Open Souce Network Operating Systems

Sat Jan 20 19:41:00 UTC 2018

 I would second Peter's  advise.  Colton, for  you I would recommended you visit Cumulus' web site and follow their tutorials.  That should provide you with enough insights  for your next step. 

    On Saturday, January 20, 2018, 11:27:38 AM PST, Colton Conor <colton.conor at gmail.com> wrote:  

 Peter,

Thanks for the information. Do you have a recommendation of which
distribution of Linux to use for this? Is there one that is more network
centric than another?

On Sat, Jan 20, 2018 at 1:11 PM, Peter Phaal <peter.phaal at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sat, Jan 20, 2018 at 9:32 AM, Colton Conor <colton.conor at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>> My understanding if Free Range Routing is a package of software that runs
>> in linux, but not a full and true NOS right?
>>
>
> Why not consider Linux a NOS? Installing Free Range Routing adds control
> plane protocols: BGP, OSPF, ISIS, etc.
>
>
>> I looked into Cumulus Linux, but it seems to only run on the supported
>> hardware which is while box switches. Can you run Cumulus Linux on a X86
>> server with intel NICs? Can you run Cumulus on a raspberry pi?
>>
>
> Cumulus Linux is basically Ubuntu with Free Range Routing pre-installed
> along with a daemon that offloads forwarding from the Linux kernel to an
> ASIC. CumulusVX is a free Cumulus Linux virtual machine that is useful for
> staging / testing configurations since it has the same behavior as the
> hardware switch.
>
> On X86 servers with Intel NICs, just run Linux. Cumulus Host Pack can be
> installed to add Free Range Routing and other Cumulus tools on the server.
> Alternatively, you can choose any Linux control plane, automation, or
> monitoring tools and install them on the hosts and Cumulus Linux switches
> to unify management and control, e.g. Bird, collectd, telegraf, Puppet,
> Chef, Ansible, etc.
>
> Linux distros (including Ubuntu) are available for non-X86 hardware like
> Raspberry Pi etc.
>
>
>>
>> Ideally I think I am looking to a Linux operating system that can run on
>> multiple CPU architectures, has device support for Broadcom and other
>> Merchant silicon switching and wifi adapters.
>
>
> If you consider Linux as the NOS then it already meets these requirements.
>