Linksys Activity Logger


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What is it?

The Linksys Activity Logger (LAL) is for owners of the Linksys cable/DSL modem routers.  Specifically for those running in a unix (Linux/Solaris/MacOS X only at this time) environment who want to see who is 'knocking on their door'.  What do we mean by this?  These routers have the ability to send log information over the network containing information about outside machines trying to access your network - good and bad. It also has the ability to log your outbound connections.  Why is this information useful?  Security.  You'll be surprised at how many scans, probes and attacks are thrown at your little piece of the internet.  This utility allows you to log that information in a database, and to eventually look at that information via a web browser.

Who is it designed for?

It's designed more for people who have an interest in the security aspect of their network and have enough technical knowledge to get everything set up and properly configured.  If you don't have enough technical capability to install/configure the requirements, or don't have access to the operating system(s) this project supports, we suggest that you look some of the other logging utilities available for the Windows operating system which require less technical knowledge to install and configure.

Requirements:

The following is a list of system requirements and a brief description of the technical capability you will need to install them.  We won't cover the exact details of installation/configuration for some of the requirements - for those we ask you to refer to the documentation that comes with those outside items.

  • Linksys Cable/DSL Modem Router:  We currently have access to the four port variety, but from what we've seen the other models support the same or similar capabilities as the one we're using for development.  All that we require is that you configure the Linksys through it's web administration page to send logging information either to the specific machine you are using for logging, or to the broadcast address (x.x.x.255).
  • Database:  We current support mySQL, and Oracle (just added and commited to CVS as of 03/14/2002).  No matter what you use, you will be responsible for installing and getting the database running.  Scripts and documentation on how to set up the schema and user accounts needed by LAL are provided.  In some cases scripts will be provided where we can.
  • Web Server/PHP/ADODB:  We provide a unique and effective PHP front end to the database.  In order to use it, you will need a web server installed (such as Apache), PHP, and the ADODB database abstraction layer.  ADODB is needed because it allows us to write one set of PHP code that supports both MySQL and Oracle.
  • Compiler:  If you are not downloading a pre-built binary package you will have to have a working, sane compiler with a properly configured environment.  We are programming and compiling using the freely available GNU gcc compiler which works great.