Gargoyle Forum

gargoyle questions
I need a router/firmware solution to
a) Apply download quotato users (main use of the router)
b) be a file server with user access restrictions (a like to have)
c) be a ftp server with user access restrictions (a like to have)
d) have 4 Ethernet ports, 2Ghz and 5GHz radios (g, n and ac)

I am thinking of purchasing a WRT1900AC and installing Gargoyle

I have some questions:
1)The Quota feature.
1a) Our power is unreliable. Where is the quota information stored and is it protected(Saved) if the power goes off?
1b) Can A user go to a web page to only view the amount they have left or how much all users have left?
(so they cannot change settings)
1c) is the data usage recorded for the IP address for only the data that is passed through the WAN port? ie data transfered between wifi-wifi, wifi-lan, lan-lan and users-USB devices not counted.

2) Disk access and speeds. The screenshots do not show USB/file server information.
2a) Does the eSata port work correctly?
2b) Does the USB2 and USB3 ports work correctly?
2c) Are the transfer speeds (USB 2 and USB3 the same or better than the manufacture firmware?
2d) Is there a file server with access restrictions? eg guest = read only; user1 = read access to only dir 1,2 and 3; user2 = read and write to dir 4, 5 and 6.
2e) Is there a FTP server with access restrictions simular to question 2d)?

3) Versions of the WRT1900AC
3a) Is there firmware for version V2?

4) Access restrictions
4a) Can you have more than one access restrictions for a single MAC/IP address?

From what I see the gargoyle application of Quotas will work, I have not seen information on file or FTP servers or disk speeds (eSata).

If the eSata and USB3 speeds and file server are not working well, Which router would you go for?

Hope someone can help

Solution
a) yes
b) what do you mean by file server?
c) yes
d) yes

1 quota
a) OK
b) yes
c) yes

2 Disk
a) dunno
b) yes as far as I know
c) expect similar
d) what do you mean by file server?
e) yes

3 hardware versions
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5805&hilit=wrt1900&start=10#p30180

4) Restrictions
a) yes but depends what you want - there are some limitations - but it is pretty flexible.

I will try to answer some of your questions

1a) Quota is saved to flash every few hours (I think it is 4hr), so you will lose the last few hours of data if power goes off.

1b) Yes. Users see it on the login page.

1c) Yes, only data passing through WAN is recorded/shown.

2a-c) I suggest you look up this model on Openwrt or other user's discussion on this.

2d-e) Yes, you can configure this.

3a) Look under the firmware download page.

4a) Not sure what your question is.

From my own experience using USB2.0, USB speed is highly dependent on router CPU performance, i.e. at maximum USB file transfer speed, your router cpu will be at 100% cpu.

ericwong wrote:From my own experience using USB2.0, USB speed is highly dependent on router CPU performance, i.e. at maximum USB file transfer speed, your router cpu will be at 100% cpu.

Agreed, and this seems to be what the OP is most concerned with.

Transfer speed is going to be heavily influenced by the format the drive is as well. For maximum performance, use EXT4.

With NTFS, i get a maximum write of 6MB/s, average of 5MB/s.

You won't see the benefits of USB3 (and/or eSata) over USB 2 in this kind of setup. Its a bit of a marketing ploy to be honest.
You could do some clever stuff like move every process onto CPU1 and then move the NTFS driver onto CPU2... that might give some gains but not much i reckon.

Thanks for the replies so far.

My understanding from what you have all said is that:
- Using the router as a file server is not the best thing to do. I would be better of having a dedicated NAS for higher transfer rates.
- The firmware and router will allow me to do all the user quota and access restriction I require.

The WRT1900ac costs around $260 +
I was looking at the USB transfer rates on the smallnetbuilder site and that is why I was looking at this router.

If i'm not going to use the router as a file server is there a better make/model to buy?
Or should I stay with this one for its hardware?

thanks again.

If you use EXT4 you might see 20MB/s in both directions but I couldn't confirm.

For maximum speed, a NAS is better as you stated.

When I read the first post the first thing that came to mind was CPU


For you dream setup you will need horsepower

I don't think you are going to get this with a consumer router which gargoyle runs on.

Sounds like a "windows server" setup to me

ispyisail wrote:Sounds like a "windows server" setup to me

and if you wanted it to be fast and reliable you could choose linux

Thanks for the information.

I ended up buying a WRT1900AC V2.

It was difficult to find. The cheap ones seemed to be V1.

I have been reading about Gargoyle versions and have another question.

What is the different between the 1.9.0 and the 1.9.x?

Thanks in advance

1.7.0 is an official release of an experimental Gargoyle version based on openWRT barrier breaker

1.8.0 is an official release of an stable Gargoyle version based on openWRT barrier breaker

1.9.0 is an official release of an experimental Gargoyle version based on openWRT chaos calmer

1.9.X is a beta version which extends 1.9.0 (released every few days)

1.9.1 will be the next official release of experimental Gargoyle

1.10.0 will be the next stable official release of Gargoyle

And before you ask - no there is no planned release date but we are working on it