"I Was Disappointed with Modern Routers, So I'm Making My Own" | Hacker News Reader

"I Was Disappointed with Modern Routers, So I'm Making My Own"

dorscluc.org

29 pointstaubek12 comments

I wanted a switch+router capable of 10 gigabit speeds and everything in the market was expensive.

So I got a commodity PC ($400 Dell PowerEdge T30), put Linux on it, and then stuffed it with a 4 port 2.5GbE card (X8 slot, $150), a 2 port 10GbE card (X16 slot, $150), and a 4 port 1GbE card (cheap). Plus the built in 1GbE port.

It is capable of routing to the Internet at 2.5Gb speed just fine and then switching the rest of the ports at 10Gb speed. Getting a dedicated router/switch with this many ports would have been north of $1000, and probably a lot more of a nuisance to administer/maintain than Linux.

How does such a solution compare in term of energy consumption? A difference of 100W can easily cost $1000 over the life of the device.

But it's definitely way easier to manage than the interfaces offered by Cisco / HPE.

If the specs page is correct... 290w max, and the CPUs are 70w tdp each.

This network appliance is an integrated device suitable for your needs albeit the price is USD2K+ with 6x1GbE, 2x10GbE [1]. Being an Intel Atom Denverton C3000 based platform it can also support SR-IOV that is good for virtualization of NICs participating in cloud computing with Kubernetes [2].

[1] IEI PUZZLE-IN003B:

https://www.ieiworld.com/en/product/model.php?II=692

[2] Single-root input/output virtualization (SR-IOV):

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-root_input/output_vir...

My device ended up with 6x1GbE, 4x2.5GbE, 2x10GbE.

Since it’s a general purpose computer (some cheap Xeon plus 64GB RAM plus SSDs), it could perform other workloads too.

I'm a huge fan of Mikrotik, these are around $600 https://mikrotik.com/product/crs312_4c_8xg_rm

I’m a big fan of them too! That was the closest thing I found to my price point and interestingly was the same chipset (Intel i225 2.5Gb NICs).

I built my own with a Dell Optiplex 7050 Core i5 7th gen with 256GB/8GB, Intel X550-T2, and Opnsense. I found the dell for $90ish on Ebay and added an nvme I had lying around. The Intel card I found for about $190 on ebay. It's dual port and can do 1/2.5/5/10Gbe. It's overkill but it handles my Xfinity 1.2gbps connection like a champ. I regularly see game downloads hit 150MB/s

Interesting. What modem are you using with xfinity? Also do you have it anywhere documented? I myself are looking to try something else. I currently have an Asus router.

Modern routers are pretty good, but the fact that WiFi still has any issues whatsoever in environments without crowding seems pretty nuts.

I guess it really is just that complicated.

I don't have much need for any plain Ethernet routing beyond what I can already get for very cheap (Although there's always nice to have stuff to add), but it's cool to see effort made to improve networking in general.

I came across this individual on YT, well it was recommended to me by YT I should say. Seems to know his shit, but I think he over promises on lot of things which I doubt will make it to the final revision. I do look forward to see what develops.

The blatant "larping as entrepreneur" vibe is cringey AF.

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