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From: Henry Yen <henry@AegisInfoSys.com>
To: lartc@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [LARTC] On the question of how big a machine you need
Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 19:43:41 +0000	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <marc-lartc-99488066124216@msgid-missing> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <marc-lartc-99487796814308@msgid-missing>

On Wed, Jul 11, 2001 at 03:22:24AM -0400, Michael T. Babcock wrote:
> >I don't believe that routing load is factored into this load average.
> >To get a measurement, you'd need some kernel profiling tools (cant
> >think of any now though).
> >
> Although  having the kernel CPU times be accurate, etc., I think its 
> more important to know how much overall bandwidth was achieved with a 
> 486 as a router, with and without QoS or other rules on.  If the speed 
> doesn't get slower (except where limiting is enforced, of course), then 
> its a big enough machine (and we can all buy up a bunch of old 486 stock 
> to build Linux-based router appliances).

in terms of raw speed, the cpu chip doesn't make all that much difference.
a cisco 2501, for instance, is a 20Mhz 68030 (think Mac SE/30 here).
a modern floppy drive controller can spew bits faster than a T-1.

of more importance is probably what else is going on (filtering,
dynamic routing table maintenance, packet assembly/reassembly/inspection,
multiple links, fast ethernet, etc), and bus-related bottlenecks.

i think either linux or freebsd, properly stripped down, could handle
a T-1/ethernet combo, with modest routing rules, with ease on a 486
(just make sure you give it lots of memory, like at least 32MB).
also, an efficient set of wan/lan cards will make a big difference.

ref: www.linuxrouter.org (a disk-less, fan-less single-floppy linux
     "distribution" for "instant router" functionality).

-- 
Henry Yen                                       Aegis Information Systems, Inc.
Senior Systems Programmer                       Hicksville, New York

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  parent reply	other threads:[~2001-07-11 19:43 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 5+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2001-07-11 18:59 [LARTC] On the question of how big a machine you need Don Cohen
2001-07-11 19:02 ` Mike Fedyk
2001-07-11 19:22 ` Michael T. Babcock
2001-07-11 19:43 ` Henry Yen [this message]
2001-07-12  7:42 ` Arthur van Leeuwen

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