On Sun, May 06, 2001 at 08:38:33PM -0400, Carroll Kong wrote:
> I do not believe linux does fast switching
>From the configuration utility for the Linux 2.4.4 kernel source:
CONFIG_NET_FASTROUTE
Saying Y here enables direct NIC-to-NIC (NIC = Network Interface
Card) data transfers on the local network, which is fast.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This option is NOT COMPATIBLE with "Network packet
filtering" (CONFIG_NETFILTER). Say N here if you say Y there.
However, it will work with all options in the "IP: advanced router"
section (except for "IP: use TOS value as routing key" and
"IP: use FWMARK value as routing key").
At the moment, few devices support fast switching (tulip is one of
them, a modified 8390 driver can be found at
ftp://ftp.inr.ac.ru/ip-routing/fastroute/fastroute-8390.tar.gz ).
If unsure, say N.
[...]
> 2) So why choose the Cisco? Lots of reasons. Learning curve for
> Unix.
Many more people are familiar with Unix than with IOS.
> 3) Magnetic disks. This is a point of failure.
This is a hardware issue. It's also not a point against Unix, which can
easily handle alternative media.
> 4) Software stability?
See my previous message in this thread for some comments on software and the
development process. In summary, open-source systems tend to converge to
better robustness and scalability in the long run.
> Also, being that you DO have at least three different well known
> routing daemons to contend with, that means more learning.
This is not a limitation of Unix; this is a limitation of the current state
of open-source development as regards routing control software.
> Another learning curve on Open Source software. (which I have nothing
> against, but when crap hits the fan, if you are not very programming
> saavy and unix oriented, you just shot your company in the foot).
Are you sure you mean what you said here? Maybe you mean "bad, or
questionable, open-source software" - of which there is much, nowadays.
This says nothing about the effectiveness of the open-source model. There's
a lot more commercial crap than open-source crap out there.
On the other hand, quality packages that happen to have publicly-available
source code are numerous. Have you ever heard of Perl, or Apache? People
run their businesses on them.
> Finally, if you are using x86 based hardware that is still using a
> 32bit 33 mhz pci bus (any non-Xeon based board basically), you are
> doomed to ~500Mbps.
I can't imagine why anyone would restrict themselves to such legacy hardware
nowadays - except possibly for low-end applications, where 500Mbps might be
more than sufficient.
> 5) Security.
As with the earlier comments about the tendency of software with
publicly-available source code to converge toward robustness more quickly
than proprietary counterparts, security response tends to be much better and
faster in open-source development communities.
About the only valid point I see against Unix-based systems on this count is
that they are more general and therefore more complex, which means that more
possibilities for exploitation exist. Some might argue that source code
availability is a security risk that proprietary platforms don't suffer.
This is known as 'security through obscurity' in the security community, and
is widely considered to be a fallacy.
Operating systems such as OpenBSD (www.openbsd.org) demonstrate that
Unix-based systems need not be insecure.
> 6) Support.
Platforms with source code availability win the support game hands-down. It
is far faster and easier to get problems fixed when thousands of expert
minds around the world - all with different strengths and operating in
different circumstances - have unrestricted access to system source code.
If you or your company insist on commercial support, it's now widely
available for popular open-source operating systems and applications.
--
Message Posted at:
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