Bird on Ubuntu on a dell server.
Hi, I will have two dell servers with Bird connected by iBGP and VRRP (two peer sessions, full tables). Questions: 1. Does it matter whether the BIOS is UEFI or legacy? 2. The server have 1 CPU 4 core 8 th (1.6 GHz with power saving) and 16 GB of RAM (800 MHz with power saving). The question is whether it is possible to set all parameters in BIOS to save power, such as? CPU Power Management: minimal power Memory Frequency: Minimum (800 MHz) Turbo Boost: Disabled C States: Enabled C1E: Enabled Fan: minimal power Or is this too aggressive and may cause instability? What are your experiences? Kind regards, Mike
Hi, Please let me know who can advise on this matter. Kind regards, Mike
Hi Mike, The BIOS mode and BIRD configuration are unrelated — BIOS is just a system bootloader. BIRD handles route advertisements and reception in a single-threaded manner, so a higher CPU frequency helps with processing routing tables. As for using a Linux server as a core router, I’m not sure about its packet forwarding performance. Best, *Brandon Z.* HUIZE LTD www.huize.asia <https://huize.asia/>| www.ixp.su | Twitter This e-mail and any attachments or any reproduction of this e-mail in whatever manner are confidential and for the use of the addressee(s) only. HUIZE LTD can’t take any liability and guarantee of the text of the email message and virus. On Fri, Apr 25, 2025 at 5:31 AM Mike Neo <neomikemac@gmail.com> wrote:
Who can help me?
wt., 22 kwi 2025 o 10:51 Mike Neo <neomikemac@gmail.com> napisał(a):
Hi,
Please let me know who can advise on this matter.
Kind regards, Mike
Hi Mike, As far as BIRD is concerned I believe your configuration is fine. I don't see any reasons you can't configure the machines for power efficiency as this should not make the system unstable. It will just impact how quickly BGP reconverges when there are large table changes. You could test and see how long it takes them to learn full tables from a clean slate and that would be your absolute worst case. I'm going to guess it'll be fine. To Brandon's point, are you configuring these machines as route servers? Or will they be in the path as full routers in your network? If they're just going to be route servers, I think you should be fine. If they're going to be "in the data path" as full routers, what sort of throughput are you desiring? ~ Anthony On Fri, Apr 25, 2025 at 5:28 AM Brandon Z. <Brandon@huize.asia> wrote:
Hi Mike,
The BIOS mode and BIRD configuration are unrelated — BIOS is just a system bootloader. BIRD handles route advertisements and reception in a single-threaded manner, so a higher CPU frequency helps with processing routing tables. As for using a Linux server as a core router, I’m not sure about its packet forwarding performance.
Best, *Brandon Z.* HUIZE LTD www.huize.asia <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://huize.asia/__;!!A7vfX_LdLUs!vvbC6FP7v_SF_I3TBhe_IxjU1aSWWW2SxY4R9zLxzQ7OQdIdllWygiqOvzZe7NF1ooWsj8bcSd5mg_VYU2wE$> | www.ixp.su <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ixp.su/__;!!A7vfX_LdLUs!vvbC6FP7v_SF_I3TBhe_IxjU1aSWWW2SxY4R9zLxzQ7OQdIdllWygiqOvzZe7NF1ooWsj8bcSd5mg_H-JhMW$> | Twitter
This e-mail and any attachments or any reproduction of this e-mail in whatever manner are confidential and for the use of the addressee(s) only. HUIZE LTD can’t take any liability and guarantee of the text of the email message and virus.
On Fri, Apr 25, 2025 at 5:31 AM Mike Neo <neomikemac@gmail.com> wrote:
Who can help me?
wt., 22 kwi 2025 o 10:51 Mike Neo <neomikemac@gmail.com> napisał(a):
Hi,
Please let me know who can advise on this matter.
Kind regards, Mike
-- This email, including its contents and any attachment(s), may contain confidential and/or proprietary information and is solely for the review and use of the intended recipient(s). If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender and permanently delete this email, its content, and any attachment(s). Any disclosure, copying, or taking of any action in reliance on an email received in error is strictly prohibited.
Thanks for your replies. They will be full BGP routers, each with two Intel X520-da2 cards. Currently I only have 200-300 Mbps, I plan to max out at 2-3 Gbps. Mike pt., 25 kwi 2025 o 17:02 Anthony Hoppe <ahoppe@backblaze.com> napisał(a):
Hi Mike,
As far as BIRD is concerned I believe your configuration is fine. I don't see any reasons you can't configure the machines for power efficiency as this should not make the system unstable. It will just impact how quickly BGP reconverges when there are large table changes. You could test and see how long it takes them to learn full tables from a clean slate and that would be your absolute worst case. I'm going to guess it'll be fine.
To Brandon's point, are you configuring these machines as route servers? Or will they be in the path as full routers in your network? If they're just going to be route servers, I think you should be fine. If they're going to be "in the data path" as full routers, what sort of throughput are you desiring?
