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You don't need ONIE, nor any of that "Open" Compute stuff. Linux has recently got native framework for control of switching chips called "Distributed Switch Ar
by baybal2 5y ago
You don't need ONIE, nor any of that "Open" Compute stuff.
Linux has recently got native framework for control of switching chips called "Distributed Switch Architecture." This turns a lot of very cheap hardware with very basic hardware switching chips into high performance routers.
- ComputerGuru 5y agoCan that do L2 port management as well or is it restricted to L3 operations?
- stephen_g 5y agoYes. For example, if you bridge switch ports, it actually sets up the switch to do it in the switch hardware instead of in the kernel.
- stephen_g 5y agoI don’t think there are any DSA drivers for Broadcom switch ICs (like the one in the device in the article) though? At least not in mainline last time I checked… EDIT: No, actually, I was mistaken - there is one Broadcom series supported now I look again, BCM53xx, of which the one in the article does indeed appear to be. Looks like since the 4.8 kernel though, so not in the 4.4 kernel that comes with the device.
- josteink 5y agoOpenWRT 21.02 supports DSA for select devices OOB (replaces swconf) and ships with a really recent 5.4 Linux kernel for all supported devices. So going for a cheap, 2nd hand router supported by OpenWRT is probably the easiest and cheapest way there.
- dhess 5y agoInteresting! Is there a site that documents which off-the-shelf switch models work with DSA?
- wtallis 5y agoThe most recent release of OpenWRT has started to migrate to DSA: https://openwrt.org/releases/21.02/notes-21.02.0#initial_dsa_support https://openwrt.org/releases/21.02/notes-21.02.0#initial_dsa... Their table of supported hardware for each of the platforms now using DSA probably includes all of the most affordable devices, since OpenWRT is mostly focused on consumer-grade equipment (and mostly routers/APs, but they support some purpose-built switches using Realtek CPUs).