Re: Routers vs. PC's for routing - was list problems?

[Anthony D Cennami <acennami () netscape net>]

"Not to say you can't route well with a linux or bsd system you can but 
at the high-end probably not as well."

Tell that to Juniper.



Scott Granados wrote:
> Remember that a pc may have some certain functions that are "more 
> powerful" than a router but a pc is a much more general computer.  
> Routers are supposed to be and usually designed to do one thing only, 
> route, not play quake, balance your check book, browse the net, etc etc. 
>  So although for example a gsr-12000 may hhave a slower cpu than the 
> machine on your desk it probably will route and pass more traffic than 
> your pc ever will because of its design.  Not to say you can't route 
> well with a linux or bsd system you can but at the high-end probably not 
> as well.
>
> On Thu, 23 May 2002, Vinny Abello wrote:
>
>
> > I would have to say for any Linux/BSD platform to be a viable routing 
> > solution, you have to eliminate all moving parts or as much as possible, 
> > ie. no hard drives because hard drives will fail. Not much you can do about 
> > the cooling fans in various parts of the machine though which routers also 
> > tend to have. Solid state storage would be the way to go as far as what the 
> > OS is installed on. You have to have something to imitate flash on the 
> > common router. Otherwise, if you can get the functionality out of a PC, I 
> > say go for it! The processing power of a modern PC is far beyond any router 
> > I can think of. I suppose it would just be a matter of how efficient your 
> > kernel, TCP/IP stack and routing daemon would be at that point. :)
> >
> > At 10:48 PM 5/22/2002, you wrote:
> >
> >
> > > On Wed, 22 May 2002, Andy Dills wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > > > > From the number of personal replies I got about these topics, it seems
> > > > > like many people are interested in sharing information about how to do
> > > > > routing on a budget, or how to avoid getting shot in the foot with your
> > > > > Cisco box.
> > > >
> > > > Routing on a budget? Dude, you can buy a 7200 for $2 grand. Why bother
> > > > with a linux box? Heh, at least use FreeBSD :)
> > >
> > > Before the dot com implosion, they weren't nearly that inexpensive.  The
> > > average corporate user will also need smartnet (what's that on a 7200, a K
> > > or a few per year?) for support, warranty, and software updates.  Some
> > > people just don't appreciate being nickled and dimed by cisco and forced
> > > to either buy much more router than they need, or risk ending up with
> > > another cisco boat anchor router when the platform they chose can no
> > > longer do the job in the limited memory config supported.
> > >
> > > I have a consulting customer who, against my strong recommendation, bought
> > > a non-cisco router to multihome with.  It's PC based, runs Linux, and with
> > > the exception of the gated BGP issue that bit everyone running gated a few
> > > months ago, has worked just fine.  It's not as easy to work with in most
> > > cases, but there are some definite advantages, and some things that Linux
> > > actually makes easier.  They'd initially bought a 2621 when multihoming
> > > was just a thought, and by the time it was a reality, 64mb on a 2621
> > > couldn't handle full routes.  The C&W/PSI depeering (which did affect
> > > this customer, as they were single homed to C&W at the time and did
> > > regular business with networks single homed to PSI) was proof that without
> > > full routes, you're not really multihomed.
> > >
> > > --
> > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > Jon Lewis *jlewis () lewis org*|  I route
> > > System Administrator        |  therefore you are
> > > Atlantic Net                |
> > > _________ http://www.lewis.org/~jlewis/pgp for PGP public key_________
> >
> >
> > Vinny Abello
> > Network Engineer
> > Server Management
> > vinny () tellurian com
> > (973)300-9211 x 125
> > (973)940-6125 (Direct)
> >
> > Tellurian Networks - The Ultimate Internet Connection
> > http://www.tellurian.com (888)TELLURIAN