[c-nsp] 6500 SUP720 High Latency and Jitter issues

[sthaug at nethelp.no]

> > On Wed, May 25, 2005 at 11:26:54PM +0200, Gert Doering wrote:
> > [...] this is part of knowing your platform.  The '76k' (i've
> > renamed it since it's confusing to have the 7600/6500 name, i
> > encourage everyone to call it by this name :) is a software based
> > platform, with 'mls' hardware assist for some features.
> 
> I don't think that this is a useful way to look at it.  Besides the
> general confusion of the "software vs. hardware" terminology, I find
> it more useful to think of the Catalyst 6500/7600 OSR (76k? Shouldn't
> you call it 7k6?) as a "hardware-based" (ASIC/TCAM) platform, which
> has a general purpose CPU that can be used to switch packets "in
> software".  But software switching should remain the absolute
> exception.

Partly agree. I definitely think of the 6500/7600 as a hardware based
platform. However, it is quite clear, both from own experience and from
this discussion, that it is difficult to know *which* features result
in software based switching. In that respect it might be useful to have
a mode which prevents any feature resulting in software based switching
from being enabled. You know, a bit like a Juniper router :-) where you
*cannot* use the RE for normal routing.

Steinar Haug, Nethelp consulting, sthaug at nethelp.no