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25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

michael.stapelberg.ch

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Re: 25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

#21

Post by melling »

j1elo wrote: post #4

I'm always amazed by people who don't bat an eye on the perspective of having a home server, sucking up electricity 24/7. In this case replacing a typical router (which consumes like a lightbulb), with a full-fledged PC (probably consuming like x100 the power). I guess some people around the world have quite cheap utility bills! For me, it's either a Raspberry Pi type of power consumption, or else a server that only…

He claims one of his goals is to be power efficient

“The PC consumes about 48W of power when idle (only management …”

https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=97&t=3

“ How much electricity does an American home use? In 2019, the average annual electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility customer was 10,649 kilowatthours (kWh), an average of about 877 kWh per month”

Re: 25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

#22

Post by ianai »

secure wrote: post #11
great-potential wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think if the OP uses this only as a router it is indeed a waste of power. What I would probably do is also use it as nas/workstation by using virtualization, SR-IOV is now pretty standard on these cards.

I’m using the machine also as a server, so it replaces 2 existing devices. In terms of power consumption, it’s likely only a small increase, if at all.

My only rub with that is - shouldn't the router be only a router from a security perspective? Definitely combining servers for home use does make sense though.

Re: 25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

#23

Post by baybal2 »

adamcharnock wrote: post #17

What is the practical consumer (or even SME) use of a 10 or 25G connection? As a consumer I’d definitely get it for the fun of it, but what is the point in reality? We’ve just launched an ISP a couple of weeks ago here in Europe. Peak bandwidth use is about 3mbps per customer, and customers will download the same amount of data regardless of their plan. I acknowledge this could be lack of imagination on my part, but…

> What is the practical consumer (or even SME) use of a 10 or 25G connection?

Remote file storage, leasing servers for things like icecream, or basic HPC, self-hosting for a small business, even a small DC can run off it.

Re: 25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

#24

Post by secure »

r1ch wrote: post #20

One thing I've run into when building my own 10gbps router that I didn't see mentioned - you probably need to disable power saving / frequency scaling. The handling of packets is done in software, so when you start a download and the flood of initial data comes in at 10gbps, your CPU will still be running at 600 MHz and unable to keep up. It ramps up within 5-50 milliseconds depending on CPU, but for a TCP download t…

In none of my tests did I need to change power saving settings. My iperf3 transfers stayed at 10 Gbps throughout.

Re: 25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

#25

Post by secure »

ianai wrote: post #22
secure wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m using the machine also as a server, so it replaces 2 existing devices. In terms of power consumption, it’s likely only a small increase, if at all.

My only rub with that is - shouldn't the router be only a router from a security perspective? Definitely combining servers for home use does make sense though.

Ideally yes. But with the resources needed for 25 Gbps, not using one machine for multiple purposes seems wasteful. The server only stores publically available data, though, so not a big deal from a security perspective.

Re: 25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

#26

Post by FpUser »

j1elo wrote: post #4

I'm always amazed by people who don't bat an eye on the perspective of having a home server, sucking up electricity 24/7. In this case replacing a typical router (which consumes like a lightbulb), with a full-fledged PC (probably consuming like x100 the power). I guess some people around the world have quite cheap utility bills! For me, it's either a Raspberry Pi type of power consumption, or else a server that only…

>"I'm always amazed by people who don't bat an eye on the perspective of having a home server, sucking up electricity 24/7"

Some people simply run business from home and it is legitimate business expense. For example in Toronto server consuming 200 Watt 24x7 comes to about $20/month. Not much to dwell about if you are making money as a business.

Re: 25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

#27

Post by mixermachine »

IgorPartola wrote: post #10
j1elo wrote: post #4

I'm always amazed by people who don't bat an eye on the perspective of having a home server, sucking up electricity 24/7. In this case replacing a typical router (which consumes like a lightbulb), with a full-fledged PC (probably consuming like x100 the power). I guess some people around the world have quite cheap utility bills! For me, it's either a Raspberry Pi type of power consumption, or else a server that only…

What kind of light bulb? :) A typical consumer router will take up something like 5-10 watts. A PC will suck in 20-50. Remember that the PC will be a lot more powerful so it’ll spend most of its time with low CPU usage. Say the worst case scenario: 45W difference. 45W * (24 * 30) / 1000 = 32.4 kW*h/month. At $0.10 kWh rate that’s $3.24/month, less than a cup of Starbucks coffee.

Add HDDs and 10 GBit/s hardware and you surely reach 60 watts or more idling. Many home labs also don't use the newest hardware but old server hardware (add 10 - 40 watt idle).

A NUC or other Laptop hardware on the other hand would be OK to run. Maybe SSD raids are (financially) feasible for everyday files in the near future.

You are lucky to pay only $0.10. Here (Germany) I pay 0.30 Euro per kW/h. About $0.36 dollars.

I turned off my home NAS a few months back and partially switched to VPS services (also because of the better connection).

Re: 25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

#28

Post by slumdev »

adamcharnock wrote: post #17

What is the practical consumer (or even SME) use of a 10 or 25G connection? As a consumer I’d definitely get it for the fun of it, but what is the point in reality? We’ve just launched an ISP a couple of weeks ago here in Europe. Peak bandwidth use is about 3mbps per customer, and customers will download the same amount of data regardless of their plan. I acknowledge this could be lack of imagination on my part, but…

Internally:

Every once in a while, I move VM images between machines. Even at 1Gbps, it's a drag to sit there and watch them transfer. Not really a big deal, but it'd be nice to see them move faster.

Externally:

I back up my Google Drive periodically. 500GB takes a while to transfer.

Re: 25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

#29

Post by great-potential »

secure wrote: post #16
great-potential wrote: post #15

Well, hate to tell you but you'll be limited 10Gb/s with these Intel cards because they require FEC.

You mean 10 Gbit/s per link? Even on the 25 Gbit/s card? Where can I read more about FEC (forward error correction?) and how that affects link speeds?

Yes the transceivers recommended by Init7 (bidi-LR) do not support FEC and you'll be running in degraded mode (according to the controller datasheet), and I don't think this is something that can be achieved by coding of the transceivers.

Re: 25 Gigabit Linux internet router PC build

#30

Post by adamcharnock »

baybal2 wrote: post #23
adamcharnock wrote: post #17

What is the practical consumer (or even SME) use of a 10 or 25G connection? As a consumer I’d definitely get it for the fun of it, but what is the point in reality? We’ve just launched an ISP a couple of weeks ago here in Europe. Peak bandwidth use is about 3mbps per customer, and customers will download the same amount of data regardless of their plan. I acknowledge this could be lack of imagination on my part, but…

> What is the practical consumer (or even SME) use of a 10 or 25G connection? Remote file storage, leasing servers for things like icecream, or basic HPC, self-hosting for a small business, even a small DC can run off it.

Remote file storage I can just about see. But most consumers are streaming content (certainly TV, but possibly increasingly games), so where are all these multi-gigabyte files coming from on average 20/30-year-olds laptop/iPad? I don’t think people are shooting that much video, are they?
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