[LARTC] good hardware

[LARTC] good hardware

[Joshua Daniel Franklin]

I've searched the list archives and haven't found any information on this. 

I realize that many users are routing in a home or small office 
environment but I think there is also a place for "enterprise" 
routing. But knowing how to configure the software is only part
of a low-latency router--you also need good hardware. 

Are there any thoughts on good configurations? 
NICs: I've seen several mentions of the Intel eepro NICs. Are they best?
Processor: speeds probably don't matter too much (my Cisco 3640 router
    with 4 T1s has a 100Mhz processor, though it's RISC and has optimized IOS)
    but faster processors have faster FSB as well
Memory: 128 MB probably enough to deal with 100Mb?
HD: Obviously you want everything in memory, but if you're doing much
    logging you might get a solid-state disk.

I've done a little comparison testing of prebuilt firewall routers with a 
few little DLink/Sonicwall/Netgear boxes vs. an Athlon running IPCop, but 
I'm sure someone has done better hardware tests than mine. 
I'm open to any info. If I get enough for a good summary perhaps it could
be added to the HOWTO. 
Thanks.

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Re: [LARTC] good hardware

[Robert Penz]

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On Wednesday 05 February 2003 22:59, Joshua Daniel Franklin wrote:

> NICs: I've seen several mentions of the Intel eepro NICs. Are they best?
I still believe that the DEC ones are the best, you still can get new 100mbit 
nic with tulip chips on port, in our tests they are the best, we've about 
1000 of them running here. 

ps: intel does now produce that chips, but I don't know which intel nic models 
do contain that chip, as we buy cheap cards with that chip on it.  

our dealer in munich, justs calls it

CompuShack FASTLine PCI 10/100Mbit/s DEC Chip    32 euro
 
under linux just load the tuplic.o module.

> Processor: speeds probably don't matter too much (my Cisco 3640 router
>     with 4 T1s has a 100Mhz processor, though it's RISC and has optimized
> IOS) but faster processors have faster FSB as well
> Memory: 128 MB probably enough to deal with 100Mb?
not the amount of ram that is important, it's the memory throughoutput , as I 
can remember rambus is there better than ddr-ram.

ps: we only buy pcs with 512mb ram and 80gb hd, as it doesn't make much 
difference and someday you'll may need it ;-)

> HD: Obviously you want everything in memory, but if you're doing much
>     logging you might get a solid-state disk.
and only write in chunks, not each entry alone and not in sync mode ;-)

> I've done a little comparison testing of prebuilt firewall routers with a
> few little DLink/Sonicwall/Netgear boxes vs. an Athlon running IPCop, but
> I'm sure someone has done better hardware tests than mine.
> I'm open to any info. If I get enough for a good summary perhaps it could
> be added to the HOWTO.
> Thanks.
look at the pci performace of the chipset, there are big differences




- -- 
Regards,
Robert
- ----------------
Robert Penz
robert.penz AT outertech.com
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Re: [LARTC] good hardware

[William L. Thomson Jr.]

Joshua,

On Wed, 2003-02-05 at 13:59, Joshua Daniel Franklin wrote: 
> I've searched the list archives and haven't found any information on this. 
> 
> I realize that many users are routing in a home or small office 
> environment but I think there is also a place for "enterprise" 
> routing. But knowing how to configure the software is only part
> of a low-latency router--you also need good hardware. 

Yes, but sometimes software in conjunction with how you using the
hardware. Not one or the other. However as I will mention below I have a
dinosaur that screams.

However I totally agree with you on the "enterprise" aspect. They stand
to gain the most. I just won't say that to my buddies that are engineers
over at Cisco.

> Are there any thoughts on good configurations? 
> NICs: I've seen several mentions of the Intel eepro NICs. Are they best?

I prefer Intel cards. Most of my nics are Intel Pro100 S adapters using
Intel's e100 driver and I couldn't be happier. However some prefer some
of Intel's other drivers that can be fully compiled into the kernel.
Personally I prefer my drivers to be loaded by the kernel, and not part
of. Everything else I do compile into the kernel.

It just so happens I also have also have a Linksys LNE100TX on a picky
machine that will not accept the Intel's? It uses the tulip driver, and
I have never been able to force duplex and speed on that card. It wants
to remain in auto-negotiate mode? Luckily the machine is not a critical
one. Just a spare machine used for fun and headaches. Since others say
that tulip is a good driver I will assume that nic is a piece of s***.

Another chipset I absolutely hate is anything from 
National Semiconductor using the 83815 chipset and 
the dp83815 driver.

Another one that I have never been able to force duplex and speed.

Now another really cool thing about Intel nics I like is IANS. Look into
it, as there is much you can do with it.

> Processor: speeds probably don't matter too much (my Cisco 3640 router
>     with 4 T1s has a 100Mhz processor, though it's RISC and has optimized IOS)
>     but faster processors have faster FSB as well
> Memory: 128 MB probably enough to deal with 100Mb?
> HD: Obviously you want everything in memory, but if you're doing much
>     logging you might get a solid-state disk.

I would think RAM, the type of RAM and the bus speed to mean more than the proc.
I would imagine 128 to be plenty, depending on how much space is used
for your root file system and how much is left over to be used as
memory. Although I doubt you could go wrong with more memory.

FYI, while my network is much smaller with a smaller load, I have seen
some pretty substantial differences in my Linux gear, and my dedicated
networking devices.

I have a load balancing (sort of) Linux router as my core router. It an
old machine that boots off a zip disk and runs entirely out of RAM.
75mhz Pentium, with 32mb RAM, 16 for file system, 16 for memory. Ancient
RAM. Maybe on a good day 66mhz bus?

All tests so far show that the latency of packets going through it is on
average half that of the latency of packets going through either one of
my Netopia routers, or my Cicso 827.

The Linux router responds twice as fast when being pinged. So there
could definitely be some gains. Although there could also be some draw
backs. That depends on your situation.

> I've done a little comparison testing of prebuilt firewall routers with a 
> few little DLink/Sonicwall/Netgear boxes vs. an Athlon running IPCop, but 
> I'm sure someone has done better hardware tests than mine.

That would not be me. ;)

-- 
Sincerely,
William L. Thomson Jr.
Obsidian-Studios, Inc.
439 Amber Way
Petaluma, Ca. 94952
Phone  707.766.9509
Fax    707.766.8989
http://www.obsidian-studios.com
-- 
Sincerely,
William L. Thomson Jr.
Support Group
Obsidian-Studios Inc.
439 Amber Way
Petaluma, Ca. 94952
Phone  707.766.9509
Fax    707.766.8989
http://www.obsidian-studios.com

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