Untangle at Home Reviewed

[mike2h]

ty 4 info. just fyi the 88u and the 3100 do use the same firmware. not sure where their heads r at on that issue. hopefully someone will give us an idea of the impact untangle has on the 88u/3100. otherwise ill wait till it becomes cost effective for me to buy on of their standalone boxes.
wished it was compatible with 87u got one that I'm using as a bridge but I'm going to running lan cable soon so it wont be doing anything.

 

[Csection]

ty 4 info. just fyi the 88u and the 3100 do use the same firmware. not sure where their heads r at on that issue. hopefully someone will give us an idea of the impact untangle has on the 88u/3100. otherwise ill wait till it becomes cost effective for me to buy on of their standalone boxes.
wished it was compatible with 87u got one that I'm using as a bridge but I'm going to running lan cable soon so it wont be doing anything.

There are separate versions for each one though. I think I read somewhere it's because of the Realtek switch on the 88u.

 

[MasterBash]

Anyone here built their own wireless router?

I am interested in this. I dunno if I should run it on its own or build an all in one box with wireless + untangle + NAS. I dunno if that's even possible or how to even go about doing that. I don't know what is the best option to me, I don't even have a NAS currently and I am definitely interested in Untangle.

 

[sfx2000]

One has to understand that they've backported an x86 package to ARM - which is awesome, IMHO, and got it to work on the RT-AC88U - how well that port works, relative to even Baytrail, remains to be seen...

ARM, is, erm, interesting - and it's hella work, as not all ARM's are created equal - speaking first hand from a bare metal board bringup perspective.

When we look at the various ARM's out there in the BHR space - QCA's Krait cores are very interesting, as do Marvell's, as even though they're ARM Cortex-A9 equivalent, they do outperform the Broadcom BCM4708/4709 series in a big way - but the porting effort to take things across, this is a big job for Untangle, and one they might not want to do - but it would be nice to see how it runs on the Annapurna Labs Alpine chip over one that Mother of All BHR's that Netgear has offered...

 

[sfx2000]

Anyone here built their own wireless router?

I am interested in this. I dunno if I should run it on its own or build an all in one box with wireless + untangle + NAS. I dunno if that's even possible or how to even go about doing that. I don't know what is the best option to me, I don't even have a NAS currently and I am definitely interested in Untangle.

Designed commercial devices I have... it's getting easier these days compared to where I was back in the early '00's, but it's still non-trivial...

 

[sfx2000]

There are separate versions for each one though. I think I read somewhere it's because of the Realtek switch on the 88u.

Yes, because in the device tree, one has to account for the realtek switch in the 88u (which the 3100 doesn't have).

FWIW - this comments puts paid to someone who called me out suggesting that the 3100/88u were the same - at a metal level, they're not.

 

[sfx2000]

not sure what that means?
if u followed the posts u would know that they actually list support for the 3100 on their website. then in a post to their forums say they don't, even though (as was pointed out in their forums and never addressed) they are identical routers.
no biggie Just confusing. still looks like a leading-if not the leading solution for my situation.

I know exactly what it means - the 88u has the realtek switch, the 3100 doesn't...

In Linux - working with ARM, you need to account for the device - which they have with the 88u, and if the device is missing (which it is on the 3100), then things get, for lack of a better work, troublesome...

 

[RacerRon]

Looks like this now runs on the Linksys wrt1900acs.. They appear to be having boot issues with the newest Asus board revision.

I was tempted to give this a shot but now wonder if Asus will be supported for very long.

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

 

[MAC80]

I got it running for the past two days and it seems to run fine (cpuload) with web filtering, adblocking, openvpn, bandwithcontrol apps enabled. Wan connection is 20-30Mbps and i have on average about 15 active hosts.
But the main issue that i face is that wifi performance on both bands is awful at 28-30Mbps (iperf wifi to lan client) . Additionally there are no controls over channel and channel width selection or any other features of the wireless radios. That is a real show stopper...
Also the other ethernet ports are not available to be selected.

 

[mike2h]

I know exactly what it means - the 88u has the realtek switch, the 3100 doesn't...

In Linux - working with ARM, you need to account for the device - which they have with the 88u, and if the device is missing (which it is on the 3100), then things get, for lack of a better work, troublesome...

you are still missing the point. the site itself says it supports the 3100 AND also says it doesn't. THAT is what makes it confusing.

edited for possibly incorrect info
and ty both for pointing out the realtek thing to me.

