VA> Date: Thu, 23 May 2002 09:26:41 -0400 VA> From: Vinny Abello VA> I would have to say for any Linux/BSD platform to be a viable I suppose it's been awhile since this thread has made the rounds, so I'll jump in for a moment... VA> routing solution, you have to eliminate all moving parts or VA> as much as possible, ie. no hard drives because hard drives EIDE-based flash drives have become very inexpensive. Some embedded systems use CompactFlash boards. VA> will fail. Not much you can do about the cooling fans in It's always nice if the CPU is happy with a "big enough" heatsink and no fans. VA> various parts of the machine though which routers also tend VA> to have. Solid state storage would be the way to go as far as VA> what the OS is installed on. You have to have something to I think that 128 MB CompactFlash boards are < $60 new now. I've not priced drives recently, but I'm sure they're similar. VA> imitate flash on the common router. Otherwise, if you can get VA> the functionality out of a PC, I say go for it! The VA> processing power of a modern PC is far beyond any router I Yes and no. The central CPU, yes. The line cards, no. VA> can think of. I suppose it would just be a matter of how VA> efficient your kernel, TCP/IP stack and routing daemon would VA> be at that point. :) You left out one critical thing: The bus/backplane. For DS1 service or a few DS3s, standard PCI will work fine. But once the bus is maxed out... you need something bigger (wider or faster bus) or better (cPSB ethernet midplane). Has anyone had the privilege of playing with cPSB gear? If so, I'd like to know what your experiences were... That said, I'm definitely a proponent of "roll your own" routers, although the great prices on used turnkey gear might just make RYO routing more expensive nowadays. (I assume that anyone clueful enough to build a router probably wouldn't need the bigger vendor service contracts.) Then again, if you need different behavior and can cut code, RYO is more flexible. -- Eddy Brotsman & Dreger, Inc. - EverQuick Internet Division Phone: +1 (316) 794-8922 Wichita/(Inter)national Phone: +1 (785) 865-5885 Lawrence ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 11:23:58 +0000 (GMT) From: A Trap <blacklist@brics.com> To: blacklist@brics.com Subject: Please ignore this portion of my mail signature. These last few lines are a trap for address-harvesting spambots. Do NOT send mail to <blacklist@brics.com>, or you are likely to be blocked.