Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2001 11:18:08 +0100 From: "Anthony Atkielski" <anthony@atkielski.com> To: "Andrew C. Hornback" <achornback@worldnet.att.net>, "FreeBSD Questions" <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: DSL PPPoE with 2 NICs Message-ID: <006601c16dbe$d666ce00$0a00000a@atkielski.com> References: <005401c16db7$6491bd00$6600000a@ach.domain>
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Andrew writes: > $100 for a router that may or may not ever have > security updates or $20 for a NIC in a machine > that you've already got and are ready to configure > and use as a gateway. You're assuming that time costs nothing. But if time costs $100 an hour--which is a realistic figure--than installing a router is far cheaper than using a machine as a gateway. Additionally, routers are far less likely to _need_ security updates, since their function is so simple to begin with. If they need them, uploading new firmware is usually pretty easy. > And while I'm at it, not to harp on things here, > but Anthony, you've previously admitted that you're > new at FreeBSD. That doesn't change the numbers above. Unless this is a personal hobby of his, he is better off doing whatever is most cost-effective, and if the FreeBSD machine cannot be configured rapidly and securely as a gateway, then just going out to the nearest computer store and buying a router is more economical. > Your dissatisfaction at not being able to configure > your system to fit your application may have something > to do with your relative inexperience with the system > itself. Then again it may not. Configuring an entire OS to serve as a router is a lot more complicated than just installing the router. I originally tried this just to learn something, but it soon became apparent that it wasn't going to be easy, and it was even less likely to be secure. Everything I had read recommended a hardware router to begin with, so I finally took the advice and installed one. It is not clear to me what advantage I would gain by using the FreeBSD system as the gateway, apart from saving $100 on a router (and even that isn't necessarily true, if I have to buy another NIC). Building an efficient IT infrastructure requires avoiding any emotional attachment to any particular software, hardware, or configuration. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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