The latency in an Ethernet interface
is around 0.3 milliseconds (ms). DSL and cable are around 20 ms. T1/T3 have a
latency of about 4 ms. Satellite is the highest, as much as two seconds. That much
1.0 Introduction | 7
latency breaks IP. Satellite providers play a lot of fancy proxying tricks to get latency
down to a workable level.
Hardware Options for Your Linux Firewall/Gateway
There are a lot of hardware choices for your gateway box. Linux supports more hardware
platforms than any other operating system, so you don??™t have to stick with x86.
Debian in particular supports a large number of hardware architectures: Alpha,
ARM, HPPA, i386, ia64, m68k, MIPS, MIPSEL, PowerPC, SPARC, and s/390, so you
can use whatever you like. (If you build one on an s/390, please send photos to
carla@bratgrrl.com!)
Of course, you have the option of purchasing a commercial appliance. These range
from little SOHO devices like the Linksys, Netgear, and SMC broadband routers for
sharing a DSL or cable Internet line for under $100, to rackmount units that end up
costing several thousand dollars for software licenses and subscriptions. A growing
number of these are Linux-based, so your Linux skills will serve you well.
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