On Sep 21 09:49:20, Nick Holland wrote:
quoted text > >http://www.pcengines.ch/alix1c.htm (see dmesg at bottom).
> >The intended use of the box is a home router/firewall/NAT/DNS/DHCP
> >for my home "network" of about four computers (heterogeneous).
quoted text > >Firstly, swap (i don't really mind reinstalling). Install guide says
> >
> > On the root disk, the two partitions 'a' and 'b' must be
> > created. The installation process will not proceed until these
> > two partitions are available. 'a' will be used for the root
> > filesystem (/) and 'b' will be used as swap space.
>
> oops. That's no longer true, you can now install Just Fine with no swap
> partition. It was true some time back, but that was fixed long ago.
OK, would someone delete this from /faq/faq4.html#Disks then, please?
quoted text > >The machine has 256M of RAM, and the storage is a 2G CF card (seen as
> >wd0). The machine is mostly idle (basically just routes). How much swap
> >do you think I should set for such operation?
>
> none. If swapping is a concern, you don't want flash.
>
> >For regular operation,
> >I don't think I need a swap partition at all (how would I do that?
> >A 'b' partition of zero size, as it has to exist?), but to be able
> >to save possible core dumps, I am thinking of 300M swap and 300M /var
> >(to hold /var/crash). Is this reasonable?
>
> naw. Unless you know what to do with a core dump, just skip the swap.
Will do, just wanted someone to assure me :-)
quoted text > >Secondly, the network interfaces. The box comes with an on-board
> >vr0 at pci0 dev 13 function 0 "VIA VT6105M RhineIII" rev 0x96: irq 10
> >which I currently use as the external iface, and the PIC slot holds
> >rl0 at pci0 dev 12 function 0 "Realtek 8139" rev 0x10: irq 11
> >which is used as the internal iface. I also have the following
> >cards in my hands, and I would like to figure out which combination
> >of external/internal would give me the "best" performance (if it
> >makes any difference at all):
> >
> > Intel PRO/100 S Desktop adapter
> > 3C905C-TX-M Etherlink 10/100 PCI 3
>
> If you gotta ask, it won't matter.
> You have three bad NICs (vr, rl, xl) and one good one (fxp). But it
> just won't matter for your use. [...] Philosophically, I'd probably
> rather put Intel card showing to the Internet, but to fight that urge,
> I ran my primary mail/web server with an rl(4) card facing the 'net
> for many years with zero problem. Anything you are going to run
> through this box will not hit the NICs as a bottleneck.
OK, ext_if="fxp0" && int_if="vr0" for me then. (Made me read your post
at bottom of
http://archive.openbsd.nu/?ml=openbsd-misc&a=2004-01&t=18114
and the BUGS section of rl(4) and vr(4).)
quoted text > >Thirdly, the CF storage. Having read
> >http://www.kaschwig.net/projects/openbsd/wrap/#mfs
> >http://blog.innerewut.de/2005/05/14/openbsd-3-7-on-wrap
> >http://blog.innerewut.de/2005/05/19/openbsd-3-7-on-wrap-revised
> >http://blog.innerewut.de/2005/06/03/small-update-on-openbsd-3-7-on-wrap
> >(which apply to 3.7 on WRAP, the predecesor of ALIX), I am concerned
> >about the CF wearing off. As these articles are from 2005 - do these
> >things still apply to newer CF cards, and should I therefore set up
> >a mfs? What else should I do to make the CF card live longer (noatime
> >comes to mind of course).
>
> biggest reason to avoid writing to flash is it is painfully slow.
This isn't really a concern in my situation - about the only thing
the box will ever write is syslog messages (to an internal @loghost,
probably).
quoted text > General experience (inc. mine) seems to indicate that the finite write
> cycle problems of flash is not going to bite you.
There is a lifelong waranty for the CF card anyway, so I will just
replace it once it dies.
quoted text > It's a blooming computer system, how long do you even want it to last? :)
> In two years, you will be buying 32G flash devices at the drugstore
> closeout pile.
True :-)
quoted text > That being said, I'm not sold on the idea of flash as the "fail-proof"
> storage media, I've seen and heard too many "my flash card died!"
> stories to believe that.
The only other storage option on the ALIX board is a 44pin IDE; the CF
card is quieter and eats less yticirtcele, which is more important for
me, as it is a router and is gonna be running 24/7 on my desk.
quoted text > Back up at least your config, the critical files you need to rebuild
> it will take only a tiny amount of space.
All that really matters on this system is a few files in /etc
(seriously), and these are backed up of course.
quoted text > (thanks for the dmesg!)
Aaah, I forgot to mail it to dmesg@ !
Thanks a lot, Nick!
Jan
