Howto: Should my home server replace my router?

There are two basic choices for how to connect your home server: you either replace your WiFi router with your home server, or your leave it in place. There are pros and cons for both:

Leave your existing WiFi home router in place	Make your home server your router
Diagram:	Diagram:
All traffic to and from the internet passes through your existing home WiFi router.	All traffic to and from the internet passes through your home server. Your WiFi router now forwards WiFi packets only.
Pro: Does not disrupt your existing network Your home server is less likely to be attacked	Pro: You can publish to the public internet You can access your home server away from home
Con: Limits your ability to publish to the public internet Cannot access your home server away from home	Con: More disruptive to your home network Requires a home server with two fast Ethernet interfaces
Possible pitfalls: You may not be able to use all apps you want to use	Possible pitfalls: Your ISP may contractually prevent you from doing this

Leave your existing WiFi home router in place

Make your home server your router

Diagram:

All traffic to and from the internet passes through your existing home WiFi router.

All traffic to and from the internet passes through your home server. Your WiFi router now forwards WiFi packets only.

Pro:

Does not disrupt your existing network
Your home server is less likely to be attacked

Pro:

You can publish to the public internet
You can access your home server away from home

Con:

Limits your ability to publish to the public internet
Cannot access your home server away from home

Con:

More disruptive to your home network
Requires a home server with two fast Ethernet interfaces

Possible pitfalls:

You may not be able to use all apps you want to use

Possible pitfalls:

Your ISP may contractually prevent you from doing this

If you make your home server your router, it opens up more possibilities, so that’s the more powerful alternative. But before you consider it:

Check the terms and conditions of your internet service provider that nothing prevents you from setting up a publicly accessible website on a device in your home. (If there is, you may want to consider switching ISPs.)
Make sure you have hardware that has two high-speed Ethernet interfaces and that can be configured as a router. This is generally easy for:
- any desktop or server-class PC that you might be using as a home server; at worst, you need to add a separate Ethernet card, which is not hard.
- devices such as the ESPRESSObin that have more than one Ethernet interface built in.
It is not recommended for devices such as the Raspberry Pi, which only has one Ethernet interface. You can add more by adding a USB-to-Ethernet adapter, but your internet speed will likely suffer as USB2 cannot transmit data as fast as you probably like.