Hi, first of all sorry if this has been asked before etc, I did search but nothing came to mind as being what I was looking for.


I know you can build computers for the custom purpose of being a dedicated server etc

my real question is : is it viable to create a host pc using some form of linux as a (slightly expensive version i agree) switch.

(multiple network cards to act as switch ports all full duplex /100's of course - minimal hd - standard cpu should do the job?)

I am a very active gamer, and my 2 housemates are also gamers. we share the same connection, and most switches you find these days are frankly rubbish
(unless of course you have the money to buy the hardcore stuff like cisco's etc)

sorry if my questions a little fragmented
I look forward to recieving the communities thoughts on the subject.

Well..I'm no gamer, but I understand that with the money you would put to a computer and it's components, including the time you spend tweaking and configuring it, makes that approach more expensive and time-taking than going to the store and buying the real thing, which probably also takes less space than a pc yelling under the table. Or if you're so short on money you can't buy the device which is designed for the job, you probably don't have the money to build a pc to do the job well, and even less to legally buy all the games you are supposed to play

Others probably have different opinions, and I appreciate them - especially when they have strong roots - but I tend to think with common sense, and in this case it wants to say that building a pc to do the job of a switch is rather a hobby than a real solution to a problem that should be solved as quickly and easily as possible.

it's viable, but really not common. the only point in doing it is to used advanced features that you would be paying cisco $1000 for. to head down that path you don't need much cpu, but it *generally* figures that you'd need a lot of special hardware in order to get the connectivitiy you want. that means a card like this http://www.amazon.com/Intel-PWLA8494.../dp/B00008PX2M which is certified by vyatta with their open source routing software (which is worth a look in terms of background knowledge.) I don't know how vyatta would handle a switch-like implementation, very little baout it in the documentation. i'd like to think that if you just put two port on the same vlan then they'd implictly bridge - vyatta appears to be quite implicit, rather than using explicit declarations of how you want it to work. I was quite bizarrely looking for open source switch architectures just this morning for the first time and found nothing. it's one this for some vendors to product appliance hardware for open source (or other) routers, network appliances, security appliances, but swiching is about port density and very unusal hardware compared to an x86 box with a pair of gig nics in the back, and so the costs involved in producing the hardware for such a specialised audience would make them (well - *does* make them) generally too expensive to use at this level. $100 will get you an old cisco switch on ebay...

If you don't want to do clever stuff and it's only for a few people then sure, put two nics in a machine and use the bridge module to link the two. that's 5 minutes work to get that done and dusted. I doubt you'll really see much of a difference

not really i was thinking of using old server machines, which you could pickup for around the same price as a router.. space is not an issue.

like i said, it's for gaming... at the end of the day the only factors i care about are reliability, and latency/ping so if i can get the latter lowered and keep the same or better reliability, then that's what i'd like to have.


@ acid_kewpie : i dont trust buying hardware off ebay to be honest, never have and never will

nice to see that's all you took from my discussion...

i did read it all, but i already mentioned the hardware side of things, i dont think a purpose built card would be necessary, just a board with a couple of pci slots [of course i could be wrong]

to be honest i have no clue who vyetta are so that whole paragraph was more or less wasted on me i like to deal in simple yes/no terms then figure the complications out by breaking things and googling a way of making them all better

How many ports/PCI cards would you connect (you can buy NICs with multiple ports). One thing I'd worry about would be saturating the PCI bus as its bandwidth is rather limited (about 125 megabytes/sec IIRC). Going with PCI-X or better PCI express will help with this, but in general even PC servers don't have the "back end" badwidth of gigabit switches. If you only want to connect a couple of machines, you're OK, but if you want to host LAN parties with it then maybe not so much. You can get a cheap non-blocking 24 port gigabit switch for ~ $400 retail (not Cisco class, but still fairly good). This might be the better solution inthe long run.

Well, they're also cheap as hell and most do their job just fine.

But your PC-switch is really going to suck big-time. As btmiller indicated, you'll have a bandwitdh problem. The PCI bus is a joke compared to what you'd need for a switch. Do the math and you'll be a little more impressed by dedicated switches.
I don't know about latency, but I wouldn't put my money on a PC either.

never thought about the bandwidth issue tbh.

Yes, it's easy to ignore. I was actually in your exact same situation a couple of years ago. Had all these NICs lying around and thought I'd build the ultimate switch...

Well, after stumbling over the bandwidth requirement I've been more forgiving towards loud fans in switches. ;o)