On Tue, 02 Feb 1999, Gregory Maxwell wrote:
>Thanks for posting this. Now I know that I've got about 10 routers that
>can't be upgraded to 2.2.. Oh joy!
There is a new wave of IP bridging devices out there. The ones
that I have experience with are the Alcatel ADSL endpoints and
the Paradyne Hotwire RADSL and MVL endpoints.
I am most familiar with the Paradyne MVL and RADSL products.
Paradyne *does* have IP routing versions of their
customer endpoint products (though the actual software that
allowed you to set up the routing became available about 6
months ago -- almost 18 months after their "IP Routing" products
were released.) The "IP Routing" versions of their customer
endpoints are significantly more expensive than their bridging
versions. Other than the problems with routing, I feel that
Paradyne still makes the best xDSL products out there. They
work over marginal lines and scale very well.
When I first worked with the Paradyne products and discovered
that the customer endpoints didn't really support IP routing, I
was shocked. My whole world view changed. It was kind of like
when I discovered that an international high tech mfg of ships
still did their payroll using a punch card machine. During both
experiences I said to myself "I thought this technology was
phased out 10 years ago!!!!".
Fortunately, when I was required to deploy the Paradyne RADSL and
MVL products we were able to do Subnet Proxy ARP with the routers
that the customer endpoints were hooked up to. It saved my ass
and saved the company some major embarrassment. We used Linux
2.0.x to do Subnet Proxy ARP for a couple of customers and used
the Subnet Proxy ARP features of Novell Netware 3.1x and 4.1x at
most of the customer locations (since they already had Netware
servers, we just put in another network card and did Subnet
Proxy ARP)
What I'm really trying to say here is that Subnet Proxy ARP isn't
only useful when you have a badly designed network. It's also
useful when you run into limitations of bleeding edge equipment
made by companies that would not know IP routing if it hit
them upside the head - such as the companies that make xDSL
products.
--Eric
--
Eric Wieling <eric@fnords.org>
BTEL Consulting Services
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