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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.rmit.EDU.AU!news.unimelb.EDU.AU!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!paladin.american.edu!gatech!news.mathworks.com!news.kei.com!nntp.coast.net!lll-winken.llnl.gov!uwm.edu!msunews!netnews.upenn.edu!news.voicenet.com!news From: The Notorious B.S.D. (The Notorious B.S.D.) Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: FreeBSD Routing... as good as hardware ? Date: Wed, 10 Jan 1996 07:34:41 GMT Organization: Voicenet - Internet Access - (215)674-9290 Lines: 48 Message-ID: <4cvfg5$pur@news.voicenet.com> References: <4covfb$1g7@news.mistral.co.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: philly48.voicenet.com X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent v0.55 plaker@cybar.co.uk (Pete) wrote: >I've been convinced that FreeBSD would be a good OS for my pentium >mail/web/news/ftp LAN server, but can FreeBSD on a seperate >386 really be as reliable and more monitorable and configurable than >the 'black box' option ? > If so, this is much much cheeper, why >doesn't EVERYBODY do this instead of spending a fortune on a hardware >router ? You have to define what you mean by cheaper. In my estimation, money spent on a dedicated router is among the best investments you can make toward your LAN's success. A Cisco 2100 with OS is about $1999. It can route LOTS of packet formats thru LOTS of protocols. It has 2 T1-class WAN ports, and 1 10Mbps LAN port, and a 14.4 Kbps dialin port for monitoring/config/etc... Cisco techs can (if you're stumped) dialin and configure your router, save the routing configs in non-volitile flash RAM, and you can essentially forget having to do anything more to this !!VITAL!! piece of your networking puzzle. Not a bad tradeoff. Since you're VERY unlikely to buy the same 386-based hardware for much less than $1000, you're already halfway there in terms of money, but you're nowhere NEAR the "set-and-forget" status that a Cisco product gives you from Day 1. You buy some hi-speed serial card, and you start wondering if there's a FreeBSD driver. You wonder how good it is. You hope it works for your network. With all the other stuff you need to do with your network to keep it going, why on earth would you be so ready to add another box that CLEARLY will require MUCH more attention than the "more expensive" option? What exactly are you saving? >Basically, if someone has really experienced both, what are the >advantages/disadvantages of both methods of routing ? If you're just gateway-ing between ethernets, FBSD works fine. However, mission critical networks or commercial ISP services are MUCH better served via "real" dedicated routing hardware.