 

[mike2h]

ty MAC80. looks like their standalone or a build-your-own is probably the best choice right now. hopefully that will change in the future.

 

[Csection]

I got it running for the past two days and it seems to run fine (cpuload) with web filtering, adblocking, openvpn, bandwithcontrol apps enabled. Wan connection is 20-30Mbps and i have on average about 15 active hosts.
But the main issue that i face is that wifi performance on both bands is awful at 28-30Mbps (iperf wifi to lan client) . Additionally there are no controls over channel and channel width selection or any other features of the wireless radios. That is a real show stopper...
Also the other ethernet ports are not available to be selected.
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Try leaving a msg. in their forum. They are very responsive, but from what I see it seems that a lot of issues evolve around licensing of devices. With Untangle everything has a license in order to work(I think that even includes each eth port. but I'm not sure about router ports) If you get UT for home they will definitely help you out. I would inquire about your router before you buy.

 

[MAC80]

Try leaving a msg. in their forum. They are very responsive, but from what I see it seems that a lot of issues evolve around licensing of devices. With Untangle everything has a license in order to work(I think that even includes each eth port. but I'm not sure about router ports) If you get UT for home they will definitely help you out. I would inquire about your router before you buy.

Well i had bought a ut home licence and i did post about the wireless performance issue in their forum but no-one seemed to know or care to help so back to rmerlin's firmware (until i get a reply on the matter)....

 

[pege63]

They ALSO write that:
Some newer ASUS routers are not currently open source compatible.

We recommend the Linksys WRT1900ACS instead. It is faster, cheaper, and fully open source compatible.

 

[mike2h]

lol come back in 6 months and see if they have it figured out.
what makes it funnier(to me anyway) is that the software for the rec'd linksys router is in beta and has no official support except what u can get from their forums. looks like they are fishing for beta testers. not a bad thing, people just need to be aware that's what they are doing. imo.
they are implying that the app is compatible with asus routers that aren't the 88/3100 as long they are open source compatible.
sounds like they either have multiple people not talking to each other updating stuff on the web page or 1 person who isn't cognizant of what is actually going on.
really hope they are able to bring this to maturity

 

[sfx2000]

They ALSO write that:
Some newer ASUS routers are not currently open source compatible.

We recommend the Linksys WRT1900ACS instead. It is faster, cheaper, and fully open source compatible.

I think they're going to ultimately regret going down the path with other vendors' devices...

FCC and Radiated devices (e.g. WiFi) runs into a weird place - and a place that started the whole FCC Rule and Order process in the first place.

Turn the wifi off - and things are a lot easier...

But if they want to do ARM, then perhaps they should just suck it up and roll their own HW - pfSense did this with their little SG-1000 device, but no WiFi on it....

(I've got a device in my back pocket that would be just perfect for a solution like this...)

 

[NUTW0RX]

Those little WiFi routers are under-powered and best to build your own box if you want to use Untangle. Use as your edge router and leave your WiFi router in AP mode.

 

[pege63]

(I've got a device in my back pocket that would be just perfect for a solution like this...)

Please let us know wath it is?!

 

[NUTW0RX]

I think they're going to ultimately regret going down the path with other vendors' devices...

...

But if they want to do ARM, then perhaps they should just suck it up and roll their own HW - pfSense did this with their little SG-1000 device, but no WiFi on it....

(I've got a device in my back pocket that would be just perfect for a solution like this...)

Um, the SG-1000 is just a firewall and isn't in the same category as Untangle appliances. You have to move up to the SG-2220 but the IDS capability isn't built-in and have to add it with third-party support. Better be willing to support that effort.

If you want comparable products then below is an example:
http://www.watchguard.com/wgrd-products/tabletop/t-series
https://www.sonicwall.com/products/sonicwall-tz/
http://www.zyxel.com/us/en/products_services/usg60w_60_40w_40.shtml?t=p#productDetailTab3

https://netgate.com/products/pfsense-appliances.html

If you don't need wireless and want to replace the home (TP-Link, D-Link, Linksys, etc.) solution then pfSense can do better, but it's a hands-on effort.

 

[Bomamama]

They have

So are they locking out basic features such as the OpenVPN server and adblocking unless you pay the monthly fee?

They have a free edition of their tools, which are not so good, and you have to pay to get the good stuff.