Linux and high performance routers ?


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Thread: Linux and high performance routers ?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
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    Linux and high performance routers ?

    As I am a computer networking student (Feb. 2011 = graduation month), I have been learning a lot about the subject. However, one thing puzzles me: all the networking hardware (i.e. routers, switches) I've learned about so far are made by Cisco. Most of those devices use the Cisco IOS.

    Does Linux have a presence in the (router/switch) market besides the home networking devices that can be flashed with a Nix OS? I.e. are there any high performance (distribution/core) switches that have Linux as their OS?

    Considering open standards such as OSPF, it seems odd to me that there isn't any Linux router's or switches.
    Last edited by Chess007; 06-16-2010 at 08:11 PM.
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  2. #2
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    Do a Google on "linux embedded" + device name
    Cisco is a corporate entity...they are in the market to sell hardware and services.

    Here's a quote from an article:
    The Cisco IOS is no longer the only one possible for Cisco routers. It’s always good to have an alternative, right? The Linux zealots gave it to us: uClinux/Cisco (Embedded Linux/Microcontroller Project), which was developed to run on Cisco routers. This uClinux is a derivative of the Linux 2.0 kernel (intended for microcontrollers without memory management units) and has successfully been ported to Cisco. Koen De Vleeschauwer (author of one of the patches for uClinux) created a patch that allows uClinux to run on older MC68EC030-based Cisco routers, which is why the range of applicability of uClinux in Cisco isn't very wide. It includes Cisco 2500, 3000, and 4000 series routers and requires 4 MB of RAM.
    Last edited by JohnT; 06-16-2010 at 10:16 PM.
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  3. #3
    Join Date
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    While slightly off topic, I built my own router a few months back using pfSense. Technically it's BSD based, and in my experience so far it is farrr superior to any consumer based router. It has a sick set of features... check it out.

    -- Devsforev

  4. #4
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    There are several distros specialized for that purpose, as JohnT says.
    One I know is Bifrost developed in a Swedish University.
    In pingvino veritas!

  5. #5
    Join Date
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    Also check out www.ipcop.org (looks like it's on sourceforge now). I had a system like this in the past and it worked beautifully. Very simple to setup and manage.
    "The author of that poem is either Homer or, if not Homer, somebody else of the same name."

  6. #6
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    Miami, Fl
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    Juniper's JunOS is based on FBSD, and Foundry(Brocade now)'s OS is BSD based, as well.

    James

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
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    1
    Ericsson is using a customised version of SUSE known as ENUX (Ericsson Linux) in its Mobile Soft Switches.

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