[1675] in linux-net channel archive
Re: Linux router
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Chris Woods)
Tue Jan 23 20:06:31 1996
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 1996 08:57:56 -0500
From: Chris Woods <cjwoods@gigotech.net>
To: "Shawn G. Doughty" <doughty@cis.nmclites.edu>
CC: linux-net@vger.rutgers.edu
Shawn G. Doughty wrote:
>
> Greetings,
> I have been asked to help someone setup linux as a server in an
> ISP venture and have a few questions.
> 1) Is linux up to par with FreeBSD or BSDI to act as a main server for
> a small 8-10 line ISP?
I would venture to say "even better", but since I have not used freeBSD
or BSDI recently (only about a year ago)....
I ran a network of all linux machines serving ~10,000 customers. Of
course, there was more than one linux box, and more than 8-10 lines...
but the linux machines were happily sufficient.
> 2) Can a small linux box act as a router with one of the new integrated
> csi/dsu-router boards from companies like SDL? The BSDI people swear
> this combo is as effective as an external csu/dsu-router but I would
> rather use linux. In addition, can it handle the load in answering 8
> 28.8k modems using a Comtrol or Cyclades board and get good thruput?
In answer to the first part of this question, I don't know. I know that
there was one company that released a linux version of its sync router
card for linux, I don't recall which one. In answer to the second part:
if you don't expect to go over 20 lines or so, the linux box will act
fine as a "terminal server", with no load issues that are not present on
any intel-based machine.
> 3) Can the linux based GNU firewall tools such as ipfw do an effective
> job? Has anyone used the Maxama Packet Filter software for this?
I recommend Trusted Information Systems' fwtk. Check out
ftp://ftp.tis.com, it's in there somewhere. (fwtk == FireWall ToolKit)
fwtk is an application-level gateway, and probably not appropriate if you
intend to sell access to the 'net through it. Perhaps ipfilter would be
better, a filter-based solution rather than a proxy-based solution.
> 4) What csu/dsu router boards would one recommend for linux use?
I don't know the answer to this. How about checking out
http://www.livingston.com or http://www.cisco.com for some inexpensive
ideas for a real router. Of course, you'd still have to pick up the
CSU/DSU, but there are some good units from Adtran available for only a
few hundred USD...
(I didn't know there was one card that could provide the functionality of
both CSU/DSU *and* router...)
--
Chris Woods cjwoods@gigotech.net
Garbage In/Garbage Out Technologies, Inc.
"A computer without Windows is like a fish without a bicycle."
All the usual disclaimers apply, as if they mean anything legally...
