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Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!constellation!osuunx.ucc.okstate.edu!moe.ksu.ksu.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!msuinfo!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!arundel.vthrc.uq.oz.au!D.Thomas From: Danny Thomas <D.Thomas@vthrc.uq.edu.au> Newsgroups: comp.os.386bsd.questions Subject: Re: FreeBSD as Bridge? Date: 4 Feb 1994 23:33:40 GMT Organization: Vision, Touch & Hearing Research Centre Lines: 47 Distribution: world Message-ID: <2ium0k$sjs@dingo.cc.uq.oz.au> References: <2itu7v$5d1@MICRO-HEART-OF-GOLD.MIT.EDU> NNTP-Posting-Host: arundel.vthrc.uq.oz.au X-UserAgent: Version 1.1.3 X-XXMessage-ID: <A9791A09C2020415@arundel.vthrc.uq.oz.au> X-XXDate: Sat, 5 Feb 94 17:40:25 GMT Shawn F. Mckay, shawn@MICRO-HEART-OF-GOLD.MIT.EDU writes: > This is kind of a specialized query, but whatever help you can lend is > appreciated! :-). We have several FreeBSD systems here, and love them. > However a need has developed for a "quick&temporary" bridge. (2 Actually). > > We are in the process of redesigning our network, and would rather not > spend 8k in bridges we will only use for a few months then throw away.. > Instead I'm wondering if I can use a FreeBSD with two ethernet cards as > a bridge until we fix things? > > I was wondering if the GATEWAY function (w/gated?) could be used to isolate > swap traffic to one side of the system, passing only non-local traffic > through the gate? > > What I need is a 3Com "NetBuilder", in bridge mode. But how close can > FreeBSD be tuned to this function? I don't know how well *BSD systems work as a bridge, but first off I'd look at the PD packages written specifically for a PC with two ethernet cards. The original PCBridge even works on 4.77MHz 8088 machines. Western Digital cards (now SMC) are the most-supported type, PCBridge will work with packet-drivers but due to a limitation in the packet-driver API have to do extra memory copying of the packets and a 50+% performance hit. I believe any of these packages will supply adequate performance. I've used KarlBridge and DrawBridge quite satisfactorily though we don't have heavy network traffic to really shake out any problems that may be lingering. PCBridge, 8088+ AT preferred. KarlBridge, uses 16bit ethernet cards hence AT machine or better. Has been developed into a commercial product with better filtering, eg Novell AppleTalk. nisca.acs.ohio-state.edu /pub/kbridge Drawbridge. says it needs a 386 but not strictly true. Code is Borland-compiled C so extra grunt required compared with other two that employ macro-expanded assembler. Drawbridge is designed as a bridge with sophisticated IP filtering capabilities. I've got a couple of patches for the filter language compiler to work on a *BSD system (code assumes processor byte == network byte order in a few places). net.tamu.edu. pub/security/TAMU cheers, Danny Thomas.