Linux-ATM support.

[Lamar Owen]

On Wednesday 04 August 2004 16:37, Arjan van de Ven wrote:
> On Wed, 2004-08-04 at 22:29, Lamar Owen wrote:
> > Arjan, I've not seen a comment from you on this.  Can you please comment,
> > even if the comment is for me to just go away with my ATM junk? :-)

> ATM is of, ehm, mixed quality. Some parts are ok, some are
> undermaintained it seems and might pose a security risk. Note that the
> current erratum kernel has ATM at least partially turned on but I would
> appreciate feedback on which hardware works to be able to make a more
> informed decision about what to enable exactly... "it compiles" vs "it
> gives scary warnings" isn't the bes ;)

First, thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to reply.  
Second, the HE drivers seem to be well-maintained, with Chas Williams being 
active in patching as well as on the linux-atm list.  The HE622 is the 
hardware I am using currently in a couple of Dell 2.4GHz Xeon servers 
(ServerWorks chipset).  I have done some stress testing using ttcp amongst 
others, and the HE is giving high throughput numbers on both the FC1 kernel 
and the FC2 kernel (my custom compiled version, based on the last production 
erratum).  I have stress-tested over several hours, and system load stays 
pretty low, and things aren't throwing warnings or 'scary' errors.

In the interest of helping the project, I will be testing other adapters 
shortly.  Mike Westall of Clemson University can speak to the Interphase and 
Turboways drivers and general stack stability, as he has developed and 
maintained an ATM research network for several years (since 1997, I believe) 
and he is also available on the linux-atm list.  He also is currently active.

When building my custom kernel I did see some fairly scary warnings from one 
of the drivers, but I forget ATM which one it was...Zeitnet?

The userland is a pill to build on FC2, unfortunately, but that isn't relevant 
in this context.
-- 
Lamar Owen
Director of Information Technology
Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute
1 PARI Drive
Rosman, NC  28772
(828)862-5554
www.pari.edu