[nsp] Cisco URL for 75xx VIP features

[Chris Cappuccio]

Matthew Crocker [matthew at crocker.com] wrote:
> Does anyone have a handy URL which compares VIP2, VIP4, VIP6 feature 
> sets.  I would like to know what can be performed on the VIP in 
> software/hardware and what has to be punted up to the RSP.  Can a 
> VIP2-40 handle MPLS for example?

Cisco's web site has a lot of this information.

Basically, the VIP2-50 is similar to the 4-xx, but both ports are on a single
PCI bus instead of two, so you more theoretical throughput with a 4-50 or 4-80
instead of the 2-50... Of course you also pay somewhere between 5x-10x the
price ($200 vs $2000) when you move to the VIP4.  The VIP6-80 provides just
about double the throughput and pps of the 2-50 (at 20x the price).  If you
have low enough traffic volumes for the time being, you can just stick with
the VIP2-50.  If you are routing gigabit, oc-3 and oc-12 interfaces, 
you should jump up to the 4-xx, 6-xx, or a more modern platform.  Finally,
anything less than a 2-50 and you don't have the capacity for 128MB DRAM
to hold your fowarding tables.

While I'm at it, some lady on eBay seems to be selling 8MB SRAMs for the
VIP2-50 right now at $8 (just search ebay for CISCO SRAM).  She sells that and
about 5 automatic scooping cat litter boxes each day, go figure.  I bought 15
of the SRAMs from her they all seem to work fine, they are newer boards as
well.  You can find people selling $30 128MB DRAMs for them as well if you
watch eBay for a while.  Damned wierd ass 200 pin ram.

-c