Can You Purchase Switch Hardware Without an OS?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Friday November 17, 2006 @05:20AM from the barebones-hardware dept.

dhahn asks: "I have a project where I'm building a large Linux router (about 40 ports or so). At this point, my only hardware solution is to purchase a box with lots of PCI-ish slots and fill them multi-port ethernet cards. I've looked into currently available solutions and haven't found anything that gives me the control I want. Does anyone know of where I could purchase a 'naked switch?' I just want the switch hardware with enough guts to allow me to customize a Linux OS and load it up." If anyone else has been in this situation, what did you do?

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Re:Get a Cisco by sirket · 2006-11-17 06:43 · Score: 0, Troll

Or he could get a real switch from Foundry :)

Seriously though- Cisco makes terrible switches. Oversubscribed ports, slow backplanes, etc. Add to this the fact that their TAC has gone to pot (ask just about anyone on NANOG) and they're not a sound choice right now.

-sirket