[c-nsp] BGP table growth and memory

[Rick Ernst]

I've watched the BGP table increase by about 30K entries over the last
year, and memory on a 7206 drop by about 20MB, with about 40MB still
available.

I've seen a 128MB router fall over trying to pull down a full table, and
I'm trying to come up with a reasonable estimate of when 256MB will no
longer be sufficient. since all of our gear has a 256MB limit.

Is there any way of estimating base/operating memory requirements based on
table size, number of peers, etc?  Is 256MB only OK "for another 2-3
years", or am I turning myself into Chicken Little?

Our network currently has two 7513s running as RR servers with the edge and
aggregation layers as RR clients.  Each edge router only peers with a
single provider. The aggregation routers have several BGP peers.

Thanks,
Rick