[c-nsp] shaping: which platform to choose and where to place

[Roman Bestuzhev]

Hello,

I am looking for bandwidth shaping hardware platform in order to restrict
bandwidth for 200-500 customers which are connected to cisco based network
(3550/2950 switches). There is no speed limit inside campus LAN but only for
connection to Internet. Internet connection is provided by 2 ISPs which are
connected to campus LAN via two border routers (currently cisco 2811 an
Linux-box). I am looking for something which could handle 100-200 Mbps and
shape 300-500 customers (300 - 500 different classes of traffic which can be
single IP address or IP subnets).

My question is what platform to choose in my case. I have experience with
Linux-boxes which perform shaping very well on speed 10-20 Mbit/s having
just doesen static routes. But I am not sure how good they are in case of
100-200 Mbit/s. Are there another platforms (Cisco and other vendors) which
could shape such amount of customers on 100 Mbit/s and higher speeds?

In case of cisco I am thinking about 7200 router. Can anybody tell what
number of shapers/policers are supported on 2811 and 7200 and how well could
7200 perform shaping of such amount of customers on that speed in real
environment? Is it also a good practice to place shaping and possibly NAT on
the border router with BGP full view or there should be separated devices
for each function?

What are another platforms which I can use as separate shaper device? I
heard about packeteer but I don't know about their products much.


Thanks in advance,

-- 
Roman Bestuzhev,
System Administrator