[nycbug-talk] breaking up a big cisco

[Isaac Levy]

Hi ALex, N.J., All,

On Apr 11, 2006, at 5:29 PM, alex at pilosoft.com wrote:

> On Tue, 11 Apr 2006, Isaac Levy wrote:
>
>> Before I (or anyone else) blabs too much on the topic, I noted  
>> that your
>> original email doesn't mention CARP (or Cisco's VRRP) as a tool for
>> providing redundancy.
>>
>> Is there any reason why you want/need to stick to Cisco gear?
>>
>> -- With a decent budget, and a decent amount of rackspace (let's say
>> 6u), is it out of the scope of reason to run OpenBSD on new X86
>> hardware, and use OpenBSD?
> It's called the real world. :) I've got to admit, I sleep so much  
> better
> ever since junking my quagga/loonix routers in favor of proper (and
> expensive solutions).

In many situations, I can't agree with you more.  In other  
situations, I can't disagree with you more :)

>
> The clue can substitute for spending money, sometimes. But other  
> times,
> even though you *think* you can, the resulting configuration is too
> brittle, and care & feeding will take far more time than buying a  
> complete
> solution from cisco.
>
> <reset snipped>

While I see this can be true in many enviornments, I know far too  
many of us on list have been bit in the behind by vendor packaged  
solutions- on many scales, in many ways.
With that, the 'care and feeding' of an Open Source solution can  
often outlast commercial offerings- as well as provide excellent  
scalability.

(/me refrains from starting a flame war touting the lack of 'care and  
feeding' required in the BSD world vs. other Open Source tech...)

With that, the choice should be made in the context of the goals,  
budget, commitment level, etc...  And in N.J.'s case, it seems the  
Cisco gear is perhaps the most appropriate.

Best,
.ike