Managing a growing fleet of WiFi routers combining OpenWRT, WireGuard, Salt and Zabbix

What do you do when you need to manage small office networks spread across a few continents without having full-time techies in each of them? Thankfully, there are tools you can use. Tools the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) Tech Team has deployed and tested. Tools that will make your life easier.

We start by installing OpenWRT on a few office routers, and using WireGuard to keep them connected to the mothership. This allows us to be able to monitor them via Zabbix and configure them with Salt, regardless where they are, as long as they have Internet connectivity. From there, we were able to upgrade managing remote office networks from a dumpster fire to just a regular maintenance task. This took considerable time and a lot of trial and error – so why should we be the only ones who benefit?

We will talk about the hurdles, the pitfalls, our best practices; and yes we will release the config for your pleasure and amusement. And we will cover the benefits – from being able to do software upgrades in a timely fashion, through seeing what’s going on on the network, to being able to easily deploy new networks (at conferences and such) with just a small change in config files.

Speaker

Kenan Ibrović

Bio

Member of Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) Tech Team, helping people stay safe online and managing small, growing network of WiFi routers around the world