From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Jan 2 15:33:05 2005 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 297C416A4CE for ; Sun, 2 Jan 2005 15:33:05 +0000 (GMT) Received: from sys18.mail.msu.edu (sys18.mail.msu.edu [35.9.75.118]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E5C5B43D31 for ; Sun, 2 Jan 2005 15:33:04 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from bushous2@msu.edu) Received: from [65.42.16.175] (helo=localhost.localdomain) by sys18.mail.msu.edu with esmtpsa (Exim 4.43 #1) (SSLv3:RC4-MD5:128) id 1Cl7j0-0002D1-GX; Sun, 02 Jan 2005 10:32:58 -0500 From: Micah Bushouse To: Bill Moran In-Reply-To: <20050102093214.10d4b2e1.wmoran@potentialtech.com> References: <000001c4f09b$f67534d0$68bbbbc0@kewdaeahnhd04i> <20050102093214.10d4b2e1.wmoran@potentialtech.com> Content-Type: text/plain Date: Sun, 02 Jan 2005 10:32:57 -0500 Message-Id: <1104679977.274.25.camel@localhost> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Evolution 2.0.3 FreeBSD GNOME Team Port Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Virus: None found by Clam AV cc: Victor Foulk cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: FreeBSD Gateway X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 02 Jan 2005 15:33:05 -0000 > > "Victor Foulk" wrote: > [...] > "Bill Moran" wrote: [...] > However, in my experience, the most critical hardware choice is > the network cards themselves. Cheapo network cards will really > hurt performance under load. So toss the cheapo Realtek cards > into the trash and spend a little extra on an Intel or other name > brand card designed for a server. [...] Similarly to Mr. Foulk, I'm also in the market for a pair of NICs for a small organization's firewall/gateway (in this case using IPFilter). Per your plug for Intel, I'm browsing 3Com and Intel NICs right now on mwave.com. Intel 10/100 w 3DES - $63 http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=1562535 3Com 10/100 w 3DES - $92 http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=3387169 Why do you suppose that while the 3Com seems very similar to the Intel it costs $30 more? Perhaps because it specs more types of encryption than the Intel NIC? How would this hardware acceleration integrate w FreeBSD? Per some Linux binary compat (as both cards are compat w Linux kernel 2.2+)? Will the hardware encryption on these cards ever be useful in a firewall/gateway application? Sorry for all the questions and thanks for your time, -- Micah Bushouse