Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2001 13:39:25 -0500 From: Dennis <dennis@etinc.com> To: Dan Shearer <dan@tellurian.com.au>, Kal Torak <kaltorak@quake.com.au> Cc: freebsd-isp@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: 2 cisco's and a fbsd box running bgp Message-ID: <5.0.0.25.0.20010103132703.021962e0@mail.etinc.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.21.0101031635450.23776-100000@calulu.shearer.or g> References: <3A52C152.A75D1882@quake.com.au>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> > >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. Correction. BIG ciscos are much denser. the 2x and 3x series are not. > - fringe features. IOS implements some things that free routers > don't. and vice versa. Certainly if you have special requirements you have to chose your hardware appropriately, but we are talking about a simple 3 port router here. We get calls all the time from people who want to do bandwidth management,but all of their feeds come into one cisco router. In many cases 1 big router is not better than several smaller ones. > - 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. > - 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. Again, when you get to 7500 series you are correct. On the other hand, a 7202 cant handle 2 full T3s, but a 500 Mhz pentium can. But you can put up 10 dual processor, 64bit bus machines for the price of a cisco. The question then becomes do you really want it all in one box? If you dont have 0C3 feeds, it really doesnt matter that much, and most people like to have a full spare for $5K rather than stocking an extra 7500 entourage. >If you don't want or need these four things then free software should do >the trick. You categorize all "free software" as being crap it seems. I think you are behind the times. There are many solutions from commercial companies (which arguably isnt "free") who have tuned the free software to commercial quality. ciscos crash. Ciscos have bugs. Ciscos arent all that easy to configure. they are low on power for the buck, and within the last two years they have been pushing out products before they are ready, so even stability is at issue. >On problem people have cited that demonstrably doesn't exist include >hardware reliability. PC-based 1/2RU firewalls are sold for >mission-critical purposes, and have been delivering for years. Nokia is >perhaps the best-known big brand that sells FreeBSD inside a very reliable >Intel box for this purpose. The "hardware" is generally reliable, as long as you keep extra power supplies and fans around. Electronics, which used to be rated at 3-5 years, are now rated to 20 years. Its a new world from the day when "PCs" were clunky instruments. Plus, what is the expected life of a router anyway? In a year you'll want something else. Dennis To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-isp" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?5.0.0.25.0.20010103132703.021962e0>