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Hardware

Hardware Suggestions for an x86 Linux WAN Router? 18

Posted by Cliff from the please-toss-your-thoughts-into-the-cookie-jar dept.
il_seba asks: "We are looking for x86 hardware which could be used to build a stilish/compact WAN router for our LUG. The main requirements, in no precise order, are: small size, fanless operation (low power/low heat CPU + compact flash boot medium), on-board fast ethernet and a single PCI slot. The actual candidates are IGEL thin-clients and ALLWELL STB1030N, although if you have more, we'd appreciate knowing about them. We just need the barebone system, as we'll provide software by ourselves."
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Hardware Suggestions for an x86 Linux WAN Router? More

Hardware Suggestions for an x86 Linux WAN Router?

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  • Igel (Score:1)

    by djweis ( 4792 )
    I've got one of their Etherminals. The power supply seems to run a bit hot. The machine itself is just OEM'ed from someone else, so if you don't need their software, I would find one of the book pc's that people talk about on here frequently.
  • I'll see if I still have the manuals that came with it. There was one for the Igel software and one for the machine itself.

  • Re:a real controller... (Score:3)

    by Cato ( 8296 ) on Tuesday June 19, 2001 @08:53AM (#143294)
    It all depends what you are trying to do....It's unlikely a LUG is building a 128 Gbps backplane router, to say the least.

    A Pentium or even a 486 is fine for most WAN links - e.g. I run a 1 Mbps ADSL connection with a Linux firewall based on an old 486/75 laptop. Most Cisco remote site routers are slower than this - the old 2500 was about the same as a 386.

  • this is it (Score:5)

    by chrismcc@netus.com ( 24157 ) <chrismcc@NOspAm.gmail.com> on Monday June 18, 2001 @11:57AM (#143295) Homepage
    Hello...

    This is _exactly_ what you want. and it has 3, that is three, built in eithernet ports.

    http://www.embsd.org

    http://www.embsd.org/order.html

    Specifications:

    * 133 Mhz. AMD ElanSC520 (486DX)
    * 32 or 64 Mbyte SDRAM, soldered on board
    * 1-4 Mbit BIOS/BOOT Flash
    * CompactFLASH Type I/II socket, 8 Mbyte FLASH to 1Gbyte IBM Microdrive
    * 3 10/100 mbit Ethernet ports, RJ-45
    * 1 Serial port, DB9.
    * Power LED, Activity LED, Extra LED(software programable)
    * MiniPCI type III socket. (for optional hardware encryption?)
    * PCI Slot, right angle 3.3V only. (for optional WAN board or more ethernet interfaces or maybe a HDD?)
    * Board size 5.5" x 5.5"
    * Power either 5V DC fixed or 6-20V DC, max 8W
    * Operating temperature 0-60 C

  • For most situations, i mean, how much bandwidth are we talkign about, if it's anythign less than 6mpbs of external bandwidth, then this is plenty.

    And if you want to add ipsec/vpns, they just made a mini pci addon card to handle the heavy crypt lifting :-)

    Plus, just think of the hack value... :)
  • There's another good looking project like this at
    http://www.fli4l.de/e_index.htm [fli4l.de]
  • http://daily.daemonnews.org/view_story.php3?story_ id=2117
  • The guy wants a WAN router. Therefore he NEEDS a PCI slot for the WAN card.

    Quit suggesting all these embedded solutions that don't offer WAN functionality (or the expandability needed to provide it).

  • a real controller... (Score:3)

    by selectspec ( 74651 ) on Monday June 18, 2001 @01:28PM (#143300)
    x86 makes for losy controller cause Intel and AMD microprocessors don't handle low-latency I/O very well. If you are building something that really needs to crank, you need a real I/O controller. Something like Sibytes mercurian [sibyte.com] probably will do the trick. You can run a MIPS linux on it and its low power (approximately 10 Watts). Its a MIPS64 instruction set. The thing has an interprocessor bus that can crank out like 128Gb/s.
  • Try the Linux Router Project [linuxrouter.org]. Designed to fit on a floppy and then expand to a RAMdisk. It should work with just about any PC you've got sitting around.
  • I've been able to find a lot of companies that will sell the internal components (motherboards, flash or micro drive, etc.) but I can't find any company that makes the cases to put these parts into. I'd like to do something very similar to il_seba idea but I'd need to store the device in a phone closet so I'd need something that would keep out dust and not look home-made. If anyone could point me in the right direction I'd really appreciate it. Thanks.

  • Check out embedded platforms (Score:3)

    by JohnTheFisherman ( 225485 ) on Monday June 18, 2001 @10:31AM (#143303)
    Though neither supports a PCI slot directly, try PC-104 (www.pc104.com or www.pc104.org) or Compact PCI (http://www.picmg.org/). Depending on what options you need in the end, these can offer Ethernet, video, audio, and almost anything else you need in a small form factor. PC104 is ISA in a smaller form factor, so it's slower, but pretty reasonably priced now.
  • As a matter of fact, we'll be using something based on LRP 2.9.4. We also had a look at FREESCO (http://www.freesco.org), but LRP is probably better expanded to suit our needs. One thing of FREESCO I appreciated much is web control panel.
  • Indeed we are on a full PCI slot as we'd like to provide different implementations of this firewall/router just by installing:


    A) ISDN terminal adapter.
    B) V.90 internal (NON-soft)modem.
    C) Sangoma (http://www.sangoma.com/) WAN cards.
    D) Agere (http://www.agere.com) PCI ADSL modem (if/when drivers are avaible).
    E) Possibly other solutions as well, such as PCMCIA/PCI 802.11b wireless cards .
  • Had a look at NET-4501 when first announced on small-BSD mailing list (still have the original message from Soren Kristensen).

    Unfortunatey we're looking 4 somenthing with a little bit more processing power.
  • Well, this could certainly be an useful point.
    Trouble is: how can I find out who's the original producer of IGEL hardware?

    As far as book-PCs go, am I wrong or they don't have any PCI slot?
  • Hi djweis, that would be much helpful, thanx a lot!
    Feel free to contact me by e-m@il: seba AT libero DOT it
  • W meaning Wide... or W meaning Wireless.... or..?

    Since you say LUG, I would assume maybe Wireless.. for usage while everybody is at one central location.. although you could mean to set up a Wide-Area Network (more like a Metropolitan Area Network...) with members of your LUG...

    Yeesss... more LUGs with a MAN or NAP... How about a WAN MAN? :P

    Nexus Toasternet Anyone??
    --
    ?!

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