10GE router resource

Wed Mar 26 11:53:07 UTC 2008

On Mar 26, 2008, at 11:57 AM, <michael.dillon at bt.com> wrote:
>
>> http://docs.rodecker.nl/10-GE_Routing_on_Linux.pdf.  He hit a
>> wall at 700K pps and was using two dual core Intel Xeon 64bit
>> 2.33GHz CPUs and 2GB of RAM in a Dell PowerEdge 1950.
>
> Unless I am misreading this, he did not hit a wall. What he did was
> test a design that was scalable to multiple cores and show that the
> two core version could not go beyond 700k pps. The next logical  
> question
> is how much more can you push with larger numbers of cores. The key
> thing is to use a recent Linux kernel that can share interrupts among
> multiple cores and to run it on a CPU using MSI interrupts. Since this
> was written up in January of 2007,
>
> There are people who use Linux for load balancing who also are working
> on finding how well it can cope with 10G of traffic and they have some
> anecdotal evidence of 800k pps.
>
> --Michael Dillon

If I just may share my opinion on this whole Software Router debate.
Even if it is technically feasible to route traffic over a server, I  
would not hesitate to sound old-fashioned and state that it is not a  
server's main role, i.e. what it is designed for.
Mainly, I would assume that you'd get the same Network I/O issues with  
small packets that Disk I/O you would notice in a strictly systems/ 
server environment.
Most of all, Routing Equipment manufacturers offer more than a  
physical routing chassis, they offer Hardware and Software support and  
that I say, is essential - if you want open source in your routing  
devices, I'd suggest you pick Juniper, their OS is BSDdey - you'll  
love it, plus they will provide you with support, which good or bad,  
will be better than none in times where you'll be stuck with an  
undocumented memory leak of your favorite open source software routers.
It is not about making it work, it is about having it work -all the  
time-, even if it is more costly, even if YOU have failed  
troubleshooting a crash, SOMEONE will be forced to help you, by  
contract.
Risk assessment folks, risk assessment...

Greg VILLAIN
Independant Network & Telco Architecture Consultant

Greg VILLAIN
Independant Network & Telco Architecture Consultant
+33 6 87 48 66 14