Just to give an idea. I'm using multiple GNU/Linux routers with an Intel Atom C2758 (8-core SoC) and 8 GiB RAM to handle ~2k routes with Bird. Bird itself doesn't make a dent in CPU. These are building access routers; traffic is around 80 Mbit/s each (~ 6 kpps), with connection tracking and NAT. Using 2*1 Gbit bond, builtin NICs from the SoC with igb driver. CPU load is usually next to 0 with regular traffic.
I've tested this setup to 1.4 Mpps (Gbit line rate with small packets), *without* conntrack/NAT. It stresses the 8 cores, but works. With NAT, I can get up to ~ 200 kpps. As it turns out, the C2000 line isn't so great at staying alive for more than a few months though [1]... but that's on its way to being fixed. Regards, Israel G. Lugo [1] http://www.anandtech.com/show/11110/semi-critical-intel-atom-c2000-flaw-discovered On 03/07/2017 06:46 PM, Matthew Walster wrote: > On 7 March 2017 at 05:57, Clément Guivy <clem...@guivy.fr > <mailto:clem...@guivy.fr>>wrote: > > Hello, I am considering the setup of BIRD as a router to handle > our internet traffic. One information I fail to find is hardware > requirements. > > > Clément, > > Let's just clear one thing up straight away -- BIRD is a daemon for > routing protocols, not for routing traffic itself. BIRD itself will > handle your requirements in terms of the BGP information incredibly > well. As I understand it, BIRD only utilises one CPU core, but this is > not the bottleneck factor here. > > When the FIB has been calculated, it is usually exported to your > kernel (we'll assume Linux for now) via Netlink messages. Depending on > how efficient your kernel is at building the trie structure, this may > actually take more time than processing the BGP Updates! > > Once the routes are loaded into the kernel, it is the kernel (usually) > that forwards the traffic. This is usually (roughly) proportional to > the performance of your processor. You will probably have to make > iptables changes to prevent that restricting the performance at high > levels. > > That said, 1Gbps of IMIX traffic should easily be forwarded by any > modern x86-like server out there. Just be aware that it will be more > susceptible to small-packet attacks due to the lower packet-per-second > throughput compared to routers you may be used to. > > Hope that helps! > > Matthew Walster >
