[Soekris] Sizing a Soekris

[Chris Babcock]

Crist J. Clark wrote:
> Like so many other messages I've seen in the archives, I am
> looking to replace a loud, power-hungry old desktop PC that
> is working as a bastion host/broadband router/wireless AP with
> something small and QUIET. But I am not sure if I'm "sizing"
> up the system right. From some things I see, a 4511 sounds like
> it has the basic stuff that I need, two Ethernet ports and a
> mini-PCI or PCMCIA slot for a wireless NIC. But I'm not sure
> if the processor and RAM are up for what I want. So I'm looking
> to the list for some guidance here.
> 
> My requirements:
> 
> 	- Two Ethernet ports
> 	- Room for mini-PCI or PCMCIA wireless NIC
> 	- FreeBSD
> 	- IPFilter
> 	- IPv6
> 	- IPsec (doesn't need killer performance)
> 	- ISC DHCP server
> 	- DHCP client
> 	- rtadvd (IPv6 router advertisement)
> 	- sshd
> 	- syslogd (to send logs to another host)
> 	- ddclient
> 
> Really nice to have:
> 
> 	- BIND caching DNS resolver
> 	- NTP
> 
> Now I think I can squeeze this running system into the RAM
> available in a 4511, 64 MB, but get the system and a MFS in
> RAM? Will I be able to do that?

For a minimalist system meeting your requirements a 4511 should work. 
As for MFS, I don't see any reason why this system would need to (or 
should) run completely from RAM.  A regular install of FreeBSD on a CF 
card, with minimal logging, noatime, and swapping disabled, is both 
easier to build and will run nicely on consumer grade CF.  I wouldn't 
recommend using BIND on a system with only 64MB RAM. I've had bad 
experiences with BIND's handling of limited memory, even in current 
versions.  For limited memory systems, I usually use dnscache from 
djbdns because it uses minimal resources and is designed to adhere to 
strict memory limits.  NTP is usually pretty well behaved, even on small 
systems.

However, if you want something more than a minimal system that you can 
extend and experiment with, you may want to consider a more powerful 
Soekris box.