1000mbps Router

[nexusN]

Hi everybody,

I live in HK and some ISP provides 1000Mbps broadband, recently I have upgraded to one of them.
On testing the throughput, directly connect my server to the modem, I can get the speed reach 900Mbps, which is pretty good.

While after passing through my router, Buffalo WZR-HP-G300NH, it drops to only 130Mbps.
This is understandable as I have studied a bit for the capability of router handling a large bandwidth, so I actually planned to build my a X86 router for the job.

As planned, my router will be using either Atom D525(D2700 if available in a short moment) or AMD E-350 as CPU which is embedded onboard;
together with the lan port with Realtek controller, additionally an Intel Pro 1000 CT will be installed; RAM will be 2 or 4GB depends on budget; WiFi will be settled by using an USB WiFi adapter.

However, I do not know if the above set up would really suffice the need.
I have discussed with my friends that they guarantee the above set up will be enough, but rarely I can see someone testing this bandwidth on a X86 router.
Also, which router software is suggested? I heard MikroTik RouterOS is one of the best available but it costs, I want to suppress the cost of the router to <$179 USD.
Reading from m0n0wall's doc, it won't use more than 64MB RAM on my regardless of loading.......will this be an issue at all?
Recently I planned to give ClearOS a shot, do you have any idea on its possible performance?

Thank you so much for your attention.

 

[ImDonly1]

No idea, but how much does internet like that cost in USD?

 

[nexusN]

No idea, but how much does internet like that cost in USD?

Likely 26 USD per month.
While 1000Mbits is the speed locally, oversea bandwidth will not exceed 20Mbits.

 

[Arcanedeath]

You need a router with a gigabit wan port check out small net builders wan to LAN throughput guides and take your pick from the list with the higher/hightest wan to LAN throughput.

 

[MoMeanMugs]

I've been playing around with Vyatta and am growing on it. I'm thinking of replacing my Linksys router with an old machine I have. I'm testing it in a VM right now and have given it 4 vcores at 4GB of RAM. I haven't seen it go over 1GB of RAM, but it goes over 50&#37; on each core doing a simple file transfer. This is doing this across the WAN interface with IPS set to medium, firewall, and NAT. It doesn't support NAT out of the box, but I compiled it to a package and made an ISO to install it in the OS. If you go this route, I can give you the ISO; it's only around 2MB. My ISP is only ~20Mbps, so depending on what features you want to use, an Atom might be insufficient. What do you expect it to do?

 

[nexusN]

I've been playing around with Vyatta and am growing on it. I'm thinking of replacing my Linksys router with an old machine I have. I'm testing it in a VM right now and have given it 4 vcores at 4GB of RAM. I haven't seen it go over 1GB of RAM, but it goes over 50% on each core doing a simple file transfer. This is doing this across the WAN interface with IPS set to medium, firewall, and NAT. It doesn't support NAT out of the box, but I compiled it to a package and made an ISO to install it in the OS. If you go this route, I can give you the ISO; it's only around 2MB. My ISP is only ~20Mbps, so depending on what features you want to use, an Atom might be insufficient. What do you expect it to do?

Thank you for your sharing, but for a VM, there shouldn't be the same case, as the I/O is a very bottleneck for performance. I have skimmed through quite some articles, and as I have having a SNB server, I actually thought of using it as a router as well by setting the VM inside it, while many suggested not to do so as VM will be having problem with I/O that require extra CPU utilization.

Meanwhile, they mentioned that an Atom will be able to have a job done, and someone told me that, with his X86 router, for a throughput of 94Mbps, the CPU stays idle and utilized only a few percent, so I believe Atom is still adequate for the purpose, but still, I am looking for a real test for Atom router + 1000mbps network to confirm.:\

 

[cmetz]

nexusN, first and foremost, have you asked your ISP what they recommend? It is common for ISPs with higher-speed offerings to make specific recommendations and/or offer to sell you a solution. They have a vested interest in you having CPE that makes their service look good.

If not that, are there forums somewhere for your ISP's customers where such things could be asked of others?

If you want a router that can sustain 1000Mb/s line rate under pessimal conditions, that costs Real Money. You do not need this. While an Atom might work, let me suggest that if you're building a PC based router, a system with a Sandy Bridge based Pentium or Core i3 and a H61 chipset would offer dramatically better performance for not all that much more money. For example, Micro Center sells the Pentium G530 for $40 and an ASUS H61 board for $70 - total $110. Compare to the $80ish you'd probably spend for an Atom. For $30ish more, you're getting a LOT more horsepower, especially when it comes to I/O. Yes, this will also use more power, but not all that much more.

 

[Red Squirrel]

You'll want something on the commercial side to get the most out of it. Maybe a Cisco ASA or build your own pfsense box with server grade nics. Even the Intel desktop nics may do.

I wish I could get that much bandwidth here. Heck, I'd be happy with 100. Being able to host all my stuff at home would be cheaper.

 

[nexusN]

You'll want something on the commercial side to get the most out of it. Maybe a Cisco ASA or build your own pfsense box with server grade nics. Even the Intel desktop nics may do.

