Aaron O'Hara wrote:
I have a client who has an office of 100 users who mostly use the
network to access the Internet. The number of users is expected to grow
30% each year and they want to add VPN functionality. Their current
router (Linksys) keeps requiring to be reset and I think it's time they
upgrade to a business-class router, akin to the Cisco 1841 or something
from SonicWall.
After looking that the prices for these appliances, I was wondering if a
PC-based router running FC4 (or similar, like CentOS) would be just as
good/better/worse than the appliance?
My fear with a PC based router is that there are more chances for
hardware failure given the increased number of parts. Do people on this
list have experience running PC-based routers serving 100-200 users for
shared Internet and VPN?
--Aaron
I have run several offices with PC based routers using various OS's.
The one thing I would stress is that (for me, anyway) it is critical to
have a good image (ghost/livecd/whatever) that can be transferred
quickly in case of a hardware problem. However, I think that, given the
personnel increase expected for this client, going with a suitable
Cisco/Juniper/other router makes more sense.
My $0.02.
--
Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum
Mark Haney
Sr. Systems Administrator
ERC Broadband
(828) 350-2415
