On 13/07/2010 16:07, Curtis Maurand wrote: > On 7/13/2010 4:53 AM, Dobbins, Roland wrote: >> When a single botted/misbehaving host easily can take down a >> software-based BRAS, that's a pretty strong indication that >> software-based edge devices are contraindicated, heh. >> >> Software-based edge devices have been obsolete for a long time, now. >> They're a great risk to operators who've yet to replace them with >> hardware-based devices. >> > > They are all software based, no matter who builds them. Cisco IOS, > Juniper JunOS, etc.
I think Roland's point was that on "hardware routers", there is a separation of function between the control and the forwarding planes, and that the forwarding plane is designed to be able to transmit data in an efficient parallel manner. I.e. on a well-designed hardware router, if you trash the data path on the router through ingress A and egress B, the damage stops there: the control plane is unaffected and ingress C to egress D is also ok (for arbitrary values of C and D). Depending on your configuration, this may or may not be important to your IP connectivity requirements. For many - if not most - companies, it is. Nick
