[c-nsp] Catalyst 5500 RSM speed limitations.

[Gert Doering]

Hi,

On Thu, Aug 09, 2007 at 02:29:07PM -0700, Troy Beisigl wrote:
> Does anyone know what the total bandwidth limitations are on the WS-X5302? I
> know that the chassis reports that it can do 400Mbps, but I am seeing packet
> loss and high latency when pushing 150Mbps on it. Aside from moving to a
> more current platform, are there any other RSM modules that can handle more
> than what this one can? 

The figure I have been working with is "200 Mbps under optimum conditions", 
so 150 Mbps sounds "to be expected" for "some ACLs, smaller packets, etc."

For this platform, the only alternative is the C5 RSFC, which is about
twice as fast - but which Cisco killed fairly quickly after release 
(threatening MSFC2 sales?).  There is no 12.2 IOS for the RSFC, and all
12.1 IOS versions are vulnerable to ICMP and PIM crash bugs, so I'd 
strongly recommend to stay away from it.  Saves lots of frustration.


If you have slots to spare, and your traffic is spread over different
VLANs, you could consider just adding a second RSM.  If all the traffic
is between just two VLANs, that won't help, of course.


If you have a router with GigE port and enough performance (NPE-G1,
NPE-G2, C6K, Juniper, ...) around, my recommendation would be to setup
a dot1q trunk from the Cat5 to the router, and let the external router 
do the VLAN routing.  Maybe not what you want to hear, but that's how
it is...

gert

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Gert Doering - Munich, Germany                             gert at greenie.muc.de
fax: +49-89-35655025                        gert at net.informatik.tu-muenchen.de