I wish I could get that much bandwidth here. Heck, I'd be happy with 100. Being able to host all my stuff at home would be cheaper.

I understand that Cisco stuff will have the job done, but they are all far too over budget, ideally, a X86 router costing half will be fine for my purpose.
For NIC, this is still a question that, if I am getting an Atom board with Realtek NIC or an Intel Board with INtel NIC; for another NIC, I have already got an Intel CT.

At this moment, I am able to get two IP from my ISP using a switch, so the router is not as urgent as it looks now, I will wait until suitable hardware available.

 

[imagoon]

I would throw out there that pfsense recommends pci-e nics and "at least a 3.0ghz" cpu for 1000Mbps routing. They say a 1ghz proc would get you around 200Mbps. They however don't specify what the processors are. IE a 3.0ghz Pentium 4 vs a 3.0ghz i7 are whole different worlds.

I would harbor a guess that the Atom D2700, 2 gig of ram would get pretty close to handling it if not handling it straight up running pfsense. You would need to use PCI-E cards as the PCI bus would be limited to 1064Mbps and since you have 2 that means you effectively would only have about 500Mbps since the 2 cards need to share the bus. PCI-E (above 1x) doesn't have this issue.

 

[nexusN]

I would throw out there that pfsense recommends pci-e nics and "at least a 3.0ghz" cpu for 1000Mbps routing. They say a 1ghz proc would get you around 200Mbps. They however don't specify what the processors are. IE a 3.0ghz Pentium 4 vs a 3.0ghz i7 are whole different worlds.

I would harbor a guess that the Atom D2700, 2 gig of ram would get pretty close to handling it if not handling it straight up running pfsense. You would need to use PCI-E cards as the PCI bus would be limited to 1064Mbps and since you have 2 that means you effectively would only have about 500Mbps since the 2 cards need to share the bus. PCI-E (above 1x) doesn't have this issue.

Your point is critical.
If my proposed hardware cannot deliver the full power, it will be absolutely a waste of money for it, so I must take great care to confirm the capability in advance of any purchase.
Thank you for pointing out the pfsense, I just missed this community in which there can be more discoveries in building the concerning router.

 

[chan005]

Hi nexusN,

Have you come to a conclusion on the GB router? I also have the same problem. Except I have 2 ISP connections at 100M and 300M. So, I want a multi-WAN router capable of GB routing. Probably not as critical on speed as your requirement are but more on a mix of speed and ports. I looked at Vyatta for sometime but just can't find the hardware with at least 3x GBE port on it.

Jetway has a few Atom based industrial boards that you can plug in a daughter card with 3 more GBE. http://www.jetway.com.tw/jw/ipcboard_view.asp?productid=937&proname=NF9D-2700 But they are not available in HK, so may have to get it from TW. Also don't know if it will meet the performance. I guess it is trial and see.

 

[nexusN]

Hi nexusN,

Have you come to a conclusion on the GB router? I also have the same problem. Except I have 2 ISP connections at 100M and 300M. So, I want a multi-WAN router capable of GB routing. Probably not as critical on speed as your requirement are but more on a mix of speed and ports. I looked at Vyatta for sometime but just can't find the hardware with at least 3x GBE port on it.

Jetway has a few Atom based industrial boards that you can plug in a daughter card with 3 more GBE. http://www.jetway.com.tw/jw/ipcboard_view.asp?productid=937&proname=NF9D-2700 But they are not available in HK, so may have to get it from TW. Also don't know if it will meet the performance. I guess it is trial and see.

Oh, yes, I did.
Finally I picked the Sandy Bridge Celeron for its price and capability, in which it has a CPU loading for around 30% for a 900Mbps throughput(single way); Atom D2700 is in doubt and some said it could not deliver more than 700Mbps.
You may take a look at the hardware and software I have chosen:
http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,45439.0.html

Regarding your case, I am sorry that I have not many ideas on the CPU loading for Dual Wan and Load Balancing; also for the board you proposed, I am not sure if the NIC is compatible with pfsense(or other OS you maybe using), you'd better study more on them before getting any hardware.

It would the best if you can list out your requests and seek recommendation in the pfsense community(the forum). They are very helpful and you will find out what you should pick quite soon, I believe.:biggrin:

 

[Ben90]

No idea, but how much does internet like that cost in USD?

A fully fledged OC-24 connection is almost certain to be over $30000 a month. The price can change on a lot of different factors but its definitely out of the reach of us consumers.

A lot of that cost is due to the 99.999% up-time these connections are guaranteed to have, which the OP's consumer internet most likely does not. Enterprise connections have their own dedicated circuit, and have synchronous up/down speeds.

Realistically, if our internet providers offered this kind of connection it would cost quite a bit less since they can cut a lot of corners. Unfortunately I doubt a single ISP offers these kinds of speeds without purchasing a dedicated circuit, so we are stuck paying if we need that.

 

[Emulex]

pfsense works great in esxi - consolidate and virtualize man.

 

[yinan]

I also like the Astaro firewall virtual appliance. It runs great under ESXi as well.