You may also take a look at the Cisco ASR1000 line... Supposedly a middle step between 7200 and 7600 router sizing..
> -----Original Message----- > From: Arie Vayner [mailto:arievay...@gmail.com] > Sent: Friday, May 15, 2009 1:34 PM > To: David Storandt > Cc: NANOG list > Subject: Re: NPE-G2 vs. Sup720-3BXL > > David, > > My 1st advice would be to look also at the other > features/capabilities you require, and not just at "feeds and speeds". > > Some examples for functionality could be: > - QOS > - NetFlow > - DDoS resistance > > In general the 6500 and the 12000 are hardware based > platforms, with the 12000 being more distributed in nature, > using linecard resources for data plane (6500 does it too if > you have DFC installed). 7200 is a CPU/software based > platform, so the same processor does packet forwarding and > control plane processing. > > The 6500 (depends on specific module selection) is more > restricted with QOS and NetFlow functionality as it is > designed to do very fast forwarding at a relativly cheaper price. > The 12000 has everything implemented in hardware, and depends > on the engine types (don't use anything other than Eng 3 or > 5) has all the support you may dream of for things like QOS > and other features. > The 7200 is a software based router, which means that it > support any feature you may ever dream of, but the > scalability decreases as you turn them on. > > Another option you should consider seriously should be the > ASR1000 router, which is a newer platform and has a new > architecture. All its features are based on hardware support, > and it could actually prove the best choice for what you need. > The ASR1002 comes with 4 integrated 1GE ports, which could be > all that you would ever need (but it has quite a few > extension slots left). > > Arie > > On Fri, May 15, 2009 at 6:07 PM, David Storandt > <dstora...@teljet.com>wrote: > > > We're stuck in an engineering pickle, so some experience from this > > crew would be useful in tie-breaking... > > > > We operate a business-grade FTTx ISP with ~75 customers and > 800Mbps of > > Internet traffic, currently using 6509/Sup2s for core > routing and port > > aggregation. The MSFC2s are under stress from 3x full route feeds, > > pared down to 85% to fit the TCAM tables. One system has a FlexWAN > > with an OC3 card and it's crushing the CPU on the MSFC2. > System tuning > > (stable IOS and esp. disabling SPD) helped a lot but still doesn't > > have the power to pull through. Hardware upgrades are needed... > > > > We need true full routes and more CPU horsepower for crunching BGP > > (+12 smaller peers + ISIS). OC3 interfaces are going to be > mandatory, > > one each at two locations. Oh yeah, we're still a larger startup > > without endless pockets. Power, rack space, and SmartNet are not > > concerns at any location (on-site cold spares). We may need an > > upstream OC12 in the future but that's a ways out and not a concern > > here. > > > > Our engineering team has settled on three $20k/node options: > > - Sup720-3BXLs with PS and fan upgrades > > - Sup2s as switches + ISIS + statics and no BGP, push BGP > edge routing > > off to NPE-G2s across a 2-3Gbps port-channel > > - Sup2s as switches + ISIS + statics and no BGP, push BGP > edge routing > > off to a 12008 with E3 engines across a 2-3Gbps port-channel. > > > > Ideas and constructive opinions welcome, especially software and > > stability-related. > > > > Many thanks, > > -Dave > > > > >