A Scalable Framework for Compact Flash Booting NetBSD Network Appliances

by Brian A. Seklecki

Abstract

BSD has long served as the reference platform for many new networking technologies. The first implementations of TCP/IP were developed on BSD and BSD led the way on Ipv6 development. NetBSD set the Internet2 Land Speed World Record. Today BSD has the most robust, stable, secure TCP/IP stack of an F/OSS operation system. BSD development models and practices are the watchword of network security. Traces of BSD technology are found in dozens of commercially sold products. So why are organizations so slow to deploy BSD based network appliances internally?

This talk/tutorial will:

Define ???Network Appliance??? through comparison of commercial product offerings to their BSD equivalent.
Identify the issues and challenges that impair wide-spread adoption of BSD network appliances in small-to-medium size organizations.
Explore the specific features and subsystems of NetBSD that make it the best choice among BSDs for embedded network appliances.
Step through the procedures and caveats of adopting a generic NetBSD release to boot off of CF media.
Discuss a reference design framework that addresses scalability, management, and enterprise-class deployments of NetBSD network appliances.
Identify areas for future development efforts.

Author bio

Brian A. Seklecki is a system and network administrator at Collaborative Fusion, Inc. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, US. When he's not hard at work pushing his open source agenda or contributing time to The NetBSD Foundation answering questions on mailing list, news groups, #NetBSD on EFNet IRC, writing documentation, submitting bug reports, and testing new code, he can be found mountain biking in Western Pennsylvania in even the worst of weather conditions.

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