net.inet.ip.forwarding and net.inet.ip.fastforwarding

[eculp at bafirst.com]

Quoting Andre Oppermann <andre at freebsd.org>:

> Sam Leffler wrote:
>>
<CUT>
>> > Maybe I should have another ristreto before asking this, but based on
>> > what I understand from this thread and speaking of current 7.0:
>> >
>> >  a. I would set both in sysctl.conf
>> >     net.inet.ip.forwarding=1
>> >     net.inet.ip.fastforwarding=1
>> >  b. There would be no "down side" in current 7.0
>> >
>> > Is this more or less correct?  If so, will this posibly be the case in
>> > the 6.0 release also or only in current?
>>
>> 6.0 and 7.x share the same code so the settings are identical.  As to
>> downside you pay a penalty if the fastforwarding code has to hand the
>> packet back to the "slow path".  There may also be side effects from the
>> run-to-completion model it uses.  You should test to decide if the
>> feature is worth enabling for your environment.  I'm not sure it's had
>> much testing (Andre?).
>
> When activated on a router it gives a very nice speed boost.  Process
> completion pays off very well here.  It has got a lot of testing at
> various ISP's on their production routers.  For hosts it doesn't really
> hurt but is totally pointless.

Andre, many thanks to both you and Sam.  I will definitely do some 
testing this weekend.  Speaking of weekends, have a great one.

ed
>
> --
> Andre
>