~ Anthony
On Fri, Apr 25, 2025 at 5:28 AM Brandon Z. <Brandon@huize.asia> wrote:
Hi Mike,
The BIOS mode and BIRD configuration are unrelated — BIOS is just a system bootloader. BIRD handles route advertisements and reception in a single-threaded manner, so a higher CPU frequency helps with processing routing tables. As for using a Linux server as a core router, I’m not sure about its packet forwarding performance.
Best, *Brandon Z.* HUIZE LTD www.huize.asia <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://huize.asia/__;!!A7vfX_LdLUs!vvbC6FP7v_SF_I3TBhe_IxjU1aSWWW2SxY4R9zLxzQ7OQdIdllWygiqOvzZe7NF1ooWsj8bcSd5mg_VYU2wE$> | www.ixp.su <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ixp.su/__;!!A7vfX_LdLUs!vvbC6FP7v_SF_I3TBhe_IxjU1aSWWW2SxY4R9zLxzQ7OQdIdllWygiqOvzZe7NF1ooWsj8bcSd5mg_H-JhMW$> | Twitter
This e-mail and any attachments or any reproduction of this e-mail in whatever manner are confidential and for the use of the addressee(s) only. HUIZE LTD can’t take any liability and guarantee of the text of the email message and virus.
On Fri, Apr 25, 2025 at 5:31 AM Mike Neo <neomikemac@gmail.com> wrote:
Who can help me?
wt., 22 kwi 2025 o 10:51 Mike Neo <neomikemac@gmail.com> napisał(a):
Hi,
Please let me know who can advise on this matter.
Kind regards, Mike
This email, including its contents and any attachment(s), may contain confidential and/or proprietary information and is solely for the review and use of the intended recipient(s). If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender and permanently delete this email, its content, and any attachment(s). Any disclosure, copying, or taking of any action in reliance on an email received in error is strictly prohibited.
Hello, Rule of a thumb for Linux routers is 1mpps per core. So, you should be okay, but fine tuning NIC and kernel might be needed depending on your exact latency requirements. Pozdrawiam, Łukasz Jarosz wt., 29 kwi 2025, 09:31 użytkownik Mike Neo <neomikemac@gmail.com> napisał:
Thanks for your replies. They will be full BGP routers, each with two Intel X520-da2 cards. Currently I only have 200-300 Mbps, I plan to max out at 2-3 Gbps.
Mike
pt., 25 kwi 2025 o 17:02 Anthony Hoppe <ahoppe@backblaze.com> napisał(a):
Hi Mike,
As far as BIRD is concerned I believe your configuration is fine. I don't see any reasons you can't configure the machines for power efficiency as this should not make the system unstable. It will just impact how quickly BGP reconverges when there are large table changes. You could test and see how long it takes them to learn full tables from a clean slate and that would be your absolute worst case. I'm going to guess it'll be fine.
To Brandon's point, are you configuring these machines as route servers? Or will they be in the path as full routers in your network? If they're just going to be route servers, I think you should be fine. If they're going to be "in the data path" as full routers, what sort of throughput are you desiring?
~ Anthony
On Fri, Apr 25, 2025 at 5:28 AM Brandon Z. <Brandon@huize.asia> wrote:
Hi Mike,
The BIOS mode and BIRD configuration are unrelated — BIOS is just a system bootloader. BIRD handles route advertisements and reception in a single-threaded manner, so a higher CPU frequency helps with processing routing tables. As for using a Linux server as a core router, I’m not sure about its packet forwarding performance.
Best, *Brandon Z.* HUIZE LTD www.huize.asia <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://huize.asia/__;!!A7vfX_LdLUs!vvbC6FP7v_SF_I3TBhe_IxjU1aSWWW2SxY4R9zLxzQ7OQdIdllWygiqOvzZe7NF1ooWsj8bcSd5mg_VYU2wE$> | www.ixp.su <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.ixp.su/__;!!A7vfX_LdLUs!vvbC6FP7v_SF_I3TBhe_IxjU1aSWWW2SxY4R9zLxzQ7OQdIdllWygiqOvzZe7NF1ooWsj8bcSd5mg_H-JhMW$> | Twitter
This e-mail and any attachments or any reproduction of this e-mail in whatever manner are confidential and for the use of the addressee(s) only. HUIZE LTD can’t take any liability and guarantee of the text of the email message and virus.
On Fri, Apr 25, 2025 at 5:31 AM Mike Neo <neomikemac@gmail.com> wrote:
Who can help me?
wt., 22 kwi 2025 o 10:51 Mike Neo <neomikemac@gmail.com> napisał(a):
Hi,
Please let me know who can advise on this matter.
Kind regards, Mike
This email, including its contents and any attachment(s), may contain confidential and/or proprietary information and is solely for the review and use of the intended recipient(s). If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender and permanently delete this email, its content, and any attachment(s). Any disclosure, copying, or taking of any action in reliance on an email received in error is strictly prohibited.
participants (4)
-
Anthony Hoppe -
Brandon Z. -
Mike Neo -
Łukasz Jarosz