From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed May 28 14:09:01 2008 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 5016910656B3 for ; Wed, 28 May 2008 14:09:01 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from erikt@midgard.homeip.net) Received: from ch-smtp01.sth.basefarm.net (ch-smtp01.sth.basefarm.net [80.76.149.212]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B87B88FC2A for ; Wed, 28 May 2008 14:09:00 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from erikt@midgard.homeip.net) Received: from c83-253-25-183.bredband.comhem.se ([83.253.25.183]:60005 helo=falcon.midgard.homeip.net) by ch-smtp01.sth.basefarm.net with esmtp (Exim 4.68) (envelope-from ) id 1K1MKp-0005D3-5o for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Wed, 28 May 2008 16:09:00 +0200 Received: (qmail 35533 invoked from network); 28 May 2008 16:08:56 +0200 Received: from owl.midgard.homeip.net (10.1.5.7) by falcon.midgard.homeip.net with ESMTP; 28 May 2008 16:08:56 +0200 Received: (qmail 30666 invoked by uid 1001); 28 May 2008 16:08:56 +0200 Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 16:08:56 +0200 From: Erik Trulsson To: Bob McConnell Message-ID: <20080528140856.GA30599@owl.midgard.homeip.net> References: <18493.25160.836101.941905@jerusalem.litteratus.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.18 (2008-05-17) X-Originating-IP: 83.253.25.183 X-Scan-Result: No virus found in message 1K1MKp-0005D3-5o. X-Scan-Signature: ch-smtp01.sth.basefarm.net 1K1MKp-0005D3-5o d7ba50cb729eb51a8bc0cdb371b97834 Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD based router ... 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: Wed, 28 May 2008 14:09:01 -0000 On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 09:51:35AM -0400, Bob McConnell wrote: > From: Robert Huff > > Bob McConnell writes: > > > >> >>> define what "enterprise level router" is > >> >> > >> >> Something that doesn't say 'Vista capable' on the box? > >> > > >> > so get 486, 16MB RAM, needed amount of network cards, install > FreeBSD > >> and > >> > configure :) > >> > > >> > (pentium may be needed for full 100Mb/s capability) > >> > >> Finding a box with that enough PCI slots might be problematic. > > > > Six slots X quad-port network cards = 24 interfaces. > > If you need more than that, it's probably worth investing in > > specialized hard-/software. > > > Robert Huff > > Where did you find a box with six slots? Motherboards (in standard ATX format) with six PCI slots are not all that difficult to find. If you include PCI-E and PCI-X in 'PCI' it is even easier, but there certainly exist ones with six normal 32-bit/33MHz PCI slots as well. Today it is not very common, but if you look at older socketA boards it was actually fairly common. (The Asus A7V8X-X is one example of such a board, but there were several others.) (Putting a total of 6 quad-port NICs on a single PCI-bus would totally swamp that bus though, so if one were to actually use so many NICs I would rather recommend e.g. the Asus P5BP-E/4L motherboard. It has 3 PCI slots and 3 PCI-E slots in addition to the four gigabit LAN ports included on the motherboard - so you can get a total of 28 ports if you fully populate all slots with quad-port NICs (not counting any USB-connected ethernet ports one might add.) It also has built-in graphics so one does not need to waste one slot on a graphics card.) -- Erik Trulsson ertr1013@student.uu.se