[c-nsp] 10G vs. EtherChannel over WDM MUX on 7600

[Justin M. Streiner]

On Sat, 16 Feb 2008, Zahid Hassan wrote:

> I am trying to increase bandwidth between my 7600s running as
> PE/P routers with 1G line cards terminating dark fibre links.
>
> I am exploring the following two options:

Personally I would go with the first option, but the answer to that really 
depends on your needs, network architecture, budget for capital 
expenditure, etc...

Without knowing anything about the points I raised above, my personal 
choice would likely be option 1 because I tend to like designs that have 
fewer pieces of electronics between point A and point B.  It simplifies 
provisioning (fewer pieces of gear to touch) and troubleshooting (fewer 
pieces of gear to break).

If you already have either the 10G linecards or the CWDM muxes, that 
will probably influence your decision making.

> Option I
> ---------
> - replace the 1G lines cards with 10G on the 7600s
> - terminate the dark fibre links on the 10G line cards
>
> Option II
> ----------
> - terminate the dark fibre links on passive CWDM MUX
> - EtherChannel multiple 1G interfaces over CWDM MUX
>
> My main concern is about the efficiency of different load-balancing
> algorithm offered in the EtherChannel technology in terms of maximum
> achievable bandwidth.

How many 1G links would you be looking to put into an Etherchannel bundle?
You would need to balance the overhead of doing Etherchannel against the 
cost of the muxes and 1G ports the bundle will take up, compared to the 
cost of the 10G linecards and optics (xenpak, X2, XFP).  If your traffic 
is growing rapidly, Etherchannel will likely provide diminishing returns, 
plus you can put a maximum of 8 links into an Etherchannel bundle.

> Also, is there any issues of running Etherchannel over passive CWDM MUX ?

I've never done this, so I don't know what the 'real world' answer would 
be.

jms
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