[c-nsp] 6506, Enhanced FlexWAN and PPPoE.

[Stephen Fulton]

Hi all,

I am in the process of switching our PPPoE DSL customers from our
Redback SMS's to Cisco.  I have been working with an older 7206/NPE-200,
but without much success (there is an earlier thread detailing some of
my difficulties), though in reality I'm planning on deploying a
7206VXR/NPE-G1 for the task.

It occurred to me that rather than purchase another 7206 for the task, I
 may be able to use one of our 6506's, with an Enhanced FlexWAN module
instead, which has a side benefit of being less expensive than a whole
new kit.  So, after reading the product documentation on Cisco's site, I
have a few questions:

1.  The downlink to our customers will be delivered via 100bT ethernet,
and the FlexWAN module doesn't support ethernet.  Will the functions of
the module be available to me, even though the DSL customers will be
arriving on a different line card altogether?

2.  The 36xx, 72xx and 73xx series routers are definitely a more popular
method of handling this task.  Does anyone have any experience or
pointers on using a 6506 as I've described, and if you do, would mind
sharing it?

3.  Outside of this particular task, my understanding of the FlexWAN
module is that it also permits the 65xx to do more extensive mac-address
accounting, particularly for those of us who peer.  Our peering sessions
arrive on a different line card, aggregated on another switch further
down the line.  Would the FlexWAN module be able to allow me to perform
mac-address accounting of those peers?

Thanks for your time, I appreciate it.  Happy New Year all!

(and to those who celebrate Christmas on the old calendar, Merry Christmas!)

-- Stephen