[TriLUG] Suggested Router OS? may be OT.

[Heath Roberts]

On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 10:02 AM, Carl Crider <c.crider at gmail.com> wrote:

>  We've been using CENTOS in our lab environment to set up "pizza box"
> routers. My feeling is that this install is too heavy and I'm looking
> for a new, much lighter solution. We use DHC_relay, tcp_dump, ipv4 & 6
> support, and on some boxes we will install Wireshark for testing. If I
> can't find a "one box" solution today, I may just brew my own router
> project and be done with it. Oh, we are a 95% RPM-based lab, so I'd
> like to stay with that in order to make administration equal across
> the room.
>

Cisco make a number of "one-box" products that would probably meet your
requirements... the code is monolithic, but is typically well-optimized, and
small (updates often fit on a 64MB compactflash--no DVD or multiple CD sets
here--and can even be loaded over the network with no special distribution
server).

We have a number of these devices that have been in production for years, so
while the initial cost may seem daunting, the TCO is fairly low, especially
if your time has any value. You can probably find previous-generation but
serviceable equipment on eBay very inexpensively.

This is tougue-in-cheek, of course, but seriously, why wouldn't you use a
router as a router? Do you drive tacks with a jackhammer? Lift your car to
change a tire with great-stuff expanding foam?

Another suggestion, if you want flexibility, would be use vmware virtual
routers, along with virtual machines, in a lab environment.

-- 
Heath Roberts
htroberts at gmail.com