> Underpowered? I think that is a really relative term. Underpowered for
> datamining a 1 TB database? Yeah it probably is, however from my experience
> I could saturate a 1.5 Mb SDSL or T-1 link using an IPSEC VPN on between a
> Soekris 4501 and a 1GHz Dell POS. If all you are looking to do is run a
> firewall for a DSL/Cable connection at home, the 4501 is likely overpowered.
>
Underpowered as a firewall in front of a large web site. fwiw,
having one as a carp/cluster front end to www.ualberta.ca runs it at
the bleeeeeeeeding edge - I did it temporarily to solve a problem and
it worked, but was pretty much balls to the wall frequently. after
swapping it out with a "real machine" it was fine.
Basically for home nets to "normal" broadband connectivity they are
ok as a firewall. They are borderline on 10mbit links depending on
your ruleset. Simplle pf rulesets (at least in my experience) will run
one out of jam at about 40 mbit of traffic, so just be aware of what
the limitations are.
If you want something with a little more grunt try nexcomm
or comell, but for home use (and it's *just* a firewall) a soekris
will do fine. (and is cheaper than those other things)
-Bob
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