From owner-freebsd-isp Tue Jan 2 22:48:37 2001 From owner-freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jan 2 22:48:35 2001 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-isp@freebsd.org Received: from www.golsyd.net.au (ftp.golsyd.net.au [203.57.20.1]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CB2EB37B400 for ; Tue, 2 Jan 2001 22:48:34 -0800 (PST) Received: from [203.164.12.28] by www.quake.com.au (NTMail 4.30.0012/AH9370.63.d1acf55c) with ESMTP id rwmsaaaa for ; Wed, 3 Jan 2001 17:56:37 +1100 Message-ID: <3A52CB61.5657375@quake.com.au> Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2001 17:49:05 +1100 From: Kal Torak X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.73 [en] (Win98; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Dan Shearer Cc: freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: 2 cisco's and a fbsd box running bgp References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: owner-freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org > But I'm looking for a really good answer to give to people who snort "Oh > but nothing but a Cisco can reliably route packets at ethernet speeds in > a BPG/OSPF environment". After debate here and plenty of other places, and > from personal experience, it seems to me that the issues are: > > - port density. Ciscos are much denser. True... But is it needed? Quad ethernet cards are around now... > - fringe features. IOS implements some things that free routers > don't. Yep, but again how often dose anyone use these? > - top end performance. Ciscos win when the packets flow fast because > of their custom packet processing cards. Equivalents can be bought > for PCs but they are expensive. Maybe with the higher end ciscos, but Im not so sure about the lower end ones... Obviously a device dedicated to a small range of things can do it more efficiently than a system doing a wide range, but I dont think this is such a big issue with a fast cpu + ram... I would like to test it, but I dont have any spare ciscos sitting around I can mess with... > - support. If you are a big Cisco customer you can usually expect > quite good customer service, and may even get good service if you > are a small customer. It will cost you a small fortune but you will get support :) And you can get free, but slower support for software via the mailing lists! It would be pretty hard to beat a 7xxx cisco, but personally I think a well setup FreeBSD system can replace the lower end ciscos and save you a lot of money unless it breaks :O To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-isp" in the body of the message