[nsp] Gigabit/Fibre LAN - Required Network Elements

[Church, Chuck]

Mark,

	How many workstations and servers are you initially using, and
how much potential growth?  How much uptime/reliability is required?  I
haven't checked in a year or so, but last I knew, no server could come
close to saturating a gig link.  Not sure why you're using 10gb links to
servers, much less workstations.  Seems like tremendous overkill, and
very costly.  If I'm reading it right, you've already purchased all
these 10gb NICs, and budget only allows for two 3725 routers and two
3550 switches???


Chuck Church
Lead Design Engineer
CCIE #8776, MCNE, MCSE
Wam!Net Government Services - Design & Implementation Team
13665 Dulles Technology Dr. Ste 250
Herndon, VA 20171
Office: 703-480-2569
Cell: 703-819-3495
cchurch at wamnetgov.com
PGP key:
http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=index&search=cchurch%40wamnetgov.
com
-----Original Message-----
From: cisco-nsp-bounces at puck.nether.net
[mailto:cisco-nsp-bounces at puck.nether.net] On Behalf Of Mark Tinka
Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2004 11:11 AM
To: cisco-nsp at puck.nether.net
Subject: [nsp] Gigabit/Fibre LAN - Required Network Elements

Hi all.

We are planning a project that will be LAN-bandwidth intensive - there
will be a lot of file sharing, a lot of media streaming and quite a
large amount of packet transfer across the LAN.

We are thinking of running Gig-E on Cat-5 UTP and fibre.

To be more specific:


	o We plan to run the main media servers on a 10Gbps LAN
backbone.
The servers already have IntelR PRO/10GbE LR Server
	  Adapter. These adapters have a dual-port interface for an
MMF/SMF fibre hookup.

	o All the LAN machines already have the IntelR PRO/1000 MT
Desktop Adapter installed, and can run from as low as 
	  10Mbps through to 100Mbps and onto 1Gbps, over Cat-5 UTP.

	o Some of the workstations that will access the the media
servers for content will need to re-serve it to both 
	  internal and external users. These workstations are equipped
with the IntelR PRO/10GbE LR Server Adapter, along
	  with the dual-port interface for an MMF fibre hookup.

	o We are also integrating IP telephony for our internal
telephone system on the same backbone, using Cisco IP Phones
	  and some Cisco switching/routing gear. We need to have
sufficient capacity on the LAN so voice quality isn't 
	  compromised.


Questions:

	o We are looking for a solution that will allow us to run our
LAN from 10Mbps all the way to 1Gbps, using both Cat-5
    	  and SMF or MMF fibre, depending on the distance/bandwidth
trade-off. More specifically, a solution in terms of
	  switching and routing.

	o What we have on budget now is 2x 3550 Cisco Catalyst Switch
and 2x
3725 Cisco routers. Obviously, for us to realise
	  anything between 100Mbps and 10Gbps, we need to run said speed
right from the PC network card through to the switch
  	  and then the router. 

	o Could anyone please suggest what we could do with this Cisco
gear?
We haven't yet ordered, as we may need to be 
	  specific about required network modules. I could have done all
this on my own, but I realised I may not have enough
	  time, and would really appreciate any tips/feedback from list
members that have (tried) such a scenario.

	o Essentially, we want fibre and Cat-5 to reside on the
switches/routers, in, more or less, equal amounts, to allow
	  for growth and expansion in either direction.


Please note that while this project is quite ambitious, this is a
corporate business, with just *enough* money to spare, hence the low
router/switch specs at this time. Anything higher may not be quite
feasible (probably until some time in the future), but your input is
welcome, nonetheless.

Any other information anyone can provide will be much appreciated.
Thanks.

Regards,

Mark Tinka
Technical Manager, Africa Online Swaziland

_______________________________________________
cisco-nsp mailing list  cisco-nsp at puck.nether.net
https://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/cisco-nsp
archive at http://puck.nether.net/pipermail/cisco-nsp/