From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jun 10 00:37:38 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 99732106564A for ; Fri, 10 Jun 2011 00:37:38 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from cswiger@mac.com) Received: from asmtpout025.mac.com (asmtpout025.mac.com [17.148.16.100]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7DD508FC0C for ; Fri, 10 Jun 2011 00:37:35 +0000 (UTC) MIME-version: 1.0 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-type: text/plain; CHARSET=US-ASCII Received: from cswiger1.apple.com ([17.209.4.71]) by asmtp025.mac.com (Oracle Communications Messaging Exchange Server 7u4-20.01 64bit (built Nov 21 2010)) with ESMTPSA id <0LMJ00DLVTPP6Y80@asmtp025.mac.com> for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:37:02 -0700 (PDT) X-Proofpoint-Virus-Version: vendor=fsecure engine=2.50.10432:5.4.6813,1.0.148,0.0.0000 definitions=2011-06-09_09:2011-06-09, 2011-06-09, 1970-01-01 signatures=0 X-Proofpoint-Spam-Details: rule=notspam policy=default score=0 spamscore=0 ipscore=0 suspectscore=0 phishscore=0 bulkscore=0 adultscore=0 classifier=spam adjust=0 reason=mlx engine=6.0.2-1012030000 definitions=main-1106090248 From: Chuck Swiger In-reply-to: <20110609222807.GA34570@guilt.hydra> Date: Thu, 09 Jun 2011 17:37:14 -0700 Message-id: References: <20110609005656.GA9183@thought.org> <15630_1307624948_4DF0C5F4_15630_82_1_D9B37353831173459FDAA836D3B43499BF89C4A2@WADPMBXV0.waddell.com> <20110609184829.GC33714@guilt.hydra> <20110609222807.GA34570@guilt.hydra> To: Chad Perrin X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1084) Cc: FreeBSD Questions Subject: Re: Long Day's Journey into X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2011 00:37:38 -0000 On Jun 9, 2011, at 3:28 PM, Chad Perrin wrote: > In many cases, it's not even obvious which of the products I find are suitable for building various types of network switches. Do you know of any Webpages that might help me rectify my dearth of understanding in this area? You can get an unmanaged 24-port 10/100/1000 switch for less than $10 per port, and a good managed switch for about $30 per port. A cheap quad-port GB NIC runs $200 or $50 per port; and one from Intel or Cisco which can actually run all of the ports near rated line speed is closer to $100 per port. You simply can't build a commodity PC using these and end up anywhere near the price point of a dedicated switch. Regards, -- -Chuck