[nsp] Core and edge

[james]

Our network comes together, star fashion, at our NOC.
There we have 2 7206's, the edge is a NPE300, the
core a NPE400. The edge has a DS3 to the internet
and the core aggregates a DS3 for DSL and T-1 and frame
relay users plus our PoPs, an IMA group to another DSL provider and 
a 3 meg MPPP connection for a secondary connection. I expect
we will add a DS3 or just move to an OC3 in 6 months, on the core.
At present neither router goes above 10-15 % 1 and 5 min CPU
utilization.
 
We are getting another DS3 (another primary internet connection)
and I am wondering which router to
stick it on. I like keeping and edge and core separation, so I
want to use the NPE300 (the current edge). Others want to
use the NPE400 (core), so we have redundancy if the edge dies.
With edge/core separation, my Snort box is happy mirroring the Ethernet
of the edge, and hears almost everything. We do find Snort very useful.
It seems to me it is better to separate the complex core routing/switching, 
with all its ports from BGP & let the edge run BGP and worry about just
a few ports.  I am working with default, direct, customer, & 1 or 2 AS's out
from each provider. ~10k routes. The  redundancy argument is a good one, 
though, and I would appreciate the lists thoughts on this.

James Edwards
jamesh at cybermesa.com
Routing and Security