Turning a Cheap Router into a Networking Test Lab with OpenWrt (Jan Kala)

OpenWrt is most often seen as a flexible firmware for consumer routers — but it can also be a powerful tool in software development and testing. In this talk, I will show how easy it is to set up a router with OpenWrt and get started with its intuitive web interface. From there, we’ll look at how we use OpenWrt in practice: configuring custom firewall rules for traffic shaping, running OpenNDS as a captive portal to test authentication flows, and integrating mitmproxy for complex scenarios that require deep inspection or modification of traffic. Together these capabilities turn an inexpensive router into a versatile, reproducible testbed for networking features, security workflows, and real-world user conditions. ISBN 9788088097105 https://talks.openalt.cz/openalt-2025... https://www.openalt.cz/2025/