[Techtalk] roll-your-super-duper router

[Carla Schroder]

I was looking at some articles on "Carrier Grade Linux", and wondering if 
anyone has rolled-their-own super-duper high-speed router or other networking 
widget? Is there bare hardware available somewheres, so you can cobble up 
your own homegrown equivalent to a high-end Cisco router, for example?

Or, has anyone taken a commercial gadget like a Cisco, maybe got a great deal 
on Ebay, and put Linux on it?

I have no experience with high-end routers. I've figured out just from 
pestering folks and reading that it's the hardware that makes the difference. 
Things like more and fatter buses and TCAM memory. So it seems that if you 
can find a deal on the hardware, you could stuff Linux or a BSD on it, have 
all the flexibility you want, and not have to bow to the Cisco deities. Seems 
like if it can be done, someone somewhere has already tried it!

-- 
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 Carla Schroder
 check out my "Linux Cookbook", the ultimate Linux user's
 and sysadmin's guide! http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/linuxckbk/
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