WAN/LAN port assignment rant !

[yockers]

Right, time to get this off my chest.

Why the @#^!% do SOHO router manufacturers insist on forcing which interface is the WAN interface and which is the LAN ?

If I buy a Cisco router, there's no limitation on which Ethernet NIC is used for what, so why should lower end routers ? Even Cisco do it on their smaller units..why why why ?

Make a router so that I can choose which NIC's are inside/LAN and which are outside/WAN. Give me 8 ports of Gigabit NICs and I'll configure them as I want. Inside/Outside/DMZ whatever.

Rant ends. @#^!%.

 

[thiggins]

Why is this a big issue for you?

 

[yockers]

Well I have a Dual WAN router, but I got to thinking if every router had a flexible approach to how it's ports where used, then every router could be a multi-WAN router (given the right firmware etc etc).

It just seems....artificial to fix a perfectly good port into a single configuration. I'm buying the kit, so let me choose how it's setup.

I understand for the user-friendly non-techie market it's easier to have dedicated ports, but not for high spec kit such as Draytek's, Cisco's, Billion, etc.

 

[thiggins]

Thanks for the explanation.

The dedicated approach lets manfs use switch chips to handle the LAN ports. This keeps cost down and load off the CPU.

 

[yockers]

Yeah, that figures. Hence "proper" routers being so much more. Still, the ranting made me feel better

Thanks for the response, and thanks for a great site..