Date: 14 Aug 2003 10:39:55 -0400 From: "J. Seth Henry" <jshamlet@comcast.net> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: FreeBSD as router - performance vs hardware routers Message-ID: <1060871994.5979.12.camel@alexandria>
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Hello, I have recently been having problems with my Netgear RT314 broadband gateway router. Having decided to replace it, I started searching for a new router - only to discover that every sub $300 router I found had a history of problems. Lockups, random reboots, or worse, they would just turn into black holes (like my RT314). First, and I know this is off-topic, is anyone here happy with their router enough to recommend it? I'd prefer to go with a hardware router, but I prize reliability and stability apparently higher than the current crop of manufacturers. Even the Cisco SOHO9x/83x series has a bad track record, and they are $250/$500 respectively! I'd like to keep it under $300, as I can build a mini-ITX box with everything I need for a router for about that. Barring finding a decent, reliable router, I thought about building a mini-ITX system (with the 800Mhz C3) with a second NIC, and a CF card for storage - and using FreeBSD as a router. I'm fairly certain that I can get most of what I need to work going, DHCP client on the WAN link, DHCP server and NAT/PAT on the LAN side. Apparently, firewall support is built-in as well. What I'm not sure about is performance. Has anyone built a cable modem gateway router using FreeBSD and "low-end" hardware like this? If so, what were your results? Also, can a FreeBSD router support things like the Vonage VOIP box (the Cisco ATA186)? Thanks, Seth Henry
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