From owner-freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Sep 11 08:49:38 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-isp@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-isp@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A452016A41F for ; Sun, 11 Sep 2005 08:49:38 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from blake@yfug.yumaed.org) Received: from yfug.yumaed.org (yfug.yumaed.org [204.118.103.170]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6A4B243D45 for ; Sun, 11 Sep 2005 08:49:38 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from blake@yfug.yumaed.org) Received: from [192.168.0.100] (70-32-188-8.losaca.adelphia.net [70.32.188.8]) by yfug.yumaed.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 69F5A4DA; Sun, 11 Sep 2005 01:55:33 -0700 (MST) In-Reply-To: <4322FDC4.8010609@mac.com> References: <4322FDC4.8010609@mac.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v734) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Message-Id: Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit From: Blake Covarrubias Date: Sun, 11 Sep 2005 01:49:35 -0700 To: Chuck Swiger X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.734) Cc: freebsd-isp@freebsd.org Subject: Re: VLAN interfaces on FreeBSD; performance issues X-BeenThere: freebsd-isp@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Internet Services Providers List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 11 Sep 2005 08:49:38 -0000 On Sep 10, 2005, at 8:37 AM, Chuck Swiger wrote: > Blake Covarrubias wrote: > >> I have a question about VLAN interfaces on FreeBSD. I've read the >> documentation and have set them up on a machine. After doing so >> though the machine seems less network responsive. Does >> implementing VLAN interfaces / tagging slow down network >> performance? >> > > Some, yes, although not by much and that depends to some extent on > whether your NIC has VLAN_MTU hardware support. I'm not sure if VLAN_MTU is available or enabled on my NIC. I will have to check that. > > >> The reason for wanting VLAN tagging is the machine has once NIC >> and I wanted >> to multi-home it without having to install another NIC. The >> network card is >> using the 'fxp' driver. >> > > fxp is a good NIC hardware. However, if you are trying to connect > two distinct subnets, playing ISO layer-2 games with VLANs is not > going to result in a good substitute for layer-3 IP routing. > > You cannot truthfully multihome a machine with a single NIC. > My goal is to make this machine a gateway for several servers that I need to segment that will be on different IP subnets. I could always just alias the IP's to the NIC on the gateway machine, but I need layer-2 separation for security. I'm doing this for co-located servers (hence the need for segmentation) I don't think its feasible to add a NIC for every new machine. I'll check to see if VLAN_HWTAGGING and VLAN_MTU is available on the NIC. If anyone has any other experience in setting up a router/ gateway in this type of environment I'd appreciate your input. Thanks in advance. -- Blake Covarrubias