> Yes, UNIX systems have had routing capabilities for a very long
> time, but saying "since the beginning of the Internet" is probably a
> bit of an exageration. In the beginning, there were things called,
> IMP's, which were basically custom code running on IBM RT-PC's, that
> handled routing in the Internet. RIP, etc. came along much later.
> RFC-1, which is the IMP RFC is dated April 7, 1969; whereas, the RIP
> RFC, RFC-1058, is dated June 1988, almost 20 years later. BGP appears
> to be first defined in RFC-1105, dated June 1989, and OSPF appears to
> be first defined in RFC-1131, which is only available in PostScript
> format, so I don't have an exact date for it, but it is probably
> somewhere around August 1989, given that RFC-1105 is dated June 1989.
>
Thanks for the clarification, esp. on the IMPs. But again, I said
'routing' in unix, not 'routing protocols' which I fully understand came
about much later then "the beginning of the Internet". That's why I
also mentioned routed/gated, just without the dates.
> You would have had to been extremely naive to even consider that.
> The 2.2.x series of kernels are supposed to be much better; although,
> they still have problems. But, five years ago, the state of Linux
> TCP/IP was atrocious both in terms of performance and reliability.
>
I absolutely agree. But five years ago the only choice out there for
this kind of setup was linux 1.2 (and probably FreeBSD, please excuse my
lack of knowledge of that platform) and that's what many mom and pop
ISPs used for a basic T-1 router using things like the ETINC cards, and
dialin service, using the Cyclades and RocketPort cards and USR modems
when they were the best around. This proved a lot more stable and 100%
more flexible then the aging Xyplex hardware. Once Livingston PM-2e's
came around and the first RADIUS server, they soon became the preferred
choice for many people.
> } dirt cheap router... $50?). But what's that , you want to route a
> } DS-3? Unlikely. I don't know anyone that makes DS-3/HSSI cards for
> } PCs. Anyone want to jump in on that?
>
> Lan Media Corporation (see http://www.lanmedia.com/ ) makes
> DS-3/HSSI cards that work with BSD/OS, FreeBSD, Linux, NetBSD, OpenBSD,
> and Solaris. I don't know anything about them. Besides, I don't think
> I would recommend using a general purpose OS on generic PC hardware for
> this job. If you have the money for a DS-3, it is pretty much a given
> that you have the money to do the job right using the proper
> equipment.
another point properly stated. I simply wouldn't trust pushing DS-3
levels of traffic through any OS or hardware platform other then one
made for the purpose.
> There is also PicoBSD (see http://people.FreeBSD.org/~picobsd/ ),
> which is along the same lines, but based on FreeBSD. The packet
> filtering software included with the *BSD's is capable of keeping
> state, unlike the Linux packet filtering software which can only do
> basic filtering,
>
Cool, I appreciate your comments. I agree with the necessity to
maintain connection state in any type of real firewall. And I'll go
ahead and point out that Linux 2.4 has added a multi-threaded networking
stack and updated firewalling code, although I haven't checked its
capabilities yet. The IP filter kernel module -- that I assume is still
the code which does the firewalling you mention above in FreeBSD -- has
been ported to linux 2.0, and I'm sure 2.2/2.4 is done or well underway
although I didn't look that deep into it.
I've long heard the heralds from unix people about the rock solid
everything of FreeBSD's TCP/IP stack. I've just don't have extensive
experience with it. This thread should probably cease before it drones
into a unix geek session.
David
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