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choco50000
choco50000
join:2001-09-27
Jackson, NJ

choco50000

Member

[Other] Determining NAT Table Size

I'm still browsing around looking for a new router...and Find that at times I have a hard time finding the NAT Table size of some of these units.

What routers do you guys know of...off the top of your head that have large NAT Table sizes? I remember years ago the Zyxel x550 was a sweet model because of its 10,000 table size limit.

Thanks in advanced for your input!

Matt3
All noise, no signal.
Premium Member
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC

1 recommendation

Matt3

Premium Member

A general rule of thumb is that the less RAM, the smaller the NAT table size. Most consumer routers are going to have tiny NAT table sizes, on the order of a few hundred at best. I see that the x550 only had 16MB of RAM, so I'd question a claim that it can support 10,000 NAT table entries. If it can, any router that has 16MB of RAM would likely be just as capable, but you may need to dump a custom firmware on there to tweak it.

Anav
Sarcastic Llama? Naw, Just Acerbic
Premium Member
join:2001-07-16
Dartmouth, NS

Anav

Premium Member

X-550N or NH by zyxel.

Jerm
join:2000-04-10
Richland, WA

1 recommendation

Jerm

Member

I've put 50,000 connections through pFsense.

The estimate I've heard is 1K of ram needed per connection is needed on average. So I put my max at 100,000 connections with 128mb of ram on an old P233 Thin cilent I use... works perfect.

tubbynet
reminds me of the danse russe
MVM
join:2008-01-16
Gilbert, AZ

2 recommendations

tubbynet to choco50000

MVM

to choco50000
said by Matt3:

If it can, any router that has 16MB of RAM would likely be just as capable, but you may need to dump a custom firmware on there to tweak it.
this is mostly correct. there is some additional issues that will arise when you are working with half-open connections, switching, and state tracking of existing tcp connections. all of that requires ram and processing power. because different processors and hardware switching asics are installed in different devices are not all created equal, a large parity exists between a lot of consumer routers and their soho brethren.
in all honesty, if you are looking to run a ton of torrents, you would probably benefit from rolling your own solution of pfsense/m0n0wall/bsd on an alix or soekris board. for the amount of money you'd spend on a "good" router, you're going to approach the price of rolling it yourself. the best part is, you can use your existing router as a wap by disabling dhcp and hooking it into the lan ports.

q.