Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 13:27:39 +0200 From: "Patrick O'Reilly" <bsd@perimeter.co.za> To: "Grant Cooper" <grant.cooper@nucleus.com> Cc: FreeBSD-questions@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Natd and IP interfaces Message-ID: <002f01c246aa$459b8580$0200000a@perimeter.co.za> References: <063501c2465d$9604b930$2afececd@TCOOPER> <1029622354.12169.7.camel@markx.vladsempire.net> <067701c24694$e8c58c80$2afececd@TCOOPER>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
From: "Grant Cooper" <grant.cooper@nucleus.com>
> Yeh it's resolved. I was thinking (hoping) FreeBSD had some algorithm
magic.
> How is it not possible to turn your computer into a switch by adding
more
> networking cards. Hubs and routers are so small.
Yes - Hubs, routers and switches can be quite small - because their tasks
are relatively simple compared to what a computer can do.
FreeBSD can behave like a Router. In this case each NIC has a unique IP
on a different network, and the server can route traffic between theses
networks.
Hubs and switches are usually devices which are transparent to the
network, and which simply echo messages between the hosts on a network
(with varying degrees of intelligence and speed).
Using FreeBSD as a router does make some sense, especially if you also
make use of other features like firewalling, proxying, caching, etc.
Switches and Hubs are so cheap that I cannot see any reason to try to
replace them with a computer. In fact, I know there are other on this
list who would even question the wisdom of using a computer for a router,
given that Hardware-based routers (Cisco, 3Com, etc) are supposed to be
faster and less prone to failure.
---
Regards,
Patrick O'Reilly.
___ _ __
/ _ )__ __ (_)_ __ ___ _/ /____ __
/ __/ -_) _) / ~ ) -_), ,-/ -_) _)
/_/ \__/_//_/_/~/_/\__/ \__/\__/_/
http://www.perimeter.co.za
To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?002f01c246aa$459b8580$0200000a>