[BlueOnyx:02214] Re: Router Spec

[Chris Gebhardt - VIRTBIZ Internet]

Hi Phil,

Phil Hamer wrote:
> Hi All.
> 
>  
> 
> I am looking at replacing our router very soon. Our Intertex router 
> failed about 2 weeks ago and we are still using a mickey mouse router 
> which I borrowed from home.
> 
> We have a single server and a fixed IP address and have a minimal set of 
> port forwards set into the router.
> 
>  
> 
> Our experiences with cheap routers has been bad over the last few years. 
> The last unit (the intertex surfinbird) was not cheap and has only 
> lasted about 2 years.
> 
>  
> 
> I have narrowed things down to either a ZyXel Prestige P-266H D1 or a 
> Cisco 857.
> 
>  
> 
> The ZyXel looks easy to set up and configure with a web interface and 
> would satisfy our needs I think fully.
> 
> I have no experience with ZyXel kit and have never used any before.
> 
> Apparently this router will ‘find and configure’ the ADSL line details 
> without much intervention.
> 
>  
> 
> The Cisco 857 looks like a professional entry level model but from 
> reading around it would appear I need to learn IOW and configure with a 
> serial Telnet Connection.
> 
> I have no experience of the Cisco router, although we run Cisco hardware 
> for out phone system here and that’s been good reliable kit.
> 
> Some reports on Google say that the Cisco 857 struggles with ADSL speeds 
> on poor connections where the mickey mouse routers get good data 
> throughput at high speeds on poor connections.
> 
> It also looks very hard to get up and running.

Well, we have a ZyXel unit on our cable-modem that we put in the 
datacenter so that customers can have an off-net connection for testing 
from the "outside world" and so forth.   Personally, I think it's 
garbage.   But it came with the cable service and it actually has the 
coax connector for the cable.  For the purpose, replacing it has not 
been a priority.  It gets rebooted about once a week, or else it locks 
up.  (We schedule it with generator exercising).   So if you're looking 
for an endorsement of the ZyXel unit, I would be the wrong guy for that.

The 857 is a pretty small router.  Smaller than anything I've ever had a 
history with.  However, if it actually runs IOS, then really once you 
get a handle on it, it's not all that difficult.

I will suggest something that may be of interest to you, which is to try 
out Smoothwall.   You'll need a PC to run it on.  Doesn't have to be 
much of a PC.   Just needs 2 (or more) NICs on it.   Download the 
Smoothwall Express ISO from http://www.smoothwall.org/ and then load it 
up on an old PC.   It's pretty easy to install and configure.

The web-based interface on it is fairly robust.  It won't cost you 
anything to try it, assuming you've got an old computer laying around 
someplace.

We use Smoothwall on a P3-500 with 256MB RAM and a 20GB HDD for our LAN. 
    (NOT the datacenter - we run Cicso GSR12012 and GSR12008 for that!) 
  The Smoothwall has been rock-solid stable and we can get throughput of 
about 60Mbps on it (it's upstream connection is a 100Mbps FastE from on 
of our our 6509's).   Depending on the time of day, we usually have 
around 10 users on it fairly constantly.   We serve our billing system 
and our security video system through it.

I also know of a couple customers in the datacenter that use this sort 
of configuration for their hosting environments.  It seems to work 
pretty well for them.

-- 
Chris Gebhardt
VIRTBIZ Internet Services
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