Multi-drop PPPoE (Re: [ale] Mindspring/Earthlink DSL and linux?)

[Jeff Hubbs]

I think that the intersection of the sets of 386 and PCI is the null set.
I'm not sure, but I think that the 386's best days probably came about in
IBM boxes.  Banyan also built some nice 386-based servers "back in the day."

For Coyote, LRP, or other bare-bones firewalls, I feel like ISA-bus cards
are not going to be a limitation up to DSL or cable-modem speeds.  For
something that is a lot more complex, like the NetMAX Firewall/Router, which
is a total hog, that would be another story.

Now, I understand that there can be a lot of performance variability just
among ISA cards.  I got hold of an NE2000-compatible from IBM that had a
shared-memory mode, for instance.  

One curiosity that I have on hand but have yet to use is a 3com 3C515 - an
ISA-bus 10/100 card.  I get the feeling that trying to run that card at
100base-TX would be bumping up against a bus limitation...

- Jeff


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wandered Inn [mailto:esoteric at atlnet.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2000 10:40 AM
> To: ale at ale.org
> Subject: Re: Multi-drop PPPoE (Re: [ale] Mindspring/Earthlink DSL and
> linux?)
> 
> 
> Dow Hurst wrote:
> 
> > How does router performance relate to CPU power?  
> 
> Just read a bit about this in the book 'building internet firewalls.' 
> The 'claim' there is that cpu is not a big issue as long as all the
> processor is doing is masq/forwarding.
> 
> I would think the biggest issue would be the available throughput via
> your nic.  Are there any 386 boxes that have pci slots?  I guess if
> you're only using two nics, one for your internet connection, one to
> your network, you would be okay.
> 
> Someone posted a bit about the max throughput of isa nic 
> cards, but I've
> not been able to locate it.  Might not be a real issue.
> 
> --
> Until later: Geoffrey		esoteric at denali.atlnet.com
> 
> Microsoft != Innovation
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