Routers vs. PC's for routing - was list problems?

Thu May 23 13:53:40 UTC 2002

On Thu, 2002-05-23 at 09:26, Vinny Abello wrote:
 common router. Otherwise, if you can get the functionality out of a PC, I 
> say go for it! The processing power of a modern PC is far beyond any router 
> I can think of. I suppose it would just be a matter of how efficient your 
> kernel, TCP/IP stack and routing daemon would be at that point. :)

And that's MY real question.  Who has actually done this in a production
environment that can speak with some real experience on the topic?  What
can you replace with a linux box to route and run BGP for you in real
life?  A 7200?  Bigger.

I don't have the facilities to try these things out for real, and
frankly would be worried about the uptime and finding the RIGHT PC
hardware that isn't complete junk.

So I guess it's really two questions: what is a PC capable of replacing
as far as throughput goes, and just how reliable can a clone (or pick
your manufacturer) be compared to a unit that was designed by electronic
engineers to function as a 24x7 mission critical box?

Daryl G. Jurbala
Independent Consultant (read: looking for a job)
daryl at introspect.net