Not an authoritative answer, but here's a best (semi-educated) guess... (and sometimes a wrong answer will shake an accurate answer out of the knowedgable ones!)
As for the RAM, GB appears to use it only for keeping a connections table. As GB can max itself out at 32k connections and can handle that with 32M of RAM, upgrading the RAM would be pointless beyond bragging rights (which DOES appear to count for something in this industry...) As for the processor, the GB has proven so "overpowered" with a 486/66, I can't imagine you will be taxing it too easily with a AMD 350MHz. The real question, much more than the number of VPNs and the number of offices is the speed of the link. Does adding additional VPNs increase processor load? Well, yes -- to a degree. However, the real question is how many packets per second you are having to encrypt. The encryption and decryption is what chews processor -- figuring out where to send the encrypted packet is pretty trivial. As the GB-100 comes with fast 100Mbps NICs, they obviously have some confidence as to the data it can move. Unless you have some serious pipe, don't worry about modifying the box. It just won't do a thing for you. Keep that pipe in perspective. That T1 line may cost a heck of a lot of money, but it is a fraction of the speed the cable connection that many of us have. The 486 on my GB doesn't break a sweat when moving 500KB/s (bytes, not bits) through my cable box -- that's more than 3 T1 lines. Yeah, I'm not doing VPN there, but there is a LOT of processor to spare on the GB -- now if you are talking T3 or faster, well, maybe. On the other hand, if you have that kind of bandwidth, you can aford to toss-out the GB100 if you manage to outgrow it. T3 has gotta cost close to a GB-100 a month... (Warning: I've got into areas I know nothing about! 8) Also keep in mind part (much?) of the charm of the GB-100 is its "ready-to-go" status. Got a problem? We know it isn't a hardware compatability issue. Start messing with things, you loose that "advantage". There is also rumors (well, unexplained statements from people too authoritative to be considered a rumor) of a GB-1000. Don't start hacking a GB-100 before you see the "step up". (http://www.gnatbox.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/000025.html , second to last reply, last reply is me drooling. 8) Nick. Chris Green wrote: > I posted this question to the GB-100 Forum but haven't gotten an answer yet. > I am curious what is the max CPU and RAM that can be put in the GB-100 > Firewall device. I am purchasing on for my corporate location and it will > be running about 8-9 VPN's. Our existing Gnatbox will be rolling into a 10 > user office and I'd like to swap the CPU into the GB-100 as its a K6-500 > w/128MB RAM. I know that the RAM is not being utilized now, but I like to > plan ahead. And the CPU I think is more justified in the corporate office > vs. being in the 10 user location. I'll send the 350 to them. > > Does anyone know if this can be done? > > Chris Green -- http://www.holland-consulting.net/ (not .com like I had for don't-know-how-long. Sheesh)
