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Channelized DS3 with Linux?
minion asks: "We've been struggling to find a channelized DS3 card for Linux that is a standard PCI format (not CompactPCI, mPCI, etc). I find it hard to believe others out there don't want the same, as a lot of ISPs could save a lot of money this way, since Cisco routers that handle channelized DS3 *start* at $30,000! I've found this card, but that is all that I've found. It would be great to dump our current Cisco, and use it as a spare if our Linux router fails. Does anyone else have some experience with this?"
If you are talking about the former - you might be suprised to find out you won't be much under 30K (those reliability things are expensive), if not - how much are you willing to give up in reliability (6 9s w/ Cisco - 3 9s with Linux + cheap hardware) and what is the cost of the downtime.
If you all ready have the Cisco kit (you did say you would run it for redundancy) - why change a working configuration for Linux ? Is it because "Linux is cool" or is there a business reason. If it is the former - I doubt you will be successful. If it is the later do the analisis above and see what the answer really is
I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them
Uh, I may be missing something but if you already have the Cisco gear to run your setup why on earth would you want to store it on the shelf and run a Linux PC in its place? Cisco devices are designed for exactly the application you want meaning they're fast and reliable. I haven't priced DS3 pipes in a while but if you're purchasing anything that even has DS3 as part of it's name I'd keep with the Cisco gear since there's obviously *some* decent cash floating around.
I dunno. But what I'm hearing is: "We've got a Formula One car that we'd like to keep in storage while we go to the Japanese Grand Prix in our NASCAR Monte Carlo, `cause the Monte Carlo is cheaper."
I don't know about $30,000. I have a FlexWan, which is a PA card adapter for the 6500's [which is the pricey but elegant way to go], and a PA-T3 and on the 7206VXR. They can be had for much less than $30,000, especially on ebay, but you can get prices down on Cisco if you aren't dumb enough to pay MSRP. You can also get PA-T3+ and PA-2T3+ for your FlexWan or 7200.
Here is a 7206VXR for ~$8000 that has what you want.
I'm no great fan of IOS, I much prefer Junos and my Juniper M10, but you'd be psychotic to even pretend a PC [despite the fact that Olive/Junos is based on FreeBSD from the PC, but each PIC uses network processors] could handle a T3 the way a Cisco or Juniper could. Yeah, its not very much bandwidth, but there are a lot fo interesting things these real pices of equipment can do for you.
Also, using a monitor OS like IOS and network processors is a lot better than interrupt driven crazyness that goes on in a PC.
In fact, I have a spare spare PA-T3 card I would sell you.
Legalize the constitution. Think for yourself question authority.
The thought of relying on a standard PC to drive/frame/time/switch a DS3 makes me nervous. There is a lot to be said for Application Specific Integrated Circuits(ASICs), which is what the Cisco uses.
Cisco's routers are expensive. Perhaps Nortel, Juniper, Foundry, Fore, Riverstone, etc might be less expensive but offer similar functionality and reliability.
How many channels are actually needed from the DS3? A Cisco 3600 can drive up to 12Mbps on a HSSI interface and would cost a lot less the $30,000 but, you couldn't go beyond 12 Mbps.
How much does a DS3 cost you? In my area, the monthly cost of such a circuit is such that a one time cost of $30,000 for hardware is really no big deal.
as my grand pappy said: Use the right tool for the right job... You could use juniper or nortel. But just do it right.
Question is, why would you want to? Most ISPs will 'lease' you a router when you get any type of dedicated internet connection. They also have this little thing called SRA or MTTR (Service Repair Agreement or Mean Time To Repair). If your router blows, they'll replace it in a matter of hours. If you own your own equipment, you'll either have to buy a spare (doubling your price) or suffer long downtime (How long of a downtime are you willing to afford?). ISPs also buy routers in bulk. So what may cost you 30,000$ for a Cisco router, ISPs pay a fraction of that. (And I dunno where you got that it starts at 30,000$.. there are much cheaper routers that will do channelized DS3, including in the Cisco family). You also have to think... going the Linux route... what happens if the motherboard blows, or the power supply, or the harddrive, or the NIC cards? You'd prety much eed a complete 2nd system as a backup. What about vulnerabilities? If this is out on the net, Cisco IOS is much more stable and secure than a linux box. How many man hours are you gonna spend patching stuff, compared to just leaving the Cisco router alone cuz it's not affected? If you do need to upgrade, upgrading IOSs is a joke. This isn't some dinky little home DSL connection where a Linux router is better than a 50$ Linksys router. You're trying to make yourself intelligent, but really, get a clue.
It's better to burn out than to fade away
If the PCI bus couldn't handle 54Mbps, then why would people have 100bT cards much less gigabit (and 10 gigabit on the way)?