Xref: utzoo comp.protocols.tcp-ip:6684 comp.dcom.lans:2638
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!gatech!dcatla!zdwcv
From: zdwcv@dcatla.UUCP (Wm. C. VerSteeg)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip,comp.dcom.lans
Subject: Re: Super Cheap IP router (< $1000)
Message-ID: <16648@dcatla.UUCP>
Date: 5 Apr 89 13:16:13 GMT
References: <583@accuvax.nwu.edu.NWU.EDU> <1989Apr4.000727.2759@utzoo.uucp> <25098@amdcad.AMD.COM> <15134@bellcore.bellcore.com>
Reply-To: zdwcv@dcatla.UUCP (Wm. C. VerSteeg)
Organization: DCA Inc., Alpharetta, GA
Lines: 19


The notion of a cheap IP router based on a PC is a good one. When
we start talking about implementations, some interesting ideas get thrown 
out.

Is a proxy arp scheme good enough scheme for such a low-end router?
Phil Karn says that his KA9Q can be used as a router by configuring
it for proxy arp. If the intended user group is relatively sophisticated,
and is confining itself to a SMALL network environment, I would say 
that proxy arp is sufficient. But proxy arp is not intended for large
networks. There is no distributed routing algorithm, so it does not
scale well at all. Proxy arp schemes would not work in the internet at 
large, but may be usefull in some limited applications.

Carefully look at your options before you decide to use a package that 
was not designed to be a router as a router. 


Bill VerSteeg