Open Source Router? Oye Vey.

When you talk about network infrastructure, however, there is a whole lotta other things to consider. You can buy a support subscription from Vyatta, in fact that is how they will make their money off this, but just wait until you're trying to get that router working with BGP or OSPF and things don't go well. Your service provider can probably help you configure you Cisco, Alcatel. Nortel, or 3Com router, but probably not this one. You better have a good Linux jockey on hand.

Vyatta claims in this searchOpenSource.com Open source router challenges proprietary networking market they want to replace routers in the class of Cisco 2800 to 7200 and equivalent products from other vendors. For straight routing, Vyatta's product may have what it takes, but those commercial products support a variety of interfaces seamlessly. No digging for drivers, no compiling, none of that stuff. Plug it in and it works. If it doesn't, holler at the vendor. While Linux has broad hardware support, it's far from complete. Besides, don't you have enough to do already without having to build and maintain another x86 box?

In that same article one of the strengths posited about open source is that it can be modified. I hate that argument because it's uninformed. Sure, anyone can add features to an open source platform, but why would you want to? Think about this. A router is critical infrastructure. If your router dies for any reason, you're screwed. Adding software, agents, applications, whatever, to critical infrastructure raises the risk on instability, security holes, failure, and other problems. I would rather let a router route, and use external systems to gather data, run services, etc.