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List:       freebsd-hackers
Subject:    Re: Multi-Port Async Cards
From:       dennis () etinc ! com (dennis)
Date:       1996-01-31 20:38:23
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>> On Tue, 30 Jan 1996, mailing list account wrote:
>> > now here is a cost cutting idea: does anyone know how well freebsd stacks
>> > against say a cisco 2500 series router?  cisco 4000? cisco 4500?  say using
>> > a p5-100?  p5-166?
>> 
>> >From what I have seen gated will do just about anything a cisco will (IP 
>> that is).  However, the cisco boxes have high speed route processors and
>> other things that the PC can't compete with.
>> 
>> I am going to be getting a FreeBSD ethernet router box together using a few
>> multiport de21x4x based cards.  The ipfw stuff should make for a good 
>> firewall/filter box.  :)
>
>Yes, the PC probably can't compete with the Cisco's routing-optimized
>architecture.  I'm not sure if that just means that latency is higher or if
>it actually affects throughput, however.  Anybody?  :-)

We have customers running Pentiums with multiple T1s and 100bt ethernet as 
4??? replacements with much luck. Forget about a 2500 series as a comparision 
as its slower than
a 486/40 with 1 t1...The processing power of a Pentium 100/120/133 yields better
results when extensive processing (filtering, etc) is present...I havent
hear any 
complaints about it being slower than a 4000 or 4500....and its less than
half the
price.

The 7000 is a whole 'nother ball of wax...as its designed as a hub/switch
for which
a PC just isnt appropriate. The big issue with many is that you need to get
a high-end
cisco to do many things. To pay $8000 or $12000  for a 4 line T1 router is
absurd (I 
dont know the actual number here so please dont beat me up....but there are 
]apparently a lot of "extras" and memory requirement to do real, multi-homed
routing).

dennis
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emerging Technologies, Inc.      http://www.etinc.com

Synchronous Communications Cards and Routers For
Discriminating Tastes. 56k to T1 and beyond. Frame
Relay, PPP, HDLC, and X.25 for BSD/OS, FreeBSD 
and LINUX

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