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Xref: sserve comp.dcom.lans.ethernet:11283 comp.os.386bsd.misc:3432 Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!agate!howland.reston.ans.net!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!gumby!andrews-cc!gillham From: gillham@andrews.edu (Andrew Gillham) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans.ethernet,comp.os.386bsd.misc Subject: Re: Unix PC as dedicated router? Date: 22 Aug 1994 21:03:33 GMT Organization: Andrews University Lines: 92 Message-ID: <33b3r5$oml@orion.cc.andrews.edu> References: <33afek$8s8@rockall.cc.strath.ac.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: edmund.cs.andrews.edu Keywords: bsd router fast In article <33afek$8s8@rockall.cc.strath.ac.uk> sinclair@dis.strath.ac.uk writes: >I'm in the market for a router, currently a simple ethernet-ethernet >thing, but in the longer term perhaps ethernet-fddi or atm, or whatever. > >Doing princings on various options leads me to a very nice but very >expensive box by a well known router company. > >Then last week, I had a smart idea. I could buy a high-spec PC, perhaps >with a PCI bus, or similar, put two ethernet cards in it, and run a free >version of Unix on it, such as NetBSD, or FreeBSD - this would at least >be half the price of a dedicated router. When the time comes, I can buy >an FDDI board for a PC, again at a cheaper price. > >Can anyone comment on what I would be losing by taking this approach? 1. multi-protocol support 2. support for other media types, other than ethernet/ppp/slip 3. vendor support 4. etc... But... if you only need TCP/IP, and not having FDDI/TR yet(*) doesn't bother you, than go for it! Works great! :-) (*) or ever... code included, write your own.. >Would the system be able to run as fast as a dedicated router? Probably not in a ethernet<->ethernet, but with ethernet<->serial it should be fine. Of course, what kind of dedicated router are you talking about? You can probably out-route most low-end routers, but don't expect to beat a cisco 7000... :-) > In particular: > > Is NetBSD's or FreeBSD's IP implementation good enough to drive > the ethernet faster than around 40% utilisation that my Sun-based > router does at present? 3c579's are supposed to be able to saturate ethernet, but they also may have a drop off problem. I believe the problem is with the 3c509's not the 3c579's, but you'd have to confirm this. > Will a PCI, VESA, or EISA bus be fast enough to match the software? EISA (3c579) should be fast enough. I'm not sure what cards are out there for PCI/VESA. >Can I implement packet filtering to provide security? Yes! Somebody ported the BSDI ip-filter code to FreeBSD. (not netbsd yet) It is on freebsd.cdrom.com. Supposed to work well. >Does either NetBSD or FreeBSD support the sort of hardware I'm talking >about? Will it in a year's time? How about a commercial system? NetBSD supports 3c5x9's, WD80013, ne2000, HP ethernet, 3c507's, several others. Also supports NCR PCI scsi, which is supposed to be extremely fast! FreeBSD should support the same stuff. >Any specific recommendations? There is a 'freebsd router floppy' you could try that is on freebsd.cdrom.com. (not sure of directory, /pub/FreeBSD/freertr?) Probably you'll want source, etc, so having a disk would be best. >Is there anything I haven't realised? If there is, I'm sure someone else will mention it! I can't think of anything specific other than what I mentioned earlier. >Of course, I know that the PC solution cannot match all the specifications >of a good custom router, but at half the price, or less, it's an attractive >proposition. Very attractive! Your hardware fails, you swap in a cheap mainboard ethernet, etc.. instead of waiting for a service call, or having a spare router around.. >E-mail replies preferred, to avoid the usual flaming in the bsd group. >I'll post a summary of any interesting results. > >Thanks for all comments you can give, I'm posting anyway... I don't think this is flamebait, but I could be wrong.. -Andrew -- #!/bin/sh - ============================================== echo "Andrew Gillham gillham@andrews.edu" echo "Winix Hacker" #=========================================================