[LARTC] Linux as T1 router

[LARTC] Linux as T1 router

[gerryw]

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Hello All,

I am thinking about using a linux server as a T1 router. I have searched 
the list, but have not found a discussion about what I'm trying to do. I 
have a situation where the Cisco router I'm using will not handle the 
additional bandwidth I added recently. Unfortunately, I cannot afford the 
Cisco unit that will. I would like to know if anyone has successfully done 
this. I have been looking at the Sangoma T1 cards. Would anyone be so kind 
as to share their experience in this area. Any advice would be much 
appreciated.

Thanks,
-G
 

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Re: [LARTC] Linux as T1 router

[Grant Taylor]

On 01/12/07 12:25, gerryw@it-procorp.com wrote:
> I am thinking about using a linux server as a T1 router. I have searched 
> the list, but have not found a discussion about what I'm trying to do. I 
> have a situation where the Cisco router I'm using will not handle the 
> additional bandwidth I added recently. Unfortunately, I cannot afford 
> the Cisco unit that will. I would like to know if anyone has 
> successfully done this. I have been looking at the Sangoma T1 cards. 
> Would anyone be so kind as to share their experience in this area. Any 
> advice would be much appreciated.

What you are proposing should not be a problem at all.  I personally 
have not used Linux as a T1 router (yet).  Consider if you will that 
there are people using Linux to filter / bridge / rate limit / you name 
it with gigabit network interfaces, so I don't think the 1.5 Mbps that a 
T1 will present will be a problem at all.  My only concern would be in 
which card you choose and what sort of interface it presents to the 
system in addition to what sort of management tools you have available. 
  I would recommend that you try to stay away from proprietary vendor 
provided drivers.  Not that they will not work, but how many different 
kernel versions will they support?  Will you be able to do what you want 
to do with it down the road, or will you be locked in to a specific 
configuration?

Just my $.02 worth.



Grant. . . .
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Re: [LARTC] Linux as T1 router

[David Sims]

Hi,

  I do not have experience with running a linux router with a T-1 card in
it, but I _do_ run a linux box which serves as an egress device and
provides policy based routing across three different ISPs using source
addresses.... This network has about 1200 workstations and uses around 30
different Class C networks.. iproute2 provides a nice way of allocating
Internet traffic generated by all these machines across two different T-1s
and a 3 Meg connection depending on where the traffic originates... and it
runs on a standard desktop PC (i.e., cheap) with a couple of NIC cards in
it...

  iproute2 also provides the ability to 'blackhole' a particular host (or
hosts) and deny access to the Internet for those who misbehave or become
infected with one scanning virus or another...

  I am looking for a nice command line tool that I could run on this
policy based router that would allow me to more easily identify
misbehavers and machines with viruses... I have tried a few tools such as
jnettop, iftop, iptraf, pktstat and darkstat, but while each does what it
was designed to do fairly nicely, I haven't yet found the tool I am
looking for... Any suggestions out there??

Regards,

Dave
****************************************************************************
On Fri, 12 Jan 2007 gerryw@it-procorp.com wrote:

> Hello All,
>
> I am thinking about using a linux server as a T1 router. I have searched
> the list, but have not found a discussion about what I'm trying to do. I
> have a situation where the Cisco router I'm using will not handle the
> additional bandwidth I added recently. Unfortunately, I cannot afford the
> Cisco unit that will. I would like to know if anyone has successfully done
> this. I have been looking at the Sangoma T1 cards. Would anyone be so kind
> as to share their experience in this area. Any advice would be much
> appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> -G
>
>
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Re: [LARTC] Linux as T1 router

[Martin A. Brown]

Greetings,

 : I am thinking about using a linux server as a T1 router. I have 
 : searched the list, but have not found a discussion about what I'm 
 : trying to do. I have a situation where the Cisco router I'm using 
 : will not handle the additional bandwidth I added recently. 
 : Unfortunately, I cannot afford the Cisco unit that will. I would 
 : like to know if anyone has successfully done this. I have been 
 : looking at the Sangoma T1 cards. Would anyone be so kind as to 
 : share their experience in this area. Any advice would be much 
 : appreciated.

I can recommend the Sangoma T1 cards.  I have been using the S508 
(ISA) and S514 (PCI) models since 1999.  These cards and the (open 
source) drivers and management software are easy to use.  The 
company is responsive and supportive of their product.

The Sangoma crew have worked over the years to contribute their 
drivers into the stock kernel, so it is likely (unless the card you 
choose is a newly released card) that your card will be supported by 
your default distribution of choice.

The software management tools are provided by a separate package, 
including tools for configuring the (optional) onboard CSU/DSU and 
diagnosing the frames received by the unit.

Best of all, I can report that I have only ever found one bug in 
working with their software and drivers, and this was a corner-case 
bug that they had identified before I reported it to them (several 
years ago).  In short, the software and hardware is very reliable.

-Martin

-- 
Martin A. Brown
http://linux-ip.net/
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