From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed May 28 14:57:47 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 AC8F41065675 for ; Wed, 28 May 2008 14:57:47 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jbaltz@gmail.com) Received: from rv-out-0506.google.com (rv-out-0506.google.com [209.85.198.229]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 783218FC19 for ; Wed, 28 May 2008 14:57:47 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jbaltz@gmail.com) Received: by rv-out-0506.google.com with SMTP id b25so3563238rvf.43 for ; Wed, 28 May 2008 07:57:46 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; bh=gGWOyE7lnMhfxtPI6HZVTS8zCmigiCxsb7b7cFwv3CU=; b=iWc3lca1qzcWXp/R7/gViOjr/yMxmay6CkCWhyTPERNyYetoiowjuzPMI+jISdrac0bi0MtVewGhhCrcM23+0lv5eGoU12xQ33RXtqa2+KPXhN36oyKXnFp36B6MOntMcopdDAsItyN0a+1M5n8AvHE7wJFlxOGJMlzgalehjmQ= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; b=O9vwmiqVy7qgvTvlZSDu8aQ8v6pOaUIYokfJy752zMQWCd+dzXSqoVN3UR2qMXtS2fCOrZ/H0F0xYb2IVvBY7DBgzn77g/MsJjUwu33RQleK7rM0KpxIkaHLIi5uq/GlpvxVQxtOk9THhjZEAFUkCg27NtS3PtVz5FFcJddiC/4= Received: by 10.141.179.5 with SMTP id g5mr1217369rvp.237.1211985084309; Wed, 28 May 2008 07:31:24 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.141.69.16 with HTTP; Wed, 28 May 2008 07:31:24 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <2b677bda0805280731x45fc2dd4ra62a2657e11641c1@mail.gmail.com> Date: Wed, 28 May 2008 10:31:24 -0400 From: "Jerry B. Altzman" To: "Erik Trulsson" In-Reply-To: <20080528140856.GA30599@owl.midgard.homeip.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline References: <18493.25160.836101.941905@jerusalem.litteratus.org> <20080528140856.GA30599@owl.midgard.homeip.net> 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 14:57:47 -0000 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. > Erik Trulsson //jbaltz -- jerry b. altzman jbaltz@gmail.com www.jbaltz.com foo mane padme hum