[nsp] recommendations

[sthaug at nethelp.no]

> > > I'm looking for a solution for running BGP and 3 FE interfaces running
> > > up to a total of 200mbs.  What is the smallest that will do this?  3700?
> > > 6506 sup 1a msfc2? 3750? Or do I have to go up to a 7200, 7500 or 7600?
> > 
> > You haven't specified your needs sufficiently.
> > 
> > If you don't need a full Internet routing table, a 3550 with EMI will
> > do the job just fine.
> 
> In my opinion, the 3550 is not good enough for this.  It doesn't do netflow
> exporting (accepts the command, but doesn't do it), it presents all kind
> of weird behaviour when pressed to the limit, feature wise, although it is
> a nice piece of equipment when you need simple 2nd or 3rd layer distribution
> layer equipment.  It is limited to 24k routes.

Yup, that's why I asked whether he needed full Internet routes. That
question has now been answered in the affirmative, so the 3550 is out.
However, I still think the 3550 is a decent box if you can live with
the limitations (small routing table, no netflow, etc). Yes, I have
used the 3550 with BGP quite a few times.

> aren't the M7's a little bit too advanced (and expensive) for this?  IIRC,
> the M5's were in competition with Cisco's 7000 series VXR's.

We are given 3 FE interfaces for a total of 200 Mbps, and full Internet
routes. You can certainly get a 7200 or 7500 to do that - but how will
they handle a DoS attack? 200 Mbps of minimum sized packets is almost
300k pps. I wouldn't want to bet on a 7200/NPE-400 for that (even if
Cisco claims up to 400k pps), but the NPE-G1 should handle it just fine
if you haven't enabled too many other features. A Juniper M7i, which
does hardware forwarding, will just idle along.

(I see somebody suggested the 2691. Well, Cisco claims up to 70k pps
for the 2691, which in theory would give you 200 Mbps with an average
packet size of around 350 bytes. So - do you believe Cisco's numbers,
and is your average packet size more than 350 bytes? I'm afraid I
don't believe the 2691 is sufficient here.)

Steinar Haug, Nethelp consulting, sthaug at nethelp.no