José Ildefonso Camargo Tolosa
2004-Jul-08 16:07 UTC
Re: LARTC digest, Vol 1 #1809 - 14 msgs
Hi!>Message: 5 >Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2004 17:00:21 +0530 >From: Sudheer Divakaran <sudheer@svw.com> >To: lartc@mailman.ds9a.nl >Subject: [LARTC] Is Linux based Router feasible > >Hi, > >I''ve a local LAN consisting of about 150 machines. I''m using a Linux >machine as the gateway machine which inturn connects to two different >ISPs. My question is can a Linux based machine match the performance of >a hardware based routers provided by Cisco,... OR is my decision to go >for a Linux based solution is a wrong one?. > >I don''t like Cisco: You only get good things if you go to high order systems, and you have to pay for everything (even software upgrades, if you need them). At the university I work, we have a cisco router, AND a linux router/qos/filter/traffic-shaper before it. Due to the amount of clients (>900), and the amount of connections (>8000 at any time, with peacks of up to 90.000 (yes, that much)) the cisco router was colapsing, we added the linux router and now everything works A LOT better. We have two ISPs, hence two connections, one of 384kbps/128kbps and the other of 1024kbps/1024kbps. Additionally, it is not as durable as you may expect, I saw a cisco Catalist 2900 swtich die due to a power peak, and when I looked at the power source, there was a filter design problem (this equipment would not survive more than one year without a regulator/peak suppresor AND external power line filter on any pseudo-industrial enviroment).>Is there so much difference between these two solutions? > >Yes, off course. The Linux solution is somehow difficult to implement (but hey, you are not alone, you can come here and ask :) ), but it is more flexible, and it is free.>Can I achieve the same performance using a high end PC and Linux? > >Even without a high end PC. The solution I told you was implemented with a PII 300MHz with 128Mb RAM.> I''m asking this because one guy told me that my decision to go for a >Linux based solution is a wrong one and it can never match the >performance of Routers provided by Cisco. > >If you go for the Cisco high end routers, it would be only harder, but you can still match. See, cisco routers often use very small processors (some of them only comparable with K6-II or PIII), you can use an Athlon 64 with DDR RAM and very good network hardware (that is very, very important) and certenly you can match any cisco solution (unless you need MANY interfaces, in wich case you would be going to clustering, but that is another history and will be expensive).>Thanks >Sudheer > > >_______________________________________________ LARTC mailing list / LARTC@mailman.ds9a.nl http://mailman.ds9a.nl/mailman/listinfo/lartc HOWTO: http://lartc.org/
On Thu, Jul 08, 2004 at 12:07:57PM -0400, Jos? Ildefonso Camargo Tolosa wrote:> you can use an Athlon > 64 with DDR RAM and very good network hardware (that is very, very > important)Regarding NICs, are there any recommendations out there for which manufacturers to go with? I don''t need anything faster than 100baseT. I would think that Intel and 3Com would be in the "reliable" category, and RTL-based cards in the "forget it" category. On the Intel note, I wonder what experience y''all have had with the two different drivers for the EtherExpressPro/100 card. That is, eepro100 versus e100. I would think that noone would take the time to rewrite a driver if there wasn''t anything wrong with the original one. Thank you-- Glen Mabey -- ****************************************************************** Glen W. Mabey Glen.Mabey@usu.edu http://mabeys.homelinux.com/glen/ ****************************************************************** _______________________________________________ LARTC mailing list / LARTC@mailman.ds9a.nl http://mailman.ds9a.nl/mailman/listinfo/lartc HOWTO: http://lartc.org/
