[c-nsp] 7304 NPE-G100 vs. NSE-100

[Saku Ytti]

On (2005-12-12 16:46 -0600), Cory Ayers wrote:
 
> We have been running Cisco 7206/NPE-G1 with tremendous success, but
> recently decided to purchase a Cisco 7304/NPE-G100 for OC-12
> aggregation.  We have other 7206 routers we are looking to replace, but
> are concerned with CPU.  The router in question is pushing 420Mbps
> throughput, 105kpps, and sitting at around 80% CPU load.  Based on what
> I'm seeing with the 7304/NPE-G100 (40% CPU at 200Mbps), it will also
> fail around 500Mbps throughput.

 From my point of view NSE100 makes no sense at all. For PA's you need PA/CC
so even if you're starting without any existing hardware, price per 
PA will be greater than shopping NPE-G1 and same performance.
 Only corner case I can think off is when you absolutely need
box level redundancy.

> Does anyone have statistics on a 7304/NSE-100?  The data sheet states it
> can push 4Gbps bidirectional throughput and 3.5Mpps using PXF
> architecture.  I would like to know how much growth the NSE-100 will
> really give and if there are any caveats to running the NSE-100 vs the
> NPE-G100.  I have looked through the PXF information and believe most of
> our traffic will be PXF switched.
> http://www.cisco.com/en/US/customer/products/hw/routers/ps352/prod_maint
> enance_guide09186a008057410a.html

 Ciscos documentations are accurate, NSE100 pushes some 3.5Mpps packets
when packet is single passed through PXF. However features like RPF
and/or ACL will cause second pass, effectively halving the performance.
 So expect to push 1.75Mpps in normal circumstances through the box,
(I assume everyone will have one ACL or RPF in their setup)
 Still, as you know gige is 1.48Mpps in one direction, you can
push line rate of DoS in (or god forbid out) but not in and out.

 Thing to watch out with NSE100 is, that it's not what Cisco
is focusing on, don't invest on it, if you want continuity plans,
like new NSE's and such. Also before you deploy it, be sure
that all you're going to run on it _ever_ are in PXF _today_,
only thing that I'm really missing is IPv6, which probably
will not ever be in PXF on that platform.
 Things that we use and that are in PXF: RFC2547bis, Martini
EoMPLS, RPF, ACL, Hierarchial QoS, VRF Source Selection,
Multicast (even VPN Multicast is there), 
 http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/routers/ps352/prod_maintenance_guide09186a008057410a.html#wp1015499

 Having said that, THE reason to buy NSE100 has to be QoS,
if you don't need QoS, you can buy SUP32/8GE cheaper,
and get platform with hardware IPv6, good continuity
plans and strong focus from Cisco.

> Thank you for any feedback!
> 
> Cory
> 
> 
> 
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-- 
  ++ytti