---- Original message ---- >Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2006 16:31:05 -0700 >From: Steve Williams <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: "Best" motherboard for OpenBSD - light duty firewall >To: [email protected] > >Hi, > >I have an opportunity to build a system for someone that wants an >OpenBSD firewall. Historically, I have just installed it on whatever PC >people have had hanging around, but I put a big caveat on my proposal >that I might have to buy nic's and controller cards if the hardware they >provided didn't work. So, now they want me to supply the hardware :-). > >This is a light duty firewall, going on a DSL line (2.5 M). I will be >running spamd and perhaps squid (transparant caching web proxy), so the >demands will not be much on the hardware. > >I'd like a (modern) motherboard that "just works". Audio/video is >completely irrelevant (it will be running headless). It seems like most >motherboards come with onboard ethernet, and it would be nice if that >worked. > >I am processor agnostic. We have a mix of Intel & AMD (and one sparc64) >at work. > >What is a solid motherboard where the onboard ethernet will "just work", >with a disk controller that will "just work". I don't really need RAID, >but if it had it & I could use it, I likely would. >
after having built a number of "nicer" machines from new parts, i am now of the opinion that using RAIC (redundant array of independent crapboxes [0]) is the way to go. the bandwidth you're talking about is pretty minimal, so a couple machines that are > 400 MHz and possibly have new NICs should do the trick. unless you're pushing high pps counts, use what you have on hand and don't waste any money. donate the extra to the project :) cheers, jake [0] see Nick Holland's emails in misc@ archive >Thanks for any input. > >Cheers, >Steve Williams
