Although it is possible to carry all of the Usenet and the rest of your services on one computer it had best be a high end server with LOTS of memory and drive space. News servers are discussed later in this chapter. The Hobbyists Solution - For the ISP who is on a low budget and does not mind digging for answers you may want to opt for the no cost UNIX solution. Keep in mind, this is not the recommended way of running an ISP, but for the hobbyist it may be just what the doctor ordered. The unit features a single V.35 interface which is used to plug into your router port.
Configuration is performed through the front LED and button panel.
A whole slew of alarms and error conditions are recorded by the unit which can be called up on the display and subsequently cleared as well. Tylink has a bad reputation in some circles but their equipment is in place at a number of ISPs I have spoken with and humming along without a problem. The bad reputation might be due to 'hardware elitists', for which there is no lack of in the Unix community. My recommendation is that if you can get a good deal on one go with it. To save some money be sure to buy the actual product from a reseller who will always sell these below the list price.