From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed May 28 14:48:25 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 91EAA106567E for ; Wed, 28 May 2008 14:48:25 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from erikt@midgard.homeip.net) Received: from ch-smtp02.sth.basefarm.net (ch-smtp02.sth.basefarm.net [80.76.149.213]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0EC0C8FC1C for ; Wed, 28 May 2008 14:48:25 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from erikt@midgard.homeip.net) Received: from c83-253-25-183.bredband.comhem.se ([83.253.25.183]:53572 helo=falcon.midgard.homeip.net) by ch-smtp02.sth.basefarm.net with esmtp (Exim 4.68) (envelope-from ) id 1K1Mwx-0006Gj-9C for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Wed, 28 May 2008 16:48:24 +0200 Received: (qmail 35848 invoked from network); 28 May 2008 16:48:19 +0200 Received: from owl.midgard.homeip.net (10.1.5.7) by falcon.midgard.homeip.net with ESMTP; 28 May 2008 16:48:19 +0200 Received: (qmail 30996 invoked by uid 1001); 28 May 2008 16:48:19 +0200 Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 16:48:19 +0200 From: Erik Trulsson To: "Jerry B. Altzman" Message-ID: <20080528144819.GA30956@owl.midgard.homeip.net> References: <18493.25160.836101.941905@jerusalem.litteratus.org> <20080528140856.GA30599@owl.midgard.homeip.net> <2b677bda0805280731x45fc2dd4ra62a2657e11641c1@mail.gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <2b677bda0805280731x45fc2dd4ra62a2657e11641c1@mail.gmail.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.18 (2008-05-17) X-Originating-IP: 83.253.25.183 X-Scan-Result: No virus found in message 1K1Mwx-0006Gj-9C. X-Scan-Signature: ch-smtp02.sth.basefarm.net 1K1Mwx-0006Gj-9C c93c11919e0c091533513765bc8ec0b7 Cc: Bob McConnell , 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 14:48:25 -0000 On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 10:31:24AM -0400, Jerry B. Altzman wrote: > On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 10:08 AM, Erik Trulsson wrote: > > (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.) > > And all this just to *pass packets*; if you're making real *routing* > decisions based upon that (i.e. you're making a router rather than a > switch), which requires that packets take a trip to the CPU, you'll > find yourself coming to the realization that Cisco and Juniper might > actually be on to something, there, and that ASICs might actually be > worth what you paid for them. > > YMMV, HTH, HAND. Yep, and if you do buy a whole bunch of quad-port NICs for your PC, then the whole system will probably end up costing quite a bit. It might even turn out to be cheaper to get a "real" router instead. -- Erik Trulsson ertr1013@student.uu.se