Glen Mabey wrote:> On Thu, Jul 08, 2004 at 12:07:57PM -0400, Jos? Ildefonso Camargo Tolosa wrote: > >>you can use an Athlon >>64 with DDR RAM and very good network hardware (that is very, very >>important) > > > Regarding NICs, are there any recommendations out there for which > manufacturers to go with? I don''t need anything faster than 100baseT. > > I would think that Intel and 3Com would be in the "reliable" category, > and RTL-based cards in the "forget it" category. > > On the Intel note, I wonder what experience y''all have had with the two > different drivers for the EtherExpressPro/100 card. That is, eepro100 > versus e100. I would think that noone would take the time to rewrite a > driver if there wasn''t anything wrong with the original one. > > Thank you-- > Glen Mabey >I have had some good luck with Intel cards using either drivers. I haven''t noticed much difference between them but I haen''t done a lot of stress testing on them. On a side note has anyone built a linux router with dual/quad port ethernet cards (ie Intel PRO/1000 MT Quad Port Server Adapter)? _______________________________________________ LARTC mailing list / LARTC@mailman.ds9a.nl http://mailman.ds9a.nl/mailman/listinfo/lartc HOWTO: http://lartc.org/
Glen Mabey wrote:> On Thu, Jul 08, 2004 at 12:07:57PM -0400, Jos? Ildefonso Camargo Tolosa wrote: > >>you can use an Athlon >>64 with DDR RAM and very good network hardware (that is very, very >>important) > > > Regarding NICs, are there any recommendations out there for which > manufacturers to go with? I don''t need anything faster than 100baseT. > > I would think that Intel and 3Com would be in the "reliable" category, > and RTL-based cards in the "forget it" category. > > On the Intel note, I wonder what experience y''all have had with the two > different drivers for the EtherExpressPro/100 card. That is, eepro100 > versus e100. I would think that noone would take the time to rewrite a > driver if there wasn''t anything wrong with the original one. > > Thank you-- > Glen Mabey >I have had some good luck with Intel cards using either drivers. I haven''t noticed much difference between them but I haen''t done a lot of stress testing on them. On a side note has anyone built a linux router with dual/quad port ethernet cards (ie Intel PRO/1000 MT Quad Port Server Adapter)? --Nick Erkert _______________________________________________ LARTC mailing list / LARTC@mailman.ds9a.nl http://mailman.ds9a.nl/mailman/listinfo/lartc HOWTO: http://lartc.org/
Regarding building your own router/switch. You might want to check out
www.routerboard.com for a
really reasonably priced 4 port NIC.
--Alfie Viechweg
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On Fri, Jul 09, 2004 at 10:35:22AM -0400, Alfie Viechweg wrote:> Regarding building your own router/switch. You might want to check out > www.routerboard.com for a > really reasonably priced 4 port NIC.I had no idea this type of board existed! (forgive my excitement) Alfie, have you used the Routerboard 230 or 240 products? Anyone else? Could anyone else recommend other manufacturers of this type of hardware: an embedded system board with * a couple of NICs * PCMCIA * runs linux Thanks -- Glen -- ****************************************************************** Glen W. Mabey Glen.Mabey@usu.edu http://mabeys.homelinux.com/glen/ ****************************************************************** _______________________________________________ LARTC mailing list / LARTC@mailman.ds9a.nl http://mailman.ds9a.nl/mailman/listinfo/lartc HOWTO: http://lartc.org/
On Sat, Jul 10, 2004 at 04:51:40PM -0600, glen wrote:> Alfie, have you used the Routerboard 230 or 240 products?Whoops, I meant 220 or 230 ... Glen -- ****************************************************************** Glen W. Mabey Glen.Mabey@usu.edu http://mabeys.homelinux.com/glen/ ****************************************************************** _______________________________________________ LARTC mailing list / LARTC@mailman.ds9a.nl http://mailman.ds9a.nl/mailman/listinfo/lartc HOWTO: http://lartc.org/
