On Thu, Jul 08, 2004 at 05:00:21PM +0530, Sudheer Divakaran wrote:
> Hi,
Hi.
> I've a local LAN consisting of about 150 machines. I'm using a Linux
> machine as the gateway machine which inturn connects to two different ISPs.
> My question is can a Linux based machine match the performance of a hardware
> based routers provided by Cisco,... OR is my decision to go for a Linux
> based solution is a wrong one?.
Without more information it is difficult to say, but you didn't write what
bandwidth it is supposed to route.
I have positive experience with 16MBit/s and ~1200 machines (on linux).
> Is there so much difference between these two solutions?
Actually, I think if you don't have really high traffic (say >100MBit/s), or
odd connectors, linux is better. I have had very bad experience with Ciscos
that didn't support basic things like vlans and bridging (and there was no
right IOS to be found), trouble with loadbalancing, and not being able to
withstand flooding attacks.
> Can I achieve the same performance using a high end PC and Linux?
I don't think a "high end PC" is necessary. If you only have like ~10MBit/s, a
Pentium II should be all you need (heck, even PI if you don't need special
gimmicks).
> I'm asking this because one guy told me that my decision to go for a Linux
> based solution is a wrong one and it can never match the performance of
> Routers provided by Cisco.
According to my experience, this is only true with very expensive cisco models
and very high bandwidth (Gbit/s range).
You can also fsck up linux' performance by crappy ethernet cards and improper
software configuration (like iptables chains with 1000s of rules), but an
inexperienced admin can fsck up ciscos as well.
If you only need a ROUTER, Cisco is a generally good idea. But if you also
need a FIREWALL or even more features, it is less so.
Go for a specialized linux distribution for routers, there are plenty of them.
I won't recommend any, because as an author of one of them I'm obviously
biased :-).
> Thanks
> Sudheer
Bye,
Peter Surda (Shurdeek) <shurdeek@xxxxxxxxxxxx>, ICQ 10236103, +436505122023
--
Where do you think you're going today?
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