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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!spool.mu.edu!howland.erols.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.zeitgeist.net!vnetnews.value.net!not-for-mail From: patrick@value.net () Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc Subject: Re: Using PC as router ok? Date: 28 Sep 1996 15:28:42 GMT Organization: Value Net Internetwork Services Inc. Lines: 60 Message-ID: <52jg7b$pdh@vnetnews.value.net> References: <Pine.SUN.3.91.960911145226.26774E-100000@syl> <5180oo$blk@vnetnews.value.net> <323f1d93.200583557@cherry.news.easynet.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: value.net X-Newsreader: TIN [UNIX 1.3 950824BETA PL0] Chrisy Luke (chrisy@easynet.net) wrote: : On 12 Sep 1996 03:41:12 GMT, patrick@.value.net () wrote: : >Buy the Cisco. If you want a dedicated router, buy a router. There is less : >to go wrong, their is less overhead, and it will do all kind of neat : >routing stuff. : : If you want it to work without having to go on a 5 day training course : and-still-manage-to-get-the-syntax-wrong, buy the PC. Well, having been familiar with only Livingston routers previously, I had a 2501 up and running in a few hours using command line. Nothing fancy of course(10 Class C's and a two T-1's) using RIP. The Cisco's are *much* more complex than a Livingston. By virute of this they also offer much greater flexibility. But let's compare apples to apples, eh? Let's put a person that has no UNIX experience in front of a box, and tell them to configure routing. : BSDi themselves as well a a number of major UK ISP's all use BSDi with : Riscom sync cards driving 2mb E1 (Euro equiv. of T1) lines. You get : the source, you get gated (where BGP was pretty much developed ;) and : a box that's not redundant after you upgrade it. Well, I would fully expect the people at BSDi to be quite capabable of running BSDi boxes as a router. When they have a problem, I am sure they have they staff on hand to baby the thing, or fix anything that goes wrong immediately. It is not a matter of inability, but rather of reliability. : The parts are easy to fix, replace and to find on short notice. You : get a system that doesn't *require* i/f based connections : wasting-lots-of-ip-addresses. Yes, however running a full-blown O/S to do routing on a PC architecture is more likely to lead to failure at some point. As I have said previously, there is much more to go wrong. : There again, if you don't know what you're doing, buy the Crisco and : waste a week on a training course just to fathom our their CD and : their idosyncratic command syntax and routing methods. Yeah, great documentation included with gated, right? I agree that Crisco's CD, well, sucks. So we ordered the 10+ manuals, which make life easier. Their routing methods however are by no means "idosyncratic." : On top of that, you won't need to purchase proprietary leads just to : connect it to an X.21 interface and uses standard memory when you find : a full routing table just won't fit into 32mb. You can get memory from places other than Cisco. I am in no means stating that BSDi cannot be used as a fully functional router. What I am saying, is that if you have to ask which to use, use something that is soley suited to the purpose at hand. /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ Patrick Greenwell (510) 943-5769 voice Systems Administrator (510) 210-2000 modem Value Net, Inc. (510) 943-1708 fax \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/