[Novalug] server wanted

Derek LaHousse dlahouss@mtu.edu
Sat Jul 5 22:10:57 EDT 2014


Certainly yours to do with as you like, but you asked a seperate
question:  Using the routing hardware?

On the box I mention, there are 5 gigabit ethernet ports.  4 of them
come off the same switch chip, while the 5th is a truly separate
 interface.  For traffic that need not traverse the CPU (where a
switch would work), the switch handles it.  There is code for the
control of the VLAN tagging on the switch chip, as well.  However, I
don't know (and sorta doubt) that the NAT offload or other "really
nice" features are actually being used.  And anything traversing the
CPU (LAN to WAN, WLAN anything) will see slowdown on small packets.

I can understand wanting something that fits nicely into the rack.
And I can understand wanting to do more with the router box than
route.  But then, compare the power used.  Can a Xeon chip, memory,
and motherboard draw under 24 W (2 A @ 12 V on the power brick)?

Many perspectives possible.

On Sat, Jul 5, 2014 at 9:23 PM, shawn wilson <ag4ve.us@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Jul 5, 2014 at 9:10 PM, Derek LaHousse <dlahouss@mtu.edu> wrote:
>> Any reason you don't just use a router for this?  I'm a fan of Netgear's
>> WNDR3800, though the 4300 looks pretty good if they've figured out the
>> NAND drivers.  These tend to come with hardware routing chips, though
>> for a bit more than your price point.
>>
>> I got a refurb WNDR3800 a month ago for $80 shipped.  USB, no SATA, for
>> drive connectivity.  OpenWRT can do anything.
>>
>
> Ah, knew I should've covered this: because iptables is preferable to
> IOS (I have a 2811 sitting here) and I don't like little boxes sitting
> all over my rack (I've already got the netgear comcast business thing
> and some wifi sitting on it and I don't want to add to the problem).
> Lastly, your little box can't be upgraded. I could solve the later two
> issues with something like a 5510, but then I'm dealing with IOS for
> 10x more than I want to spend.
>
> Don't get me wrong, I deal with hardware networking when it's required
> (I have a Catalyst 4948 which is totally awesome). But I prefer
> features, form factor, and price here.
>
> Also, if you use OpenWRT, are you using the routing hardware? I would
> think that wouldn't be any faster (maybe slower due to processor and
> ram) than a full x86 with linux/bsd?



More information about the Novalug mailing list