This is why I stay on HN. This is such a niche, interesting subject that I never would have found otherwise.
I’ve been looking for networking resource that go in depth on things like this, rather than just configuring and setting up equipment. Does anyone know anything like this? I’m especially interested in ones for telecommunications networking technology.
Please check this book "Computer Networking : A Top-Down Approach" By Kurose & Ross. It is the best textbook on computer networking, bar none. The latest edition also covers modern networking concepts, for example Software Defined Networks (SDN).
The authors develop the book, as well as a few micro-books on topics like SDN, 5G, TCP congestion control, on github: https://github.com/SystemsApproach
HPBN (High-Performance Browser Networking) is excellent. I can vouch for the print edition I bought a couple years ago, and the companion website gets updates: https://hpbn.co
I missed a statement about the transition between internal and external scaling. In the beginning of the article it is all about internal computer architecture, later more about deployment.
> In the beginning, routers were simply generic computers, with Network Interface Cards (NICs) attached to a bus.
I'm a total network noob, but I do want to know more about how they work. Your article could help me, I think. But this statement already puts me off: what is a bus? I just can't picture what that's supposed to mean. Sorry if that's a stupid question. Maybe the article is just not for me and I need some primer first.
It’s a physical data highway that allows devices to communicate with each other.
Early routers were ‘normal’ computers with lots of network cards plugged into a bus. Data arrived on one card, and was routed to another by the operating system.
Your home router is still a computer, but miniaturises everything to a much simpler circuit board with the network connectors directly soldered on.
"Early computer buses were parallel electrical wires with multiple hardware connections, but the term is now used for any physical arrangement that provides the same logical function as a parallel electrical bus. Modern computer buses can use both parallel and bit serial connections, and can be wired in either a multidrop (electrical parallel) or daisy chain topology, or connected by switched hubs, as in the case of USB. "
Almost 25 years ago I had the brief pleasure of working for BBN Technologies. On one memorable occasion I went to their warehouse to borrow a large external hard drive and spotted at least one IMP (effectively a router for early ARPANET).
Nice article. Would be great to see some more detail with a timeframe for the progression and example routers that were known to be early implementers of each design.
But is this within or external to the router. After SNA and token ring, the Ethernet-cum-internet decentralised not just the net but also the router, switch, cable up to internet (local : ospf and ...).
Not sure why it seems to talk about the router. Even a small floor network does not run on one router. But panels, switches, routers, ups ... abd that is in 1990s to now.
The internal architecture ... is that so important. (Some big router-switch with many cards may be. But that is not the only one approach.)
Everything that I talk about is internal to the router.
Some of us think that the architecture of big routers is plenty important. It's those routers that hold up the backbone of the Internet and a whole lot of other places.
Yes, you can build distributed routers. The supernode that I discuss is one such example. But that doesn't mean that you want to build it with a bunch of tiny home routers that you bought off the shelf at Fry's. You still want to start with fairly chunky building blocks, otherwise you end up suffering from a lot of inefficiencies just interconnecting things. Jonathan Turner calls this the 'small switch penalty'.
I don’t understand all that much about the finder details of high-capacity networking, but it sure is a fascinating and important concept! The sheer volume of packets that are sent every day over the world is nothing but amazing.
https://cseweb.ucsd.edu/classes/wi21/cse123-a/project.html
We use this book and its amazing:
https://book.systemsapproach.org/index.html
Section 3.5 covers router implementation details.