Date: Mon, 6 Jan 97 10:23:10 CST From: Joe Greco <jgreco@solaria.sol.net> To: dg@root.com Cc: freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD as T1 router Message-ID: <199701061623.KAA26820@solaria.sol.net> In-Reply-To: <199701030319.TAA18739@root.com> from "jgfbsd" at Jan 6, 97 10:16:29 am
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> I wonder if anyone else has results using FreeBSD on a WAN router. This > message is more of a progress report than a question... I've been using an ET card for a year and a half (two?) years now. > A couple months ago, we needed another ether interface on one of our WAN > routers. We had been using a Cisco 2501, which has only one ether > interface and is not upgradable. I persuaded my employer to let us try > out an Emerging Technologies HDLC card in a PC running FreeBSD. There > was some grumbling from the Cisco loyalists - who ever got fired for > buying Cisco? The person who did not buy the second redundant power supply for the 75XX class router - causing a multi day service outage when the supply blows :-) (that is not too funny... have nearly seen it happen, someone was on the fence about buying the second supply... thankfully they did) > We took advantage of slow work schedules and net traffic over the > holidays to make the switch. The FreeBSD/ET-based router runs 2.1.5-R > and the latest driver bits from the ET ftp site. It talks Cisco > encapsulated HDLC over a T1 to a genuine Cisco router at the other end. > > It took about 3 hours to setup and configure FreeBSD on the PC, and > another 2 hours to link in the ET driver bits and set things up. We > were able to use all factory settings on the ET-5025-16 card, and used > the default setup file provided by ET for Cisco HDLC, without > modification. ET docs are lucid and thorough. > > We can add more ether slots on the system cheaply whenever we want, just > by adding another SMC dual-port card. The ET card we bought also has a > second async port available for Frame Relay or point-to-point. > > It is a big win having FreeBSD admin tools on the router. Ipfw allows > us whatever level of logging detail we want on filtered packets. We > linked an operations kernel without bpf, and a diagnostic one with bpf. > The latter allows us to run tcpdump on the WAN interface as well as on > ether. Yes, I have been pleased, too. There are downsides: hard drives fail, moving parts fail. Sort of needs a FreeBSD-familiar person around. But I have been very happy. I started out with a 386DX/40 running near saturation loads. Upgraded to a 486DX4/100 and PCI Ethernets... still works great. Much cheaper than a Cisco. With the money saved, I could go buy a whole 'nother machine and still have money left over for a pizza party. In general, FreeBSD has been an excellent platform for all my computing and networking needs. :-) ... Joe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joe Greco - Systems Administrator jgreco@ns.sol.net Solaria Public Access UNIX - Milwaukee, WI 414/342-4847
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199701061623.KAA26820>