Bifrost-what-is-FAQ


What is bifrost?


It's a small straight forward open source Linux distribution aimed at infra-
structure networking, it's highly specialized and tuned, with for a selection 
of chipsets, interface cards and other hardware. The distribution it also used
in various R & D projects.  License is GPL.

Also the bifrost is used to name the human network and collaboration/develop-
ment and other activities sprung out of the project. 


Who is it intended for?

"Networking people"  with basic skills and interest in Linux/Unix needing a 
small flexible network- oriented distribution.

What it's not intended for?

It's not competing with nor a replacement for Ubuntu, Red Hat, SUSE etc. They 
are doing a good job and have other resources.

What are the objectives?

Hardware selection, software selection, performance tuning and extensive 
testing in both lab and in field installations. This is a very time-consuming 
process which requires access to HW, lab and competence. this done in very a 
tight loop between developer and demanding production use.

Size and media of bifrost?

Right now it's targeted for USB-flash memory about 70 Mbytes (compressed) size 
and it can be decreased a bit. (Hint. Remove vmlinux if you don't need to 
profile)


What skill is needed?

Basically networking and Unix/Linux.


Basic functions?

Routing, firewalling, login services, traffic logging, testing and monitoring 
and should be easy to extend for new applications.


Ipv6 support?

Of course.


IP multicast routing?

No. Not for production use.


Supported routing protocols

BGP,  OSPF and of course static routes for ip4/ip6 via quagga.

Extra packages?

Yes some, quagga, netlogon utilities.
ftp://robur.slu.se/pub/Linux/bifrost/opt-x86/
ftp://robur.slu.se/pub/Linux/bifrost/opt-x86_64/
http://laas.mine.nu/jens/
http://laas.mine.nu/jens/bifrost/
http://www.bifrost-network.org


How do I contribute?

Join the bifrost list as a start. Send "subscribe bifrost" in mailbody to 
majordomo@slu.se

Is it proven?

It's been used in critical production for more ten years. 
http://www.h-online.com/open/Linux-Kongress-2008--/features/111738


Documentation and other resources?

As bifrost consists of many different open source programs, Linux kernel, 
quagga etc which are well documented in the respective projects. Our intention 
is to refer and use this documentation. We should also mention recent work 
done by KTH masterstudents at CSD 

See OSiAN reports:
http://www.tslab.ssvl.kth.se/csd/projects/0811/
The goal is to document specific features of the bifrost distro.
Some work at http://www.bifrost-network.org

Open Source Alternatives to bifrost?

Probably Vyatta at http://www.vyatta.com/
Maybe http://www.reallynicerouters.com/



Mailing list, community etc

About 100 people on the bifrost list. A varity of peolpe and organizations, 
universities and ISP's students etc.


Commercial Bifrost support?

We've heard of some startup companies addressing this area.


Web interface?

No. Linux/Unix interface now.

R & D 

Throughout the years we've contributed in various areas. Some examples polling,
later NAPI to achieve robustness with respect of packet load, routing 
statistics and monitoring, pktgen for easy and cheap testing. LC-trie routing 
lookup. 10 Gbit/s and multi-queue studies etc. Bifrost has been the first 
distribution to incorporate many new network features.

Workshop and meetings face-to-face?  

Yes twice a year in Sweden an informal work-shop. We discuss various topics 
in a very relaxed manner.

Recommended Hardware 

This represents equipment which have "passed" our tests at some point of time.
NOTE. This implies no guarantee whatsoever. 
ftp://robur.slu.se/pub/Linux/bifrost/hardware.txt


Installation 

ftp://robur.slu.se/pub/Linux/bifrost/bifrost-install-minihowto.txt


Future work. Ideas/Plans

Multi-queue/core router follow up. (Basic work is done and incorporated in 
Bifrost) Energy evaluation of forwarding/networking. Suitable HW for low and 
midrange. Router virtualization?



Bifrost 6.0 News

ftp://robur.slu.se/pub/Linux/bifrost/v6/README-bifrost-6.0


Papers, References, Related work etc

Papers below included in Linux-Kongress Hamburg 2008
https://www.iis.se/docs/10G-OS-router_2_.pdf
http://www.csc.kth.se/~olofh/10G_OSR
IIS ( http://www.iis.se)is funding multiqueue project which is soon to 
presented. 






Major partners, contributors

Uppsala Universitet. http://www.uu.se
KTH. http://www.kth.se
SLU. http://www.slu.se
To mention a few.


Sponsorship, support

We have got equipment funding or other support from:
AMD http://www.amd.com
INTEL http://www.intel.com
SUN Microsystems http://www.sun.com
IIS http://www.iis.se
Litech http://www.litech.se