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Xref: sserve comp.dcom.lans.ethernet:11117 comp.os.386bsd.misc:3364 Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bunyip.cc.uq.oz.au!munnari.oz.au!spool.mu.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!agate!doc.ic.ac.uk!uknet!str-ccsun!ccsun.strath.ac.uk!ches02 From: ches02@ccsun.strath.ac.uk ( "d.sinclair") Newsgroups: comp.dcom.lans.ethernet,comp.os.386bsd.misc Subject: Unix PC as dedicated router? Date: 22 Aug 1994 15:15:32 GMT Organization: University of Strathclyde Computer Centre Lines: 46 Message-ID: <33afek$8s8@rockall.cc.strath.ac.uk> Reply-To: sinclair@dis.strath.ac.uk NNTP-Posting-Host: rosemount.cc.strath.ac.uk Keywords: bsd router fast I'm in the market for a router, currently a simple ethernet-ethernet thing, but in the longer term perhaps ethernet-fddi or atm, or whatever. Doing princings on various options leads me to a very nice but very expensive box by a well known router company. Then last week, I had a smart idea. I could buy a high-spec PC, perhaps with a PCI bus, or similar, put two ethernet cards in it, and run a free version of Unix on it, such as NetBSD, or FreeBSD - this would at least be half the price of a dedicated router. When the time comes, I can buy an FDDI board for a PC, again at a cheaper price. Can anyone comment on what I would be losing by taking this approach? Would the system be able to run as fast as a dedicated router? In particular: Is NetBSD's or FreeBSD's IP implementation good enough to drive the ethernet faster than around 40% utilisation that my Sun-based router does at present? Will a PCI, VESA, or EISA bus be fast enough to match the software? Can I implement packet filtering to provide security? Does either NetBSD or FreeBSD support the sort of hardware I'm talking about? Will it in a year's time? How about a commercial system? Any specific recommendations? Is there anything I haven't realised? Of course, I know that the PC solution cannot match all the specifications of a good custom router, but at half the price, or less, it's an attractive proposition. E-mail replies preferred, to avoid the usual flaming in the bsd group. I'll post a summary of any interesting results. Thanks for all comments you can give,