innocent remark

Thu Apr 28 18:11:39 UTC 1994

>This discussion doesn't really belong on this list, but since Vadim
>has told some untruths about gated needing more than 64MB of memory...

I told that 16Mb is not enough.  Memory for PCs is cheap and
it's better to be safe than sorry.

>The reliability of a Cisco is better, but PCs are not as bad as you
>say.

If you're lucky.  I've seen a lot of burned PCs but only few
ciscos with problems.  An average PC from Pretzelz'N'Computerz
simply won't work with Unix without massive tweaking.

>The manageability issue, I disagree with.  I'd take the BSDI box
>any day on that count.

Yeah.  Sorry, how do i do "show ip bgp summary" on BSD/386?

>Just try expressing the policy on one of our
>major ENSS routers on a Cisco.

That's the problem of the policy (though it's entirely different
kettle of fish).  Sure, cisco can't handle real big access lists.

>A BSDI box doesn't need a host to tftp
>boot images and configs from

What is the average failure rate of cheap PC HD drives as
compared to flash ROM?  What do you do if after power failure
fsck clears /etc?  Sure, you can find an industrial-design PC
but it'll cost not less than a cisco.

>(on the odd chance that you ever update
>your Cisco software or have a config that doesn't fit into NVRAM) and
>doesn't need a host to tftp logs to (on the odd chance that anything
>ever goes wrong in a network and you need logging or tracing).

Never saw a configuration which does not fit into NVRAM.  KISS.

> There are several real-life E-1 BSD/386 routers in the Internet,
> though owners want to replace them with ciscos (capacity problems).

>I don't think a PC today can realistically handle even one T1 at full
>capacity.

I only wanted to point our that there *are* such BSDI-based routers.
If you do traceroute to sovcom.kiae.su you'll see three of them.

>Also PC ethernet cards are sufficiently miserable that you
>can only put one in a PC and get it to use the full ethernet
>bandwidth.

Take a look at 3c509.  It starts giving you data while the rest
of a packet is still in the wire.  Or, better yet, EISA model.

>Makes a fine 56k router or a low end dial in PPP or SLIP server if you
>can live with one ethernet.  Beyond that, the PC hardware just isn't
>there yet.

Hey, i wrote most Ethernet drivers, all sync serial drivers and PPP stuff
when i worked for BSD Inc.  IMHO, you *can* do 2-3 port T-1 on a PC.

>Cisco doesn't make a laptop.  :-)

Yeah, it also doesn't have joystick and soundblaster :-) :-) :-)

--vadim