| Forum Home | ||||
| Press F1 | ||||
| Thread ID: 94344 | 2008-10-25 09:22:00 | Benchmarking routers / firewalls - Experience with Alix boards | Chilling_Silence (9) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 714776 | 2008-10-25 09:22:00 | Hey guys, So Ive been doing some stuff with Alix boards lately (pcengines.ch), 500MHz Geode CPU & 256MB Ram - Makes a very sweet firewall device! Ive been monitoring some systems for a few small businesses, and varying routers such as the D-Link ones are horrible, Dynalink ones are "ok", SMC ones are even better but still not 100%. Basically it checks a few different things every minute and reports back to me via Email if somethings not up to scratch. I setup a Linksys AM300 for one client in half-bridge mode passing everything to an Alix 2c3. Its been up 100% of the time for the last 12 weeks! Most others last 48 hours at most, with some (The SMC) lasting around 6-7 days before an error occurs. Im just curious to know how other routers compare hardware-wise? I know the hardware specs of the Alix board, but cant find any technical docs on any other router, nor do I know WHY some are better than others. Has anybody else had experience with Alix boards (as firewalls or other things), or does anybody have any information about the hardware thats used in other routers / firewalls? I realize they're probably not x86 CPU's, but yeah, just curious :) Cheers Chill. |
Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 714777 | 2008-10-25 09:33:00 | Hey guys, So Ive been doing some stuff with Alix boards lately (pcengines.ch), 500MHz Geode CPU & 256MB Ram - Makes a very sweet firewall device! Imagine if there was a decent business for appliances like these. :nerd: |
bob_doe_nz (92) | ||
| 714778 | 2008-10-25 10:04:00 | Well you'd be surprised.. I'm basically at a point where every customer I deal with, I strongly recommend they use them (If they're going to use my product). Its *so* much more reliable running pfSense or m0n0wall compared with even some of the Cisco routers Ive had customers using..! Its a mean as toy to play with as well, coolest part of self employment is the gizmo's & gadgets that I get to use at home :D |
Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 714779 | 2008-10-25 18:36:00 | Wouldn't a low-end EeePC be about the same price point as an Alix box? | somebody (208) | ||
| 714780 | 2008-10-25 19:42:00 | An Alix board after its been imported is cheaper, not to mention theres no moving parts, plus it looks a whole lot more professional than using a UMPC ;) There's also the added bonus of no VGA, so some curious local IT guy who thinks he's hot stuff cant just pick it up, plug in a screen and be nosey... :D Yes, unfortunately Ive had that happen with another machine I deployed, some other IT guy pulled it to bits coz it looked interesting... Then knocked the HDD cable loose when putting it back together :p |
Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 714781 | 2008-10-26 00:31:00 | And alix boards can have a zillion network interfaces, as compared to the eee's one. Having a router with one nic kinda defeats the purpose of the thing... | Erayd (23) | ||
| 714782 | 2008-10-26 01:32:00 | Haha, this has 3, means I can set one up as a failover interface :) Im ordering in the newer 6b2's to play with also, cant wait! :D | Chilling_Silence (9) | ||
| 1 | |||||