible Router

Post by jacobpressures »

Honestly guys,

I'm at a standstill and I don't know what to think. Is Gargoyle a dying product with shrinking options? No insult intended.

I certainly love the idea. Not sure why other network management systems don't provide these basic features.

Volaris
Posts: 177
Joined: Thu May 01, 2014 1:02 pm

Re: Best Compatible Router

Post by Volaris »

How fast is your Internet connection? (to determine how powerful of a router you need)
QoS Tip: Don't complicate your QoS settings. Gargoyle evenly splits available bandwidth between active devices as needed. Just delete all your classification rules and leave only one normal service class and you're done. No more arguing over bandwidth.

Lantis
Moderator
Posts: 6721
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 5:33 am
Location: Australia

Re: Best Compatible Router

Post by Lantis »

Inside the link I sent you can see all of the router images produced. It's not exactly a list of supported devices, but you can use it as a reference. I don't have a list. I could put one together I suppose but it is what it is.

At a guess there's 150 devices actively built at the moment.
It's still actively developed, pretty much only by me. I work on it when I have the time and inspiration.

If there are new devices coming out that are interesting and popular, and supported by OpenWrt, then I'm happy to build them for Gargoyle. Just needs someone to put their hand up and say I think this device is good and I'm happy to be a test pilot to figure it out.

For third party firmware, you're always going to end up with slightly dated equipment. The device has to come out and then be popular enough that someone bothers porting it to OpenWrt. That doesn't happen overnight. General leadtime is 6-12 months to get to the testing snapshots. Another 12 months to make it to a stable release.

Third party firmware is not about having the latest and greatest device. It is about having a more secure device, and having the flexibility to fully control and alter how it behaves and what functionality is available. In some cases (besides insufficient hardware) it's also about breathing new life into "older" devices.

So just make sure you're getting into it for the right reasons, then do your research on what requirements you have and therefore what devices you should target. Then check OpenWrt support, then Gargoyle support.
http://lantisproject.com/downloads/gargoyle_ispyisail.php for the latest releases
Please be respectful when posting. I do this in my free time on a volunteer basis.

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