Runs good on Linux and has many (perhaps too many) different extras. Performance is sufficient for most cases unless you are working with data rates of more than 30-40Mbit/s (well, IPsec with a kind of strong encryption goes only with some 3-5 megabits...). You may want to check out the site after a while - more HW products to come soon. You might also want to check out the manufacturer''s routing software based on Linux kernel with some proprietary extensions (like wireless driver that is undoubtedly better than the anything else for Atheros cards). (don''t look on my e-mail address :) Feel free to ask me more on these products. Dmitry On Sunday 11 July 2004 02:25, Glen Mabey <glen@mabeys.dsl.aros.net> wrote:> On Sat, Jul 10, 2004 at 04:51:40PM -0600, glen wrote: > > Alfie, have you used the Routerboard 230 or 240 products? > > Whoops, I meant 220 or 230 ... > > Glen_______________________________________________ LARTC mailing list / LARTC@mailman.ds9a.nl http://mailman.ds9a.nl/mailman/listinfo/lartc HOWTO: http://lartc.org/
You could try the following: 1. http://www.axiomtech.com.tw 2. http://www.soekris.com 3. http://www.pcengines.com 4. http://www.nexedi.org 5. http://www.nagasaki.com.tw 6. http://www.iei.com.tw 7. http://www.advantech.com 8. http://www.lannerinc.com An a lot more. Nagasaki is good and has a few good options. Cheapest of the lot. Most of these are Taiwanese/Chinese companies with US offices. Warm regards Mohan> -----Original Message----- > From: lartc-admin@mailman.ds9a.nl > [mailto:lartc-admin@mailman.ds9a.nl] On Behalf Of Glen Mabey > Sent: Sunday, July 11, 2004 4:22 AM > To: LARTC Mailing List > Subject: Re: [LARTC] the "cisco vs. Linux" thread > > On Fri, Jul 09, 2004 at 10:35:22AM -0400, Alfie Viechweg wrote: > > Regarding building your own router/switch. You might want > to check out > > www.routerboard.com for a really reasonably priced 4 port NIC. > > I had no idea this type of board existed! (forgive my excitement) > > Alfie, have you used the Routerboard 230 or 240 products? > Anyone else? > > Could anyone else recommend other manufacturers of this type of > hardware: an embedded system board with > * a couple of NICs > * PCMCIA > * runs linux > > Thanks -- > Glen > > -- > ****************************************************************** > Glen W. Mabey > Glen.Mabey@usu.edu > http://mabeys.homelinux.com/glen/ > ****************************************************************** > _______________________________________________ > LARTC mailing list / LARTC@mailman.ds9a.nl > http://mailman.ds9a.nl/mailman/listinfo/lartc HOWTO: http://lartc.org/ >_______________________________________________ LARTC mailing list / LARTC@mailman.ds9a.nl http://mailman.ds9a.nl/mailman/listinfo/lartc HOWTO: http://lartc.org/
On Sat, Jul 10, 2004 at 04:51:40PM -0600, Glen Mabey wrote:> Could anyone else recommend other manufacturers of this type of > hardware: an embedded system board with > * a couple of NICs > * PCMCIA > * runs linuxTry Soekris or Acrosser. Both make boards that work with Linux. http://www.soekris.com/ http://www.acrosser.com/ -James _______________________________________________ LARTC mailing list / LARTC@mailman.ds9a.nl http://mailman.ds9a.nl/mailman/listinfo/lartc HOWTO: http://lartc.org/
On Thu, Jul 08, 2004 at 02:44:26PM -0700, Nicholas Erkert wrote:> On a side note has anyone built a linux router with dual/quad port > ethernet cards (ie Intel PRO/1000 MT Quad Port Server Adapter)?I have bulit a linux router with quad D-Link DFE-580TX nics. It works like a charm and is routing between four local LANs. But had to use kernel patch for those cards because in-kernel driver wasn''t good enough. przemol _______________________________________________ LARTC mailing list / LARTC@mailman.ds9a.nl http://mailman.ds9a.nl/mailman/listinfo/lartc HOWTO: http://lartc.org/
Hi przemolicc >@2004.07.12_09:18:07_+0200> > On a side note has anyone built a linux router with dual/quad port > > ethernet cards (ie Intel PRO/1000 MT Quad Port Server Adapter)? > > I have bulit a linux router with quad D-Link DFE-580TX nics. > It works like a charm and is routing between four > local LANs. But had to use kernel patch for those > cards because in-kernel driver wasn''t good enough.Could you please post a link to the driver for that nic? -- Regards Abraham TODAY the Pond! TOMORROW the World! -- Frogs (1972) ___________________________________________________ Abraham vd Merwe - Frogfoot Networks CC 1st Floor, Albion Springs, 183 Main Road, Newlands Phone: +27 21 689 3876 Cell: +27 82 565 4451 Http: http://www.frogfoot.net/ Email: abz@frogfoot.net _______________________________________________ LARTC mailing list / LARTC@mailman.ds9a.nl http://mailman.ds9a.nl/mailman/listinfo/lartc HOWTO: http://lartc.org/
On Mon, Jul 12, 2004 at 10:15:57AM +0200, Abraham van der Merwe wrote:> Hi przemolicc >@2004.07.12_09:18:07_+0200 > > > > On a side note has anyone built a linux router with dual/quad port > > > ethernet cards (ie Intel PRO/1000 MT Quad Port Server Adapter)? > > > > I have bulit a linux router with quad D-Link DFE-580TX nics. > > It works like a charm and is routing between four > > local LANs. But had to use kernel patch for those > > cards because in-kernel driver wasn''t good enough. > > Could you please post a link to the driver for that nic?This is part of a header: /* These identify the driver base version and may not be removed. */ static const char version1[] "sundance.c:v1.11 2/4/2003 Written by Donald Becker <becker@scyld.com>\n"; static const char version2[] " http://www.scyld.com/network/sundance.html\n"; /* Updated to recommendations in pci-skeleton v2.12. */ przemol _______________________________________________ LARTC mailing list / LARTC@mailman.ds9a.nl http://mailman.ds9a.nl/mailman/listinfo/lartc HOWTO: http://lartc.org/
On Mon, Jul 12, 2004 at 10:56:56AM +0200, Abraham vd Merwe wrote:> > This is part of a header: > > > > /* These identify the driver base version and may not be removed. */ > > static const char version1[] > > "sundance.c:v1.11 2/4/2003 Written by Donald Becker <becker@scyld.com>\n"; > > static const char version2[] > > " http://www.scyld.com/network/sundance.html\n"; > > /* Updated to recommendations in pci-skeleton v2.12. */ > > That looks rather outdated. The link is stale and Donald Becker hasn''t > worked on network drivers in ages.I don''t remember exact link. But you can look for string "sundance.c:v1.11" in google. Please don''t send me cc copy - I am on the list. przemol _______________________________________________ LARTC mailing list / LARTC@mailman.ds9a.nl http://mailman.ds9a.nl/mailman/listinfo/lartc HOWTO: http://lartc.org/
I haven''t tried routerboard as yet. Seem like one of the most cost effective way to add more ports to your own switch/router/brouter device. Another probably more complicated way is to use a USB hub, multiport USB card or the ports built into your PC with USB ethernet devices. The USB ethernet devices a quite expensive compared to plain ethernet - even gigabit - but if you use an embeded board or a mico atx with a shotage of slots this a solution for getting up to a staggering 128 ethernet ports - in theory. Wireless USB would make things even more interesting in this arena. _______________________________________________ LARTC mailing list / LARTC@mailman.ds9a.nl http://mailman.ds9a.nl/mailman/listinfo/lartc HOWTO: http://lartc.org/
> Another probably more complicated way is to use a USB hub, multiport > USB card or the ports built into > your PC with USB ethernet devices.USB 1 has a 12 Mbit bandwidth though. And you won''t be able to use all of that in practice either. USB 2 is a lot higher, several hundred mbits, but again you will probably find it hard to completely saturate it. USB drivers also tend to be nasty and flaky in my experience... Should get better in time though. Now a motherboard with several gigabit connections in the southbridge, or perhaps even multiple PCI Express interfaces... Now you would be talking about something cheap that could knock even a top end CISCO sideways...! Some of these new Asus P4 boards look extremely close now. P.S. Doesn''t look that hot, but no one mentioned the "open brick" yet as a possibility _______________________________________________ LARTC mailing list / LARTC@mailman.ds9a.nl http://mailman.ds9a.nl/mailman/listinfo/lartc HOWTO: http://lartc.org/