nanog mailing list archives

Re: 10GE router resource


From: Mark Newton <newton () internode com au>
Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2008 22:45:19 +1030



On 26/03/2008, at 10:23 PM, Greg VILLAIN wrote:

It is not about making it work, it is about having it work -all the time-,

Hey, that sounds fantastic.  Can you let me know where I can get one
of these platforms that works -all the time-?  Because the ones I have
now crash occasionally, which is inconvenient.  And untidy.

Surely the thing that needs to work all the time is the network, not any
individual forwarding element within the network. Design so that a software or hardware fault in a commodity-OS router doesn't take down the whole network,
then you can leave any serious outages until next business day.

That's how we're meant to do things.  Right?

Considering that all major vendors are using open-source OS's as the
embedded microkernel of choice and running their "operating system" as an application (anyone have any ACE blades in 6500's?), I'm not convinced by any FUD that says open source OS's aren't suitable for routers. All we're really talking about here is the depth of the abstractions that implement the features we need; whether they're on dedicated silicon, custom- designed
hardware, or a PC doesn't matter at all if they all meet customer-stated
requirements for performance and reliability.


  - mark


--
Mark Newton Email: newton () internode com au (W) Network Engineer Email: newton () atdot dotat org (H)
Internode Systems Pty Ltd                 Desk:   +61-8-82282999
"Network Man" - Anagram of "Mark Newton"  Mobile: +61-416-202-223






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