[c-nsp] NPE-400 vs. NPE-G1

[Charles Sporkman]

Hello all,

I'm splitting this into a seperate thread...  I'm currently running a
7206-vxr with an NPE-300 in a small ISP environment.  We currently
just do DSL aggregation (no PPPoE), connect to two upstreams via FE,
run bgp with both upstreams, have a handful of direct T1s (some bonded
w/MLPPP), and a metro ethernet connection back to the office (10Mb/s).

The NPE-300 is not cutting it.  During mild DDoS, it falls over, and
the 256MB max RAM is giving us issues.

Ideally I'd like to get another chassis with an NPE-G1 and relegate
the old box to doing customer aggregation.  Realistically, I may be
lucky to get an NPE-400.  Some of the things we're looking to do in
the future mainly involve pushing more bandwidth over simple
interfaces:

-more metro ethernet, using both ConEdison and Verizon (both present
each customer on an individual VLAN)
-more direct T1s into channelized T3s, many of them multiple circuits
bonded w/MLPPP
-upgrade upstream connections to GigE
-upgrade metro ether to GigE
-more business VoIP (via an outside hosted PBX)

In the used market, it looks like an NPE-400 runs about $3K, the
NPE-G1 about $9K.  Cisco claims 1Mpps on the G1, 400Kpps on the 400. 
Neither seems to beat a Juniper M5 on forwarding, nor DoS mitigation. 
But the M5 is even more pricey, and their gigabit adapters seem to be
made out of gold.  The G1 packs 3 GigE ports in that base $8K price.

I guess what I'm looking for is some real-world feedback on the G1. 
I'm curious about how much traffic one can comfortably pass through
it, and if trying to do any QoS/shaping on the metro-ethernet
customers would severely impact performance.

Also I'm still looking for any off-list used/refurb dealer
recommendations.  So far all I had was one dealer touting themselves
as "very good".  Not quite what I had in mind. :)

Thanks again,

Charles