<danderson>
I've worked on Broadcom ASICs in the past (Scorpion, Trident+). Even for people with access to the specs, everything is awful.
<danderson>
The SDK routinely crashes the ASIC, the specs are wrong, ...
<danderson>
the only good thing about broadcom hardware is that once you've figured out the correct fragile sequence to bring it up, it can route stuff fast.
<andi->
I seriously lack the skills to design ASICs or write reasonable good verilog (or whatever) otherwise I'd have tried to create an open routing switch a long time ago.. It is awful that we have this internet and are unable to use it without any of the few big vendors of network equipment. Broadcom has been (last ~5-6y?) lead us into a world with almost monoculture like routing hardware.
<andi->
Who is still building their own chips? Cisco probably does, Junipier might have some? Arista never did, Nokia probably, Huawei?
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<ottidmes>
I was wondering, do most people just keep their ISP's router and put their own router behind it? Or do you actually replace the router as a whole (not quite sure what you need to do to make it work, but I know ISPs are generally unwilling to help you out)
<cransom>
juniper bet their entire switching portfolio on... not broadcom. i don't remember the vendor. but they bet the farm on it and ended up with a super proprietary solution and locked them into architectures that nobody wanted to build.
<gchristensen>
ow
<cransom>
so when they realized they goofed, they have also now broadcom chipsets and fragmented their offerings. it's been 4 years though since i paid attention, but at the end of that, i was looking at other vendors for switching (mx routers though, still in high esteem)
<gchristensen>
ottidmes: It Depends. some ISPs require their router to authenticate with the network. betawaffle has a nice story of this.
<betawaffle>
heh
<betawaffle>
yes
<betawaffle>
ottidmes: what ISP do you have?
<andi->
cransom: MX208 was also broadcom IIRC. There isn't really something in the lower budget range that is both useable not not some broadcom platform right now, right?
<cransom>
the mx i had in mind were the older ones, mx80/240 etc.
<andi->
What features do you need?
<ottidmes>
betawaffle: Sorry for the late response, my ISP is Ziggo (NL)
<betawaffle>
oh, ok
<betawaffle>
i don't know anything about what they do, but my ISP requires the router to authenticate
<betawaffle>
and i had to do some stuff to sort of bypass that
<ottidmes>
What is the biggest benefit from completely replacing the ISPs?
<ottidmes>
Other than power consumption and security?
<NinjaTrappeur>
is it a DSL/cable/radio or fiber optics connection?
<ottidmes>
Cable, will become fiber optics eventually
<NinjaTrappeur>
Right, do you know how your connection is encapsulated? PPOE I guess?
<NinjaTrappeur>
So, I don't have any solution for your specific case, but you often have some local communities reversing those ISP setups and providing you with some config parameters.
<betawaffle>
ottidmes: control. the router the ISP gives is complete shit
<NinjaTrappeur>
I'd bet you have something analogous for NL.
<ottidmes>
Think it's PPPoE
<NinjaTrappeur>
Right, I'm unfamiliar with cable connections. But I'd bet you have something analogous to a fiber optics ONT in charge of the cable <=> ethernet translation right?
<NinjaTrappeur>
Is it integrated in your ISP's router or is it external?
<ottidmes>
betawaffle: lol, it is, we are actually requested a new one cause ours is misbehaving (having to use a switch, since other ports are either not working, or buggy)
<betawaffle>
for me yes, but the ONT is fine, it's the router that sucks
<betawaffle>
i'm glad the ONT is a separate box on the wall
<betawaffle>
without any junk, it's *just* an ONT
<betawaffle>
gives a plain ethernet connection to the world
<betawaffle>
just have to authenticate with 801.1x
<betawaffle>
or whatever...
<betawaffle>
802.1x
<ottidmes>
betawaffle: even if it sucks in terms of features and such, if you just configure it to access the internet and let the rest be handled by your own router, is that really a problem, shouldn't they require to deliver a router that can handle the speed you bought, so it being a bottleneck shouldn't really a be an issue, no?
<betawaffle>
ottidmes: it does NAT, and you can't turn it off
<betawaffle>
and it has a *tiny* nat table
<betawaffle>
ottidmes: also, you used the word "require" which doesn't exist here in the US
<betawaffle>
the fact that i can bypass the authentication is really funny
<ottidmes>
Ah, fair reason to not want one then, guess I will first see what kind of new router they give us and when I have configured my own and theirs becomes a problem for some reason, to only then try and get rid of it, but nice to know some good reasons
<ottidmes>
betawaffle: I heard the horror stories, although we are having monopolies in ISPs too, for example if I want cable, I am stuck with Ziggo in my area, they at least deliver on what they promise and have good support
<betawaffle>
i mean, it's not particularly easy, but it's not like i have to break any encryption, just forward the right packets to the right places
<ottidmes>
betawaffle: I am reading about my provider and using your own router, and they basically say, just keep the one from Ziggo, if you get a somewhat recent one (we will, cause we get new one soon), it will support a bridge mode that makes it dumb down and just be a passthrough, no DHCP or NAT server running
<betawaffle>
well, that's what AT&T claims too, but they are lying
<betawaffle>
it's possible yours isn't lying, but...
<ottidmes>
will see when the time comes, I can only hope
<eyJhb>
ottidmes: so happy I will never have to deal with only having "one provider" available
<eyJhb>
Or... Actually currently I only have that, but it is student housing and the connection is 10/10 Gbit/s if we upgrade our hardware
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<ottidmes>
just got confirmed that I will get a connectbox router from Ziggo tomorrow, which is the one mentioned when I read about having a good bridge mode, so I am hopeful it will work as expected
<ottidmes>
eyJhb: well, when we will have optic fiber, we will have loads providers, it is just that even though they gave the green light getting our house connected to the fiber network, it is still unknown how long this will take to get done