[plug] ADSL modem/switch

[Quintin Lette]

On Sat, 16 Aug 2003 08:05 pm, Sham Chukoury wrote:
> On Sat, 2003-08-16 at 18:47, Quintin Lette wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
> > As for the pulsar PCI adsl modem, you may have issues with getting 3 pci
> > cards working together in the P166 (although maybe not, and you can use
> > ISA network cards too I guess) but it would make it possible to do things
> > like proxy / firewall (a firewall isn't much good if its just a node in
> > your network you really need the data to go through it).
>
> Hmmm... What do you mean, 'issues with getting 3 pci cards working
> together'? :P What sorts of issues?
>
Like how many PCI slots does the 166 have (mine has 2) and location of these 
slots/sharing bus with isa card you may be using etc, irq conflicts.. just a 
few possibilities.

> /me thinks it's time for some ascii art..
>
> Here's what I imagine the network topology to be, if i go for the custom
> box:
>
>                    +---------+                      +-----+
>
>                    |         | 10/100MBps Ethernet  |     |
>                    |         |--------------------->| [1] |
>                    |
>                    |  P166   |   (1 pci slot)       |     |
>
>     phone line     | custom  |                      +-----+
> ------------------>|  adsl   |                      +-----+
>  into Pulsar modem | gateway | 10/100MBps Ethernet  |     |
>    (1 pci slot)    |(+proxy?)|--------------------->| [2] |
>
>                    |         |   (1 pci slot)       |     |
>
>                    +---------+                      +-----+
>
> Notes:
> - Diagram not to scale ;)
> - [1] = Linux box
> - [2] = WinXP box
> - (1 pci slot) refers to number of pci slots taken up in custom box
> - therefore, 3 PCI slots taken up (Asus VX97 has 3PCI + 1PCI/ISA slots)
> - can add 1 more PCI NIC, up to 3 more ISA NICs, if needed
> - [1] and [2] talk to each other via 'gateway' box acting as switch
>
Ok we have hopefully resolved the slots issue here (beware of conflicts though 
ie you won't be able to run 7 nics.) Apart from that cute diagram, I sort of 
figured that is how you intended to set it up. Have fun configuring it, and 
like Craig Ringer said in another post "Don't get $8 NICs ;-)"
By the way, there's nothing stopping you from using 3 NICs in the p166 and 
using an ethernet modem/(router in bridged mode) for the connection, cheaper 
and more reliable than the PCI modem. Also easier if something goes wrong ( 
you don't have to pull the gateway box apart for warranty issues.  Added 
bonus: more people have experience with them, so asking for help is easier.

> > My personal preference would be to get the Billion Bipac 711 ($165 at
> > Arach Net) and a separate switch (cheap as chips now ie $59 for an 8port
> > at Austin) which works out cheaper than the 4 port Billion, gives you
> > more ports if people come over or you get more hardware... and you can
> > then decide whether you want to do your own firewalling / routing
> > proxying or let the billion do it for you.
>
> Heh, talk about coincidence... I decided to check out how much the
> option of getting an ethernet adsl modem + separate ethernet switch
> would cost, worked it out, then checked my e-mail and found this. ;)
>
You do have further power consumption though (not much)

> > By the way, for $11 more than anything but the 128k package you get an
> > extra 5gb of peak traffic, and 1gb really isn't that much (about 9ish
> > hours of downloading on 256k). Just giving you the facts, not trying to
> > force anything on you (by the way I have no affiliation with anyone in
> > the industry ;-))
>
> Yes, I do realise that... I primarily want ADSL so as not to keep on
> tying up the phone line while online. Getting a second phone line
> dedicated to dialup might work, but still incurs phone call charges. :P
>
Ok no problems, just wanted to let you know (I've just downloaded 8GB in the 
last 4 days on my 256k modem (2/3 from WAIX but then I noticed IT's debian 
mirror was missing chunks at the time so I continued from ftp.au.debian.org)

> Regards